Kirk Herbstreit predicts Oregon to be upset at Iowa

Kirk Herbstreit foresees an upset in Oregon’s future. During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday, the ESPN College GameDay host predicted the Ducks would lose to Iowa on Saturday.

“I’m telling you. We all love Dan Lanning. We all love the Ducks and their potential. But, there’s just something about certain teams at Iowa when you go to November,” Herbstreit said. “The only blessing they have is—it’s not a night game, right? If it were a night game, it’d be a given it’d be a loss.

“But at 3:30, it’s going to get dark in the second half. And I’m telling you, Iowa is just going to be typical Iowa. It’s gonna be ugly. It’s gonna be like 15-12. You’re going to wonder, ‘How the hell did we get 15-12?’ But that’s the fun with Iowa. We don’t know how we got to 15-12.”

Herbstreit ultimately changed his prediction to Iowa winning 16-15 on a game-winning field goal. If the Hawkeyes win Saturday, they’ll improve to 7-2 on the season and 5-1 in Big Ten play. Herbstreit believes Iowa could be a College Football Playoff contender if it pulls off an upset against Oregon.

“Right in the mix, especially if they win that game,” Herbstreit said. “No longer winning with punting and defense. … I’m telling you, just be careful. At the very least, [Oregon] is either gonna escape, or they’re gonna lose. That’s what’s gonna happen.”

Oregon had a bye last week, but looked far from impressive in its 21-7 win over Wisconsin in Week 9. In the win, the Ducks recorded just 132 passing yards.

For reference, Oregon is averaging 246.9 passing yards per game this season. In fairness, there were brief downpours of rain throughout the game, but Oregon’s passing performance still didn’t inspire confidence in onlookers.

Additionally, the Ducks’ defense allowed Wisconsin to punch in a touchdown. In the Badgers’ previous two games—against Iowa and Ohio State—they’d failed to score a single point.

In contrast to Oregon’s lackluster performance, Iowa had perhaps its best showing of the season in Week 9. The Hawkeyes dominated Minnesota in emphatic 41-3 fashion.

Iowa held the Golden Gophers to just 133 yards of offense and forced three turnovers in the win. The Hawkeyes only totaled 274 yards of offense, but they scored in all three phases of the game.

They’ll aim to have similar success this weekend. No. 20 Iowa and No. 9 Oregon will face off at 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. The game will air live on CBS.