Ohio State Better be Preparing for a Salty Oregon Team this Weekend

The Ohio State Buckeyes are a wounded animal heading into the back third of their season. They have four games left and after the performance that they had last Saturday against the USC Trojans, there is no team that will fear Ohio State.

The biggest reason for that is not that they are playing a freshman quarterback. He was actually more than fine for the Buckeyes last weekend. It was because the rest of the team was dreadful.

Ohio State's defense was horrible, their situational execution was bad, their play calling was horrific, and because of it, they went to Los Angeles and got smoked by a lowly USC Trojan team.

On the flip side of things, for the first time all season, the Oregon Ducks have a little bit of positive momentum on their side. 

The Ducks have had a disastrous season that has been marred by injuries and poor performances left and right. To add to that, there have been enough off-the-field issues to cause significant problems. 

Blend all that together, and you get a season from hell. That's what the Ducks are going through right now.

They finally got their heads above water last week against the then-ranked No. 20 Northwestern Wildcats. The Cats were riding high, having a historic season with an opportunity to catapult themselves into a Playoff conversation. 

The Ducks fought off adversity early in the game and took down the Wildcats in very impressive fashion.

For the first time this year, they are walking with their back a little bit straighter and their heads a little bit higher. They have their swagger back as Dan Lanning cracks jokes in his press conference, and for the first time, they believe.

Not only do they believe that they can win any game, but they believe that the Playoffs are still within reach. If they were to win out, there is a conversation to be had about them sneaking into the playoffs.

The only way that happens for the Ducks is if they go to Columbus and take down the Buckeyes. They smell blood in the water, and that is a dangerous spot for the Ohio State team.

The Buckeyes are still going to be the better team on Saturday. They just have to execute, and sometimes that becomes a huge challenge when the pressure is on them.

The challenge is a big one for the Buckeyes, as they'll face a salty Oregon Ducks team with nothing to lose and everything to gain. They better prepare for a war because they are going to be in one.