Kirk Herbstreit Makes His Opinion of No. 2 Oregon Perfectly Clear

The No. 2-ranked Oregon Ducks made a statement with their 32-31 win over the No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday, and they made believers out of many college football pundits after an uneasy start to the season that included close calls against Idaho and Boise State.

Among those who jumped on the Oregon bandwagon were “College GameDay” hosts Rece Davis and Kirk Herbstreit.

Davis initially declared Oregon the new No. 1 team in college football moments after its victory over OSU but then recanted his statement the next day, stating after further reflection he couldn’t justify bumping Texas out of the top spot.

Herbstreit, on the other hand, called Oregon the real deal and said now everyone knew it was so. He furthered his pro-Oregon stance on Monday when he released his list of Week 7’s top performers.

Herbstreit tweeted out his weekly lists, and it was nearly a clean sweep for the Ducks. Head coach Dan Lanning was named Herbstreit’s top-performing coach and Oregon his top-performing team of Week 7, while Ducks quarterback Dillon Gabriel was his No. 2 top-performing player.

Against Ohio State, Gabriel completed 23 of 34 passes for 341 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions while adding another 32 yards rushing with a touchdown.

It was his second 300-yard game of the season, and he’s thrown multiple touchdowns in every one of Oregon’s six games.

The Ducks rank 19th in the country in total offense (464.8 yards per game) and 29th in scoring offense (34.5 points per game).

Related: Kirk Herbstreit Sends Strong Message After Oregon Upsets Ohio State