Oregon Football: Showdown vs. Utah Is the Ultimate Trap Game

Coming off of perhaps their most complete game of the season, the fourth-ranked Oregon Ducks (8-1, 5-1) now find themselves faced with the infamous “trap game” against the feisty No. 17-ranked Utah Utes. 

But what exactly is a trap game?

A trap game is a game preceding or following a big game against a rival or top-ranked opponent. Essentially, it’s when a team underestimates an upcoming opponent that it shouldn’t be looking past.

A conference road game following an enormous 45-16 win over rival Stanford would certainly seem to fit the bill. The Utes are known to be a quality team, and Rice-Eccles Stadium, Utah’s home field, is one of the toughest venues in the Pac-12. Shouldn’t the Ducks consider the Utes a threat to their postseason aspirations?

Yes, they should and likely do. But that doesn’t mean this isn’t a trap game. It absolutely is.

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Why Utah Can Beat Oregon 

The Ducks can see the light at the end of the tunnel. If the season ended today, Oregon would face Mississippi State in the College Football Playoff as the No. 4 seed. 

According to Bleacher Report’s own Ed Feng, the Ducks have a 67 percent chance at making the Playoff—the highest percentage in the entire country. Feng predicts that the Ducks will be the No. 1 seed in the Playoff by the time the dust settles in early December.

The Ducks' road to the Playoff is clear. As late-Raiders owner Al Davis would say, “Just win, baby.” But it’s never as easy as it seems in college football. The Ducks still have three conference games remaining on their regular-season schedule and, if they win those games, a Pac-12 title game against one of five Pac-12 South opponents—all of whom are currently ranked except for USC.

However, if the Ducks don't take Utah seriously the light at the end of the tunnel may quickly fade to black. Coming off an emotional win over Stanford, the Ducks may not be mentally prepared or focused on the task at hand, hence the theory that this is a trap game.

The Utes are coming off a devastating overtime loss to Arizona State in Tempe, a game they believe they should have won. There’s two ways the Utes can go from here. They will either be galvanized by the loss to the Sun Devils, or their season will fold as they play the second of a nearly impossible back-to-back.

Based on their performance so far this season, one has to believe they will come together as a group and be ready to take on the Ducks, especially when you consider they’re playing at home.

Utah features one of the best running games in the entire country, led by junior Devontae Booker, and is ranked No. 42 in rushing offense. While the passing attack isn’t particularly potent—ranked No. 111 in the country—quarterback Travis Wilson is the only player in the FBS who has attempted over 150 passes and has yet to throw an interception.

The Utes offense, while not a powerhouse, isn’t going to turnover the ball—it's ranked No. 11 in the country in turnover margin—and will be able to put up points against an Oregon defense that is ranked No. 105 in the country in total defense.

Moreover, the Utes running game, if successful, is going to keep Oregon off the field. As Kyle Whittingham said, according to SB Nation's Block U:

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The best way to defend Oregon's offense is to keep it on the sideline as much as you can. In order to do that, you have to move the chains with the offense and take care of the football and be productive. That is without a doubt the best way to try to defend them.

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The other two advantages the Utes have over Oregon are their special teams and their home-field advantage. The Utes are No. 2 in kickoff returns, No. 3 in punt returns and No. 3 in punting.

Don’t forget about kicker Andy Phillips either. He may have missed two key field goals in overtime against Arizona State (one was negated by a timeout), but he’s still one of the best kickers in the country and has hit on 85 percent of his field goals this year.

While special teams will be key, it’s the home-field advantage of Utah that may end up doing Oregon in. Despite the fact that the Ducks are likely the best-conditioned team in the country and have gone 28-8 in road games since 2007, they haven’t played in Salt Lake City since 2003—a 17-13 loss.

Rice-Eccles Stadium sits nearly a mile above sea level, and the Utes have gone 41-14 at home since head coach Kyle Whittingham took over for Urban Meyer in 2005.

The Ducks would be doing a serious disservice to themselves and their Playoff chances by overlooking this Utah team. These aren’t the same Utes who struggled through their first couple of Pac-12 seasons. As head coach Mark Helfrich said about Utah following the win against Stanford, "We're going to a very hostile environment against a very good team."

The Utes are a legitimate top-25 opponent. They should not be overlooked.

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Understand the Threat

Former Oregon head coach Chip Kelly used to use the phrase “Nameless, faceless opponents” when discussing opposing teams. Basically, Kelly wanted the Ducks to focus on competing instead of comparing. He wanted his team to work on its own performance and execution instead of worrying about what the other team was doing.

Helfrich, a disciple of Kelly, continues to use this phrase with his team and understandably so. It has worked well for the Ducks.

However, the current Ducks would be better served by at least understanding the ramifications of this game against Utah. Utah presents a true threat to the Ducks' Playoff aspirations, unlike Oregon’s next opponent: Colorado.

The infamous trap game has caught many teams who have stood in the shoes the Ducks currently stand in, though those shoes may not have been quite as dazzling and flashy.

Just this year we’ve seen a couple of national championship contenders fall to inferior opponents in trap-game scenarios.

Then-fourth-ranked Baylor’s 41-27 loss to West Virginia following a huge victory over TCU comes to mind. How about ninth-ranked USC’s 37-31 loss to Boston College following a win at Stanford? Oklahoma lost a trap game to then-No. 25-ranked TCU after a big win at West Virginia too.

If it could happen to those teams, it could happen to the Ducks.

Back in February of 2014, Sebastian Lena of Bleacher Report said that the Ducks' trap game this season would come versus Utah, a call that looks relatively prophetic now.

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Utah made waves in 2013 for taking down Pac-12 giant Stanford at home last season.

Can home-field advantage help the Utes reel in another conference giant this season?

Oregon’s early schedule is pretty tough. It features matchups with Michigan State (Week 2), at UCLA (Week 7) and against Stanford (Week 10).

But while the team’s full attention will be on these contests, the Ducks could wind up overlooking the Utes, a game that just so happens to fall the week right after the highly anticipated showdown with the Cardinal.

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The Ducks are on a collision course with the inaugural College Football Playoff. Utah is Oregon’s last true regular-season roadblock between it and a shot at the Pac-12 title.

Oregon doesn't have to look very far in the past to see how a team can lose out on its postseason opportunities. The Ducks have struggled in November each of the past two seasons, including two November losses in 2013.

Mark Helfrich knows the Ducks need to get up for Utah and play one of its best games of the season. "We absolutely need to get up for this game because it's the next one," said Helfrich, according to Andrew Greif of The Oregonian. "I think certainly we've talked about that scenario kind of what you're saying going on the road, we've talked about that a lot in the offseason leading up to the opening of the season."

By almost any measure the Ducks are the better team in this matchup, but this is college football. Sometimes “better” doesn’t matter. Oregon must be prepared to play its best game of the season in order to beat the Utes. That means it must be mentally prepared for a potential trap game and physically prepared for the demands of playing at altitude and against a tough Utes team.

If they aren’t, the Ducks’ postseason hopes may go up in smoke.

Statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com unless otherwise stated. All quotes obtained firsthand unless otherwise stated.

Jason Gold is Bleacher Report’s lead Oregon writer. Follow Jason on Twitter @TheSportsGuy33.