No. 10 Oregon (10-2) vs Texas (8-4

The Oregon Ducks and Texas Longhorns will meet for the first time since the 2000 Holiday Bowl on Dec. 30 in San Antonio, Texas. Kickoff is set for 5:30 p.m. local time, but 3:30 p.m. back in Eugene, Ore.

Oregon will resume practicing this weekend in preparation for the Alamo Bowl.

Here is a quick look at Oregon's match-up against Texas:

Last Time Out

Oregon last played on Nov. 29th against their rivals in Oregon State. The Ducks won 36-35 in come-from-behind fashion. Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota connected with senior receiver Josh Huff for the game-winning touchdown with just seconds left to seal the win. The touchdown was Huff's third of the game.

Texas played last weekend on the road at Baylor to end their regular season. The Longhorns fell 30-10 in blowout fashion. With freezing temperatures the Longhorns finished with just 217 yards of total offense and two turnovers. UT quarterback Case McCoy completed just 12-of-34 attempts for 56 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. Junior running back Malcolm Brown rushed for 131 yards on 25 carries, while catching four passes for 19 yards and the Longhorns lone touchdown.

Mack Brown watch

Entering this season Mack brown was on the hot seat after multiple down years for Texas standards. Four bad losses to BYU (40-21), Mississippi (44-23), Oklahoma State (38-13), and Baylor (30-10) have led to rumors following the season that Brown will be fired from Texas or he will step down prior to the bowl game.

Jackson Jeffcoat will be a tough matchup for Oregon.

Brown has denied those reports publicly to 247Sports.com's Texas site here.Sources tell Horns247 that Brown will eventually be replaced however.

This type of move could rally the Longhorns or crumble the locker room with the iconic head coach out.

Brown is 158-47 at Texas and 244-121-1 overall as a head coach. Since taking over the Longhorn program in 1998 the Horns had a nine-year stretch where they won 10 to 13 games, one national championship, and played for a second title. Since the 2010 season however the Horns have drastically gotten worse. In 2010 UT went 5-7, and followed that season up with three records of 8-5, 9-4, and 8-4. The last three years haven't been terrible, but for Texas and their reputation of winning and winning big that isn't good enough. To make matters worse they've struggled to compete against the better teams in the Big-12.

Horns lacking consistency at Quarterback

In recent years Texas hasn't had the typical play at quarterback, and that's hurt their entire offense. This season senior quarterback Case McCoy has been the starter for most of the year, but wasn't the starter going into the season. McCoy is 179-of-312 for 1,885 yards, 11 touchdowns, 11 interceptions, and a quarterback rating of 112 which is ranked 94th in the country.

Junior quarterback David Ash started the year's first two games, but was eventually replaced. He finished the year throwing for 760 yards, seven touchdowns, and two interceptions. He hasn't played since September 21st against Kansas State due to a concussion.

Two-headed monster at running back

Sophomore running back Johnathan Gray leads the team in rushing yards with 780 on 159 carries, but junior back Malcolm brown leads the team in carries with 188 for 774 yards. Brown leads the Horns in rushing touchdowns with nine while Gray and Joe Bergeron both have four.

Texas ranks 35th nationally with 197 yards rushing per game, but rank 53rd in yards-per-carry with 4.47 yards.

Star at receiver

Mike Davis is the lone star at receiver this season for the Horns. The 6-foot-2, 195 pounder has 49 catches on the year for a team-high 715 yards and eight touchdowns. In his career at Texas Davis has 198 catches for 2,741 yards and 18 touchdowns.

Junior receiver Jaxon Shipley is second on the team in receiving yards with 581 on 55 catches, while scoring one touchdown. In Shipley's career he has 158 catches for 1,925 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Defense

The Horns are far from stout on the defensive side of the ball. This season they've allowed an average of 402 yards per game, 63rd best in the country. Oregon meanwhile sits 48th in the country with 381 yards per game. Texas is 51st in the country in yards-per-play allowed with 5.37. Oregon is ninth with 4.69 yards allowed per play. Texas ranks 56th in scoring defense with 25.5 points allowed per game, 46th in passing defense with 221 yards allowed, and 81st in rushing defense with 181 yards allowed.

Star defensive player

Senior defensive end Jackson Feffcoat will be a handful for Oregon's offensive linemen. The 6-foot-5, 250 pounder won the Ted Hendricks Award this week, presented annually to college football's top defensive end. Jeffcoat led the Horns in tackles with 80. He led the Horns and the Big-12 in sacks with 12, and is third nationally in sacks.

My thoughts going in...

Have to wonder what type of state the Horns will be entering this game. A lot has gone on in the last 48-72 hours since the Bowls were announced with Mack Brown. Is he the coach? Will he coach this game? What type of focus will Texas have?

Teams who lose a head coach prior to a bowl game are tough to prepare for. You have a new person calling offensive and defensive plays in most cases, and in a sense you get an entirely new look at a program. Some teams rally and play better than expected, while others struggle.

Oregon has a collection of players from Texas and I believe that will carryover into this entire program. The Texas players will certainly have a lot of friends and family in the stands and will be a driving force to focus on this game and create that BCS type feel to it for them. If that focus and excitement spills over to the rest of the program the Ducks should come out fired up.

The Ducks do have their defensive issues, mainly stopping the run. Texas doesn't have a good passing game which will ease the workload on Oregon's secondary, but I still worry if Oregon can stop Brown and Gray enough.

This should be a game the Ducks on paper win by more than two scores, but considering Oregon's defensive struggles in November and the Ducks missing out on a BCS bowl bid I think this will be closer than some anticipate early on.