ScoopDuck Roundtable: Predicting the MVP's of the Rutgers Game

The final roundtable of the week is upon us. Which means it’s Friday and we are nearly to kickoff. Of course this means we offer up our predictions for which players might end up as MVP’s on Saturday for the Ducks.

As usual we pick one on each side of the ball. Here are those predictions below.

Ted Leroux:

Offense: Dante Moore

Saturday showed a side of Dante Moore we haven’t seen this season. He looked hesitant and lacked the confidence that defined his play earlier in the year. What better opportunity to get that swagger back than against the Big Ten’s worst pass defense? I expect Dante to bounce back in a big way — go back to being the doctor — and perform like he did early in the season, earning my pick for Offensive MVP.  

Defense: Matayo Uiagelelei

After a quiet performance last week against Indiana, the pass rush is due for a breakout game — especially considering Rutgers’ struggles in pass protection. The Scarlet Knights have allowed 20 sacks this season, the second-most in the Big Ten. This sets the stage for a potential bounce-back performance from Matayo Uiagalelei, who could rack up multiple sacks and consistently pressure Athan Kaliakmanis throughout the game. Because of this, I believe Uiagalelei will be the defensive MVP when all is said and done Saturday night.

Max Torres:

Offense: Dante Moore

Moore had a rough game against Indiana but he’s too talented to have another game like that against Rutgers. Even with the Ducks going on the road, I think the coaching staff will have a better game plan for him and he’ll be better prepared to succeed in Piscataway. Demond Williams tallied 136 rushing yards against Rutgers, so maybe Will Stein taps into that element of Moore’s game a bit more this week.

Defense: Matayo Uiagalelei

Oregon logged just one sack against Indiana’s RPO offense and it was a quiet day from Oregon’s pass rushers. I see No. 10 bringing down Athan Kaliakmanis for at least one sack. After all, he did throw the ball 50 times last week, so there will be opportunities. Expect Matayo to also make his presence felt defending the run.

Corpatty:

Offense: Kenyon Sadiq

Sadiq was a nonfactor against Indiana.  I expect Oregon to make a concerted effort to get Sadiq the ball in different ways against Rutgers and look for him to find the end zone twice.    

Defense: Brandon Finney

I went with Finney last week and he didn’t let me down with a huge pick-6.   I think Finney has another big game, notching a late interception to seal the game for Oregon.

Brandon Gibson:

Offense: Dante Moore

I had a really bad week last week with my offensive (Dante Moore) and defensive (Matayo Uiagalelei) players of the game both pretty much no-showing. I’m going back to Moore again on offense, as I truly believe he is the lynchpin of the Oregon offense. With his high flying performances against the first five opponents, some might have forgotten that he really has only started less than fifteen games in his career and still has much to learn and improve on. Getting the running game going will help Moore calm down and make the right reads, putting up some great numbers on Saturday.

Defense: Matayo Uiagelelei

Defensively, I’m willing a “bounce-back” game for my other pick from last week. With all the pre-season accolades for Matayo, he still hasn’t lived up to the hype, but I have faith that he will turn it on. If Uiagalelei continues to show on and off games, he might see his stock slide a bit, bringing into question whether to come back next season. I think he gets back on the right track vs. Rutgers.

Jhop:

Offense: Dakorien Moore

I want to believe Oregon will stick to the run a bit more this week. And I certainly hope they do. What I believe and have believed is this, if Will Stein wants to have success throwing the ball, he needs to have success running the ball. If he does the latter, I think Dakorien Moore will see some favorable matchups and have some big catches this week.

Defense: Dillon Thieneman

This feels like the kind of game he could impact. I think he’s had a moderate season so far but hasn’t really broke out other than the game-winning INT at Penn State. This weekend we’ll hear his name called a lot and Oregon will find ways to get him more involved in the defense.