Ducks Digest

Keyshawn Johnson Says Coaches Shared Information to Help Oregon Beat Colorado

The former NFL star isn't sold on Oregon's dominant win over the Buffs.

Max Torres

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The No. 9 Oregon Ducks (4-0, 1-0 Pac-12) delivered a sound 42-6 beatdown of the now unranked Colorado Buffaloes (3-1, 0-1 Pac-12) over the weekend. They thoroughly dominated the Buffs in every stage of the game, delivering punch after punch, and Colorado never recovered. 

The Ducks outgained the Buffs on offense with 522 total yards compared to Colorado's 199 and sacked star quarterback Shedeur Sanders seven times--a new season-high. 

READ MORE: Oregon RB Noah Whittington 'Will be down for a little bit' according to Dan Lanning

But one former NFL star isn't convinced. During a recent episode of "Undisputed," Keyshawn Johnson thinks there was a different reason the Ducks won. That Oregon didn't simply outplay Colorado. 

"We can't sit up here and act like it's all doomed, it's over with, they'll never win another game. That's not true," Johnson said. "They played against an Oregon team that is better. There's a better football team."

But he was quick to change his tone right after complementing Oregon, saying that coaches shared inside information with the Ducks' coaching staff to help them beat the Deion Sanders and the Buffs.

"I spoke to somebody in the coaching fraternity right after the game. And they know some people that coach at Oregon. And they were telling me, they said man, 'I've never heard from another assistant coach of how much information was being given to that staff about--I'm being real with it--about game planning against Colorado, so that you could beat 'em.' "

It's surprising to hear this considering so much of the national media was quick to hop on the Colorado hype train after the Buffs beat three teams (TCU, Nebraska, Colorado State) in non-conference play that are now a combined 6-5 through four weeks.

What's not surprising? There seems to be a continuing trend of Oregon not getting credit on the national scale for playing good football. Maybe it's bias against the Pac-12, or maybe there's still doubt in Dan Lanning as a head coach.

Whatever it is, I doubt the Ducks care too much. The theme all season, especially this past week against Colorado--has been blocking the outside noise. 

Oregon did this past weekend and now their attention turns to a week 5 roadtrip to Palo Alto, where they'll face Troy Taylor and the Stanford Cardinal.

QUAAACK: 5-star DL Tony Cumberland commits to Oregon

READ MORE: Oregon climbs to No. 9 in AP Poll after win over Colorado 

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Max Torres
MAX TORRES

Max Torres is the publisher and lead editor of Ducks Digest. He's covered the Oregon football and recruiting beats for four years. He's based out of Long Beach, CA and travels around Southern California and the country covering top high school football prospects.

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