Ahead of a massive Week 5 showdown between two of the Big Ten’s primary contenders, Oregon visiting Penn State, college football analyst David Pollack broke down the game and explained which side he’s giving the edge to on Saturday evening.
An episode of Pollack’s podcast, See Ball Get Ball, dropped on Wednesday and featured the former All-American’s picks for the top games of the week, which he paired with some in-depth commentary behind why he’s selected the teams and final scores that he has. For the big one, Oregon at Penn State, he explained why the Nittany Lions could have a few aces hiding up their sleeve.
“Penn State ain’t hasn’t had show nothing yet, and they haven’t showed nothing yet,” Pollack said of PSU’s soft open to their 2025 schedule. “Listen, (Andy) Kotelnecki, with a preseason tune-up, he knows exactly who he is, he knows what he is, like, they’re going to score some points,” he added.
Penn State ran off wins against Nevada, FIU and Villanova before taking their bye week ahead of Oregon. En route to outscoring those poor souls by a 132-17 total score, Pollack’s right, Penn State didn’t have to dive deep into their bag. He referenced Georgia’s performance vs. Tennessee from a couple weeks ago, noting that the Nittany Lions have an established ground game to pair with whatever new tricks are introduced in the passing game.
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“The run game beat up Oregon a year ago,” Pollack commented. “The run game can be exactly the same as it was, if not better. The receiving corps cannot be worse, and I just think, with all of that, I’m betting on Penn State and I’m betting on who they have, their experience.”
The heads of that strong ground game are senior running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, contributors since the day they stepped on campus, while quarterback Drew Allar is a veteran returning starter with NFL aspirations. That’s a lot of experience for PSU, whereas Oregon has a younger transfer leading the charge in former UCLA QB Dante Moore.
“I think Jim Knowles will have something for Dante Moore that he’s absolutely never seen before in an atmosphere that’s going to be absolutely ballistic,” Pollack emphasized. “I think Dante Moore is going to look more human than he’s looked, and because of that, they could struggle a little bit. They’re not going to get to 45 like they did a year ago in the Big Ten championship game.”
With the experience edge and having the Ducks migrate across all three time zones to touch down in a “ballistic” Beaver Stadium, Pollack sees too much evidence going in Penn State’s direction for the victory.
“I got the Nittany Lions, man,” he stated. “I got 30-24 Penn State, they take care of business. All of the guys on the front who can make plays, they can get to the quarterback, they can get TFLs. They can rattle Dante Moore and I think they take care of business.”
On Saturday at 12:28 p.m. the National Weather Service issued an air stagnation advisory in effect until Thursday at 10 a.m. for Oregon Lower Treasure Valley as well as Harney, Baker and Malheur counties.
The weather service states to prepare for, “An extended period of stagnant air, with light winds and little vertical mixing. This is due to an inversion near the surface that will continue to trap pollutants.”
“Poor air quality may cause issues for people with respiratory problems,” states the weather service. “Persons with respiratory illness should follow their physicians advice for dealing with high levels of air pollution during periods of stagnant air.”
The quarterback position is one that the Oregon Ducks are constantly trying to stay ahead of. Five of their last seven starters have gone on to start at the next level, and they are expected to make it six of their last eight next year when Dante Moore enters the draft.
The Ducks were thought to have his replacement locked down in 2026 recruit Bryson Beaver, but he decided to enter the transfer portal after Moore announced his return. Time will tell if he made the right decision, because the guy who would have been his mentor used the 2024 season to learn behind Dillon Gabriel, and we see how well that worked out for him.
However, patience is a lost art in college football today, and Beaver wants to go to a school where he has a chance to play. It was revealed earlier today that he has committed to the Georgia Bulldogs for next season.
Georgia has been one of the premier college programs for what seems like forever, but they haven’t always developed great quarterbacks. The last NFL starter they produced was Matthew Stafford 18 years ago, so this is a bit of a puzzling decision for Beaver. It will be a difficult replacement for the Ducks to make, but luckily they have more than a year to secure the future of the position.
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EUGENE — Oregon’s season is going from bad to worse as it is now without its two leading scorers amid the toughest stretch of the year.
Center Nate Bittle is expected to be out for approximately a month with a foot injury and point guard Jackson Shelstad will miss a fifth straight game due to a right hand injury.
It leaves the Ducks (8-9, 1-5 Big Ten) severely compromised entering Saturday’s game with No. 4 Michigan (15-1, 5-1).
“We’ve had some guys that wanted to play more, so here’s their opportunity,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “We’ll see how they handle that opportunity.”
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Altman said Bittle, who is averaging a team-high 16.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.3 blocks, injured his foot on UO’s second offensive possession at Nebraska on Tuesday and tried to play through it. Medical tests on Thursday didn’t show any broken bones, Altman said, but Bittle is out “probably a month, maybe more.”
“In his last year and obviously he’s been the guy we’ve been going through,” Altman said. “Tough break for him and feeling sorry for ourself, it’s a tough break for our team.”
Shelstad is averaging 15.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists — all career-highs — despite career-low shooting 39.1% from the field, including 31.4% from three. He re-aggravated a preseason right hand injury, which required surgery, and has not played since the Dec. 28 win over Omaha.
“He can’t get it feeling right,” Altman said. “It’s his right hand so dribbling and shooting have been a problem.”
Amid a three-game losing streak and with two more ranked opponents upcoming, Oregon’s struggles won’t become any easier to manage around. It hasn’t been a strong team offensively even with Bittle and Shelstad; without them, the offensive sets UO can run are cut “drastically” as the center position is no longer a perimeter shooting threat and ball handling suffers.
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“It’s frustrating for the players,” Altman said. “They came here to win. They looked at 15 years of winning some games and they came here to win. It’s tough on the new guys. It’s tough on the vets that are here. It’s really tough for Jackson and Nate; they’re a big part of what we’ve done here.”
