Each week DuckTerritory's Matt Prehm, Kevin Wade and myself will preview you Oregon's matchup in a handful of ways. One of those will include the DT Roundtable feature. In these stories we will each explain why Oregon will win, how they could lose and ultimately what the deciding factor in the game's outcome will be.

This week Oregon hosts San Jose State for its third game of the season. The Spartans won just two games last season and have lost opening games in 2018 to UC-Davis and Washington State. Last week they failed to score a point, and struggled to gain 100 yards against the Cougars.

Saturday should provide the Ducks with ample opportunity to play newcomers and reserves, as the contest isn't expected to be close.

Why Oregon will win

Skopil — I could probably copy and paste my answers for the first two games here and they'd fit just fine. That's the downside of Oregon's cupcake filled non-conference schedule. Oregon is just better, and San Jose State may prove the worst team Oregon faces all season.

Prehm — Why Oregon wins? Justin Herbert and Jordon Scott. San Jose State gives up the second-most passing yards on defense in the country, and that number gets worse going up against one of the nation's best players in the country. SJSU won't be able to get to Herbert and that's big. On defense, Scott is going to collapse the pocket and disrupt everything the Spartans will try to do defensively. These two guys will be what decides the outcome of the game early on.

Wade —Oregon will win this game again, concluding the very weak non-conference schedule, but the real win will come from improvement and no injuries. Last week the Ducks got off to a fast start and that will need to be replicated again. Oregon also had five penalties (four of them easily avoidable) so that will need to be cleaned up this week too.The Ducks escaped from Portland State with no injuries and will see Lamar Winston back in action this week. Oregon needs to stay healthy, especially on defense with numbers at certain positions already thin. A full strength defense will be the Ducks best tool in stopping the tall passing attack and rushing game of Stanford in two weeks.

Why Oregon could lose

Skopil — Again, it's hard to find an area where Oregon seems overmatched. Remember, this same team just lost to a FCS team which won three games last year and then was skunked by Washington State last week. Nothing about the Spartans is frightening on paper. This figures to be another game where the Ducks play a ton of guys and rest up for the opening of conference play the following week.

Prehm —Last week I said it would take an even that is like an astroid hitting Autzen Stadium and this is going to be another case. The Ducks just have too much talent. It's going to take a rash of injuries, Oregon playing sloppy and the Ducks turning the ball over more than six times in this football game.

Wade —Building off last week, the Ducks shouldn’t lose the momentum they’ve gained, but they will if they don’t get off to a fast start, show no progress in the passing game (dropped passes), and struggle to establish a clear running attack. The Ducks are still using running backs by committee and Oregon will need to solidify that game plan as they head into Stanford.

The outcome deciding factors

Skopil — Oregon establishes a strong run-game, and then victimizes the Spartans through the air on placation. On the other side, the Ducks will be tasked with matching WSU's shutout performance of the Spartans from last week. I think the Ducks come close and win handily.

Prehm — Like I said above, Oregon has the best player on the field in Herbert and then they'll have Scott who will dominate the line of scrimmage on defense. If your offense is getting pushed back right up the middle, nothing works well. Oregon rolls.

Wade —As mentioned above, the Ducks need to get off to a fast start. The offense can’t have warm-up errors on the first few drives. The defense needs to establish control of the line of scrimmage early to set the tone of the game. We’ll learn a lot about Oregon on the first two drives of this game.