In Reply to: They nearly beat Oregon, though, at Autzen posted by TJJ on December 31, 2024 at 21:08:59
Oregon was good, but they didn't become a great team until halftime of the game against Oregon St AFTER the Boise game.
Their defense made a huge leap after halftime of that game, and was dominant for most of the rest of the year - Oregon St was marching up and down the field in the first half of that game, but after halftime, Oregon's defense took off and probably would have had multiple shutouts if they hadn't given up garbage time scores.
The offense also got much better as the season progressed.
So, if Oregon played Boise again later in the year, I think they would have beaten them a lot easier. Maybe not tho - the defense definitely didn't look good against their toughest opponents (OSU twice, and Penn St).