Oregon Football: Ducks vs Nevada Week 2 Breakdown

After a tough opening week game against LSU, Oregon will return home to take on the Nevada Wolf Pack.

Last year, the Wolf Pack had a record setting season for the program but will be suffering from the loss of major starters on both offense and defense.

One thing that should not go unnoticed is while Oregon will be a game deep into their season, this will be the Wolf Pack's first game and could be both a good thing and bad thing.

Here is a look at how the teams match up.

Quarterbacks

Had this game been played last year, this may have been a push but during the offseason, Nevada lost Colin Kaepernick to graduation and now turn to Tyler Lantrip to take over.

The Ducks on the other hand, return junior quarterback Darron Thomas who is coming off of a 12-1 season in his first year as starter.

Advantage: Oregon

Running Backs

In his junior season, LaMichael James is one of the, if not the best running back in the nation.

With a great combination of speed and surprising strength, James has posted back to back record setting season in the Pac-10 and is a clear advantage at his position no matter who the Ducks play.

Advantage: Oregon

Receivers/Tight Ends

For Nevada, they return a couple of starters from last year that were contributors to a record setting season. 

Rishard Matthews and Brandon Wimberly are the receivers that are back and they hope to help the transition going on at quarterback.

On the other hand, Oregon is looking to some young and new faces to step in.  Along with the fresh faces, Oregon welcomes back Josh Huff, David Paulson and Lavasier Tuinei.

Advantage: Push

Offensive Line

Both teams are entering 2011 with some questions on their offensive lines.  Nevada will be replacing two starters this season and Oregon is replacing three starters.

Based on the experience and skill level of the Ducks linemen, they hold a slight edge over Nevada.

Advantage: Oregon

Defensive Line

Just like the offensive line, Oregon and Nevada are both replacing three of the four starters on the defensive line.

Again, the skill and experience that Oregon brings to the game at this position allows them to be more prepared then the Wolf Pack.

Advantage: Oregon

Linebackers

For the most part, Nevada has it starting linebacking core back and will need them to play big against Oregon.

Oregon thrives on getting people in space and making sure that if you overreact to the play, they burn you with big gains.

The Ducks will be getting over the loss of Casey Matthews but overall, the Wolf Pack have more to lean on.

Advantage: Nevada

Secondary

At this point, I still believe that Cliff Harris will not be an option at this point.  Despite that loss, the Ducks have plenty of returning and new talent to plug in the secondary.

Nevada also returns the majority of their secondary and will likely be cheating up towards the line until Oregon proves that the passing game is clicking.

Advantage: Oregon

Special Teams

Overall, the Ducks are clear and away more prepared to be successful on special team then Nevada is.

Nevada will be starting a new kicker and punter this season, while the Ducks return both and have Kenjon Barner to rely on to return kicks.

Advantage: Oregon

Prediction

I expect that early on the Wolf Pack will hang tough in this game.  This will be their first game of the season and they will have film on Oregon from the LSU game.

Despite the extra time, Nevada lost too many starters to keep this game tight for 60 minutes.

Oregon 48 Nevada 17