Late Kick Host Josh Pate Praises This Team for a Get-Right Performance: "Welcome Back"

On his Sunday live show CBS/247 Sports host Josh Pate reviews the weekend in college football. This week he has praise for Alabama, Longhorn's quarterback Arch Manning, along with sad reflections on the state of Florida football and Gators coach Billy Napier, Florida State's epic and surprising collapse.

But one other team gets a shout-out for getting on track to steam their way into conference play.

"Welcome back Oregon," Pate said, leading his audience in a polite golf clap. "Welcome back, 49 to 14 a win over Oregon State."

"I think Oregon just needed a little more runway."

"I knew eventually this would come and it did. Offensive line, much better. Run game, much better. Ran it for 240 yards, 7.5 per carry. They had ZERO pre-snap penalties on the road, no less, and they won the second half 27-0."

Pate went on. "That's answering. That's good coaching. That is execution. Fundamentals, a lot better, everything.

The host and his showrunner then checked the schedule, noting that the Ducks had a bye week, then a road game at UCLA.

"So Oregon looks a lot better. Still a high ceiling on Oregon. We're not selling that stock as I told you we weren't."

Coaches have a saying, "Praise and blame, it's all the same." Outside opinions don't change the process for the Ducks, but for fans, it's nice to get objective confirmation of what we think we're seeing: The Ducks have begun to come together. The potential everyone talked about over the summer is real, graspable, actualized.

That makes 2024 a fun year to watch.