By Sam Merendino
Ladies and gentlemen, conference realignment has arrived. Numerous teams will
change conferences for this upcoming season, but the headliners are the teams
moving to the Big Ten and the SEC. In this weekly series, we’ll just be focusing
on the former.
Oregon, USC, UCLA, and Washington will be racking up tons of frequent-flyer
miles this year as they begin their inaugural seasons as members of the Big Ten
Conference. We’ll take a quick look at each squad’s roster, including returning
players and transfer portal additions, and I’ll give my take on what each team
needs to do to be able to consider this upcoming season a success. Let’s start with the Ducks.
Roster Preview:
Despite losing offensive stars Bo Nix (QB), Bucky Irving (RB) and Troy Franklin
(WR) to the NFL, the Ducks’ offense might actually be better than last season,
which saw them rank second in the nation in both Yards Per Play (7.82) and Total
Offense (531.4 YPG).
Dan Lanning was working the transfer portal this offseason, pulling in former
Oklahoma star Dillon Gabriel at QB, and the Ducks’ new signal-caller will have
weapons galore flanking him. Speedy WR Tez Johnson returns this year, and
Oregon also snagged Texas A&M transfer WR Evan Stewart out of the portal as
well. Combined with a by-committee tailback room that features Jordan James, a
healthy Noah Wittington, and newcomer Jay Harris, the Ducks’ offense should be just as potent and explosive as last season.
Due to the turnover on the defense, that side of the ball faces a few questions
entering the season. They’ll replace four veteran players on the D Line, with
Derrick Harmon (Michigan State) and Jamaree Caldwell (Houston) coming over
via the portal and expecting to be plug-and-play solutions, while incumbent
former five-star DE Matayo Uiagalelei (brother of D.J.) looks to make an impact
in his second season.
The Ducks will also replace three starters in the secondary, hoping that transfers
Brandon Johnson (CB, Duke) and second-team All-Big 12 safety Kobe Savage
(Kansas State) can make an immediate impact. The good news for Lanning’s defense is that they do feature an experienced LB corps, headlined by Jeffrey Bassa and Jestin Jacobs. Those two will be the anchors and leaders for a defense with a lot of new pieces.
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The Key to 2024:
The biggest key to success for the Ducks this season will be to improve their
pass defense, which ranked 63rd in the country in the 2023 season. While that’s
not necessarily bad, for a team like Oregon with championship aspirations, 63rd
in the country in any metric is simply not where they want to be.
Against top competition last year, the Oregon pass defense was absolutely
annihilated. In two games vs the Ducks, Washington quarterback Michael Penix
Jr. was a butcher, carving up Oregon’s secondary for 302 yards and four scores in
October, then throwing for 319 yards and a TD in their rematch in the final
Pac-12 title game.
The Ducks’ schedule this year features a rematch against those same Huskies,
albeit without Penix. Still, Mississippi State transfer Will Rogers will be a
more than capable field general for the Huskies this season, and they’ll again
look to set fire to the Oregon defensive backfield.
The Ducks will also host Ohio State on October 12th of this year. The Buckeyes
feature perhaps the best skill position group in the country, with Emeka Egbuka,
Carnell Tate, and Jeremiah Smith at WR, joined by TreVeyon Henderson and
Quinshon Judkins in the backfield. With dual-threat QB Will Howard running the
show, the Bucks will likely be more of a run-first offense. However, they’ll still
have the weapons to throw on Oregon’s defense if the Ducks allow them to, so
the name of the game this season for Oregon is to reduce big plays through the
air and shore up that part of their defense.
Another issue that has plagued Oregon since Dan Lanning’s hire has been their
inability to close in big games. The Ducks have lost three straight games to ranked
Washington teams by a total of nine points, with two of those losses
accompanied by questionable fourth-down calls from Lanning. For the record,
this is not an indictment on Lanning or his ability as a coach. He’s an excellent
headman, and he appears to be building a monster in Eugene.
However, the point still stands. Oregon will have multiple chances this season to
prove the narrative wrong and take home a huge ranked win, with the
aforementioned Ohio State and Washington matchups, as well as an early
November trip to Ann Arbor to take on the defending national champs in
Michigan.
If the Ducks can patch the holes in their pass defense and figure out how to finish
in big games, they’ll give themselves an excellent chance to win the Big Ten in
their first season and make the journey to the sport’s first 12-team playoff.
