The expectations this season were higher for the Oregon Ducks, as some felt they had a Pac-12 Championship team, a potential Heisman Trophy winner, and a team that could make the College Football Playoff. Oregon did make the Pac-12 Championship Game, falling short once again to their hated rivals, the Washington Huskies, who returned to the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2016.
Quarterback Bo Nix performed up to the “Bo-Dacious Heisman” campaign for the sixth-year senior. Nix completed 77.4% of his passes for 4,145 yards and 46 touchdowns responsible for. It wasn’t a lack of effort on Nix’s part but the two losses to the Huskies contributed to not fulfilling the Heisman efforts.
Oregon, though, is returning to the Fiesta Bowl for the first time in three seasons, marking the program’s 11th New Year’s Six bowl in the last 30 years.
The opponent is undefeated Liberty, the highest ranked Group of 5 team, one that Oregon head coach Dan Lanning is not overlooking, “Yeah, really talented team that runs the ball extremely well. You know, quarterback is really explosive, you know, and creates, you know, big plays and explosive offense. They’re really successful. There’s a reason they’re undefeated.”
The season can end on a high note for the sophomore coach, who, despite two brutal losses to Oregon’s chief rival, was undefeated against the rest of the nation. Some say Lanning was too aggressive in the first matchup, I tend to side with how Portland 750 AM The Game’s John Canzano put it after the first Cascade Clash – it is who he is.
In my opinion, as Lanning matures as a head coach, there will be a more reasoned approach to getting aggressive. The fact the 37-year-old coach isn’t afraid to put it on the line in a high-stakes situation only proves one thing, Oregon is destined for bigger and better things.
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It will begin next season, with Oregon joining the Big Ten. The Ducks won’t be outclassed by long-time Big Ten powers Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State.
Lanning, however, will need to figure out his Washington problem.
In each of the three encounters with the Huskies, Lanning has either been out-coached by his counterpart, Kalen DeBoer, or each of his aggressive attempts failed. Oregon, which had won 20 of 26 against Washington leading up to DeBoer and Lanning’s arrival, now has lost three in a row and Lanning needs to be a streak of his own.
Despite Lanning’s issues with Washington, Oregon is setting itself up to be college football’s most dominant program. At some point, the $1 billion that Nike CEO and founder Phil Knight will see a return on that investment.
The foundation is already being laid
After the success Nix had in Eugene, the transfer portal was again kind to the Oregon Ducks as Dillon Gabriel transferred in from Oklahoma.
With Oklahoma’s intention to hand the reins next season to freshman sensation Jackson Arnold, Gabriel had no other choice but to transfer. Gabriel is no slouch as he completed nearly 70% of his passes for 3,660 yards, 42 touchdowns responsible for (30 pass, 12 rush), and had an 87.2 QBR which was No. 4 in the nation.
Oregon was not done luring in quarterbacks. Gabriel will address the present, but the future will be in former five-star quarterback Dante Moore, who committed to Oregon after a season at UCLA where Moore did not gel with head coach Chip Kelly.
Having the quarterback situation settled is a big deal for Lanning, but what they have done in recruiting is extremely special. After the Early Signing Day period, Oregon sits at No. 4 rated class, according to 247Sports, a class that contains 13 signees that are rated in the Top 20 at their positions nationally.
Lanning recognizes how special this class can be and how much his staff is dedicated to winning Oregon’s first football national championship.
“It’s just an everyday approach,” Lanning said. “I think we’ve got a staff that’s been doing this for a while. Realize it’s not just about the short-term. It’s about being able to do something every single day. Focus on the long-term goals. These guys that we’re going to get are guys that can really enhance what we’ve built and what we’ve established here.
So having guys that are open to being at Oregon, and realize what Oregon could be, and then having a staff that’s willing to go get those guys.”
— Dan Lanning on building the Oregon program
Lanning learned from the best
Lanning had an opportunity to be mentored by Nick Saban and Kirby Smart. Lanning was a graduate assistant on the 2015 Alabama national championship team and then served with Smart at Georgia from 2018 to 2021 rising to coordinate Smart’s 2021 national championship defense.
As I watch Lanning construct his team in his image, the blueprint is exactly what made Alabama and Georgia the top programs in the nation.
Oregon is getting dynamic athletes in the trenches: ones that wreck and control games. This season, Bo Nix’s jersey had limited grass stains as he was sacked only five times.
On the defensive side of the ball, Oregon needed to upgrade the athletes on the defensive line. Oregon landed a pair of five-star defensive linemen in Aydin Breland (No. 4 nationally) and EDGE rusher Elijah Rushing (No. 2 nationally).
.@MikeHallHere asked Dan Lanning to give him his best recruiting pitch.
The @oregonfootball coach did not disappoint. 😤 pic.twitter.com/aKTYNHiyh0
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) December 20, 2023
Kirby Smart knew they needed to upgrade from a game-manager-type quarterback to a quarterback who can make plays and be mistake-free. Nothing against Jake Fromm, but he was a step down from Stetson Bennett.
Oregon, this season, was tied for the third-fewest turnovers this season with seven.
The final two characteristics are elite perimeter athletes and a stable of backs that can control the game.
While most of the nation was mesmerized by the stable of wide receivers in Washington and Ohio State, Oregon possessed a group led by Troy Franklin and Tez Johnson that was just as good as any in the country. In the backfield, Bucky Irving led a group of backs that averaged 183.8 yards per game and nearly six yards per carry.
Now, Lanning is reloading Oregon in the same way SEC powers do, they are entering the Big Ten next season which should give Oregon easier access to the 12-team Playoff. In the era of NIL, having Nike supporting your program and the Division Street collective is a major advantage no other college has.
You won’t see much in the Fiesta Bowl, but what is brewing in Eugene isn’t like anywhere else in the nation. All the ingredients are present for Oregon to take that next step, something everyone should take notice of.
