The Ducks wanted to be the villains this season. To start off the non-conference slate on fire seemed like a logical route for the team that dominated the transfer portal. But for most of their three non-Big Ten games, they looked like the type of antagonists that spoil their own plans with silly mistakes.

Against Idaho State in Week 1, the offense was clunky and disjointed. Facing Boise State in Week 2, the Broncos were a few special teams touchdowns away from a massive upset. 

Still, despite the less-than-ideal execution, the Ducks have enjoyed a few familiar hallmarks regardless of their unexpectedly slow start. 

Lanning’s squad is still 3-0. 

They are still a frontrunner in the College Football Playoff Race.

And aside from a few moments, the Ducks’ stars have looked the part with Dillon Gabriel and Tez Johnson leading the way.  

But, it’s important to note that Oregon has been far from perfect. In fact, two of the three games during the first slate of action showed numerous ways that this Ducks team might fall flat of its lofty expectations.  

Back-to-back games against inferior opposition from the state of Idaho exposed a collection of potential flaws, including an offensive line that was advertised as one of the nation’s best more-closely resembling a colander. 

However, it may be no more than a brief slump that seems to have reached an end with the Ducks’ strong second-half play against Oregon State.

Going forward into a Big Ten slate, more of what the Ducks showed in the second half against Oregon State will be imperative. The Ducks outgained the Beavers 329 to 91 in the second half alone, outscoring OSU 29-0 in the process. 

“I would love to tell you but then the Krabby Patty secret formula is out,” Gabriel said about what changed for the Ducks with a laugh. 

Such strong play will be necessitated by the Ducks’ schedule going forward. 

Ohio State looks every bit like the National Championship contender they were expected to be. Illinois is nationally ranked and just defeated a then-ranked Kansas team. Not to mention, a regular-season finale showdown is slated with the Huskies, who recently seem to have the Ducks’ number.

Road tests against both Michigan and Wisconsin still await Oregon, and both provide new, loud and cold settings looking to envelop the newcomer Ducks with a stiff welcome.

Although neither of them have showcased exceptionally strong play, with each squad toting a loss against a top-tier team. It’s essential the Ducks take their experienced squad head-on — even relying on their Big Ten transfers for help.

“Some of these guys, of course, are asking me about playing in the Big Ten,” offensive lineman Matthew Bedford, who played in the Big Ten at Indiana, said. 

Upset possibilities loom as Illinois and Michigan State — both of whom have exceeded expectations in the early season — will storm into Autzen Stadium looking to break green-and-yellow-clad hearts. MSU’s head coach Jonathan Smith will be a familiar foe after his many seasons at the helm at Oregon State. 

Additionally, Oregon’s been susceptible to road losses against significantly inferior teams, and will have to battle those demons against both UCLA and Purdue on the road. If there were ever opportunities for the Ducks to suffer a huge let-down, those two matchups prove ample opportunity.

The Bruins will be a week removed from a matchup with LSU that will likely highlight their many flaws. Oregon will be coming off a bye, looking to roll over their subpar opponent. 

But failure to execute may revive the drama the first two weeks of play had to offer.

What’s more, when the Ducks travel to Purdue in Week 8, they will be just six days removed from the showdown with Ohio State and its many stars. Quarterback Will Howard, running back Quinshon Judkins and defensive back Caleb Downs headline the Buckeyes in a matchup that fans have had circled for weeks.

A new conference creates new opportunities along with new challenges. Still, if the Ducks perform like they did in the second half against the Beavers — their remaining schedule shouldn’t be too much too much of a bear. 

Perhaps most importantly, the continuation of Gabriel’s Heisman-caliber play will help. 

He connected on 20 of his 24 passes Saturday afternoon behind Oregon’s offensive line’s best showing of the season, improving his season competition percentage to a nationally-best 84 %.

“I always tell the O-Line ‘If you give me the time, I’ll do the crime,’” Gabriel said. 

And no stranger to big wins amid a long season, he certainly knows what comes next.

“We’ll continue to make adjustments, and that doesn’t stop, but of course you find the formula for your group and keeping building off of it,” Gabriel said.

There’s a common thread throughout college football, that the same message just lands differently when it’s coming from a fellow player: even from one who is hardly playing.

That message can take different forms. Sometimes it’s technical, football things: how to pick up a block in a specific scheme or adjust quickly to an audible. 

Often, however, it’s about dealing with everything else: eating, road trips, game-day preparation, taking care of your body and the extended grind of a long, draining and demanding season. 

It feels like there’s always a game the next day, always a flight to catch, always a meeting to attend, always an interview to do and always a bump or a bruise to manage. With a cyclical week in between games, and so much pressure inherent in those games, that means self-care becomes more than just a recommendation — it’s a necessity. It’s a job. And it’s important for the younger players to rely on their veterans – their older, more experienced teammates – as much as possible. 

“I definitely learned early on how important it is to take care of your body,” offensive lineman Marcus Harper II said. “Now, I do my best to help the younger players realize that too.” 

However, there is a scarcity issue that prevents this model from being replicated throughout college football. 

Especially now during  a time when a postseason mass exodus isn’t out of the ordinary in this uncertain era of the transfer portal. Where even grizzly vets will move cross-country for the chance of a championship. Where even local legends and four-year starters will pack up shop for a payday. At the start of the 2023 season, ESPN reported that transfers made up 20.5% of rosters in 2023, up from 6.5% in pre-NIL 2019.

Put simply, there aren’t a lot of role-model-caliber players in their older years looking to become mentors to the youth, especially when the veterans might be just fitting in at a new school themselves.

And even if there were more, the pressures of being drafted and departing to the transfer portal can make it difficult to keep even well-liked veterans on the roster. Those NIL and sponsorships make it easy for all players to depart quickly, and seek playing time somewhere else. 

Oregon football, amid all the change and roster turnover, has proved to be an exception. The Ducks’ roster has established a culture of teamwork; a group of sages proven to withstand the transfer portal. 

For some, it’s a stage to be passed through on the way to coaching later in their lives. For others, it’s just a way to give back in ways players and other coaches have to them. 

“He knew what I was capable of,” Harper II said of his former coach at Homewood-Flossmoor High School, Tom Cicero. “When I didn’t even know what I was capable of… I love him, and I think he loves me too.”

“I do feel old,” 22-year-old Ajani Cornelius said. “I think I fit in as the cool vet, but when it’s time to lock in, it’s time to lock in.” 

And for others, like tight end Patrick Herbert, it’s a way to do a job.

Herbert, a sixth-year senior, is the perfect example of a rock-steady force at tight end for the Ducks despite filling a grittier role. 

He even admits that being a block-first tight end is a trade that he likes because “it goes under the radar, and you’re not in the spotlight.”

So while Terrance Ferguson, one of Herbert’s closest friends who he even minted an NIL deal with, is making highlight reel catches, his success wouldn’t be possible without Herbert, in more ways than one. 

“I’ve never met somebody who puts the team first like he does,” Ferguson said of Herbert. “It’s just stuff on the field that people don’t see. He’s still an elite athlete. He goes down into those blocks and blocks his butt off no matter what. He’s someone I look up to, especially off the field.” 

Herbert, however, sees it otherwise. When asked what he thought of Ferguson calling him the most selfless player he’d played with Herbert admitted that he “has no idea why he’d say that,” through a grin. 

Through Lanning, the Ducks’ roster includes 18 juniors and seniors who started their careers at Oregon and have built a program that emphasizes the importance of comradery in their facility, emphasizing their veterans and the invaluable effect they have on success. 

“I think our leadership shows up,” Lanning said. “Those guys that understand what it takes to be great, that’s where it has to come from first. When your best players want to work the hardest, that’s when you have a chance.”

And whether it’s now-NFL center Jackson Powers-Johnson or then-freshman lineman Iapani  Laloulu —  “Man, I thank him a lot, Jackson would help calm me down and remind me to just play my game.” 

Or even best friends Ferguson and Herbert’s teamwork in the tight-end room, it’s clear the Ducks have one goal in mind, which is to win a National Championship.

Together. 

Every game you see the huge, human frames and the jerseys barely covering the bellies. Their arms covered with scrapes and bruises, their helmets scratched and beat down from the contact, the paint chipped with opposing players slamming into them.

Every snap looks almost the same: the ball gets snapped and then, wham, a human car crash.

After every big gain, it’s the running back that gets the most credit. Who in their right mind would want to be an offensive lineman?

They’re battering rams. They’re the biggest guys on the field. 

They’re also the funniest, the tightest knit, the glue that keeps a team together.

Forty-eight hours before fall practice where Oregon players will drag each other to the ground and linemen will thud viciously into one another, there were plenty of laughs. 

Wearing black shorts and polos adorned with an Oregon logo on the chest, offensive linemen made their way to their stations within Oregon’s Autzen Club. A usually tight-knit community of fans who can pay the prettiest penny for the nicest of amenities. 

On Oregon media day, however, the club was home to Oregon’s offensive lineman, a gregarious group of the “tightest-knit” guys in the locker room. 

“As an O-Line, naturally, we’re already real tight-knit,” Marcus Harper II said. “Now we kinda just do our thing. Whenever it’s a bus of O-Linemen we’re going to be some of the funniest people on the bus, we’re going to be one of the loudest groups. I think it’s all just an expression of what the team is through and through. We just happen to be one of the focal points of it and I think we just take that on.”

The football part, too, is paramount for the Ducks who notably lost Rimington Trophy-winning center Jackson Powers-Johnson (who was full of personality himself) last year to the NFL draft. 

“Some of these guys, of course, are asking me about playing in the Big Ten,” Indiana University transfer Matthew Bedford, who spent nine minutes behind the mic talking about everything from kickball to how he keeps his energy high throughout the game, said. 

Others however, could not quite replicate Bedford’s enthusiasm. 

“I’m definitely not like Matt, I don’t know if I have energy like Matt,” lineman Ajani Cornelius said. “But I’ve got my own kind of swag, an east coast vibe. [I’m] definitely like the cool vet.”

The next time we see these lineman, they may be going toe-to-toe in the trenches, bashing heads and working in the trenches. After all, Oregon’s offensive line did allow just five sacks in all of 2024, a minuscule 0.36 sacks allowed per game. And there will be a time to criticize them, penalties will be called and sacks (probably more than five) will be allowed. 

But Media Day was a great reminder of how in the unforgiving world of college football, where NIL dominates and the transfer portal reigns supreme. There was a group of some of the strongest men in the world talking about just how connected they feel. 

“I’m like this all the time. That’s just my energy bro,” Bedford said. “I bring it every single play. I’m a huge proponent of if you’re not like that all the time then you don’t have to fake it. Fake energy is not really energy. It’s just who I am, the way my folks made me to be. 

When asked if he would welcome the introduction of a burger — something Powers-Johnson had at Elk Horn Brewery — Harper II was sure to add that “I might need something bigger than a burger… like the Marcus Harper platter or something that highlights my many elements.” 

It might not always result in wins — although Oregon only lost twice by a combined six points to the national runner-up, and is largely expected nationally to be even better. But having a tandem like the Ducks’  hard-hitting human frames is always a plus.

“I always say the offensive line group is one of the tightest groups on campus,” head coach Dan Lanning said. “But it’s clearly very tight here.” 

Even Josh Conerly Jr. is considered the quiet one of the group, and even Bedford admits that “When Josh talks, we all listen.”

When the offensive linemen are at the podium, so do we.

From the outside, the south side of the stadium resembles a spaceship overhang with the sound echoing down onto the field. With the seating enveloping the players below, and the smaller stature leaving fans closer to the field, there’s a unique atmosphere that playing at Autzen truly has. 

With chants of  “O’’ echoing down, the largest video board in college football and the crisp wind off the Willamette river, it truly captures all five senses. 

Add in the deafening sound and atmosphere surrounding the 54,000-seat fortress, and it’s any opponent’s nightmare. Oregon’s players, however, love it. 

“We can’t wait to get out there in front of the fans,” linebacker Jeffery Bassa said.

There’s little doubt of what will happen in Week 1 for the Ducks, who enter a 44.5-point favorite over University of Idaho per FanDuel Sportsbook. The Ducks’ preparation is very likely to be too much with the cash the program has committed too daunting and the transfer-portal recruits too talented.

And still, there’s an overarching theme that makes that proclamation even more of a sure-thing, as any sportsbook or NIL budget will suggest. 

Oregon is undefeated over its last 32 home non-conference games. Since 2020, the Ducks have outscored opponents by a whopping 326-82, a 244-point disparity that has left fans and analysts aghast.

That’s not a typo, and there’s no sure reason to point to the Ducks’ home domination. 

It could be that Oregon’s physicality and preparation over the past 16 years is superior, a fact that is even more remarkable given the Ducks’ five head coaches over the span of the record. 

“One of the things that I wanted to get better at was my physicality,” transfer cornerback Jabbar Muhammad said in a post-practice interview. “And we have no choice but to do that here.”

Or, point to the Ducks’ strength of schedule — but 32 games in a row is immune to trap games or better opponents. 

However, the “Autzen Aura” that the stadium creates speaks for itself. 

Oregon is known for its theatrics, and its commitment to themed games is yet another example. 

For example, in last year’s Pac-12 opener against Colorado, the university called for a stripe-out, a decoration that only further confused the Buffaloes amid the 42-6 beatdown. 

Or in the Ducks’ black-out vs USC, the 7:30 kick-off only further fueled the Autzen crowd.

“How about that crowd,” Lanning said after Oregon’s win over the Trojans. “Absolutely electric group, that made that moment really special.”

Indeed, 2024 brings a new conference, new team and new uniforms, but the atmosphere — which will perhaps peak with the Ducks black-out game against Ohio State — will remain the same.

First though, will come another seemingly predetermined home non-conference slate. With Idaho and Boise State University serving as small roadblocks for the Ducks to burgeon over.

“We have to trust the process and know that we have to set the bar for us,” Lanning said in the opening statement of his Week 1 press conference. “We always talk about our biggest opponent is Oregon and we have to be the best version of Oregon we can be.” 

Helping, of course, will be the Autzen Stadium environment, a raucous crowd that will do everything in their power to push the Ducks forward — winning streak be damned. 

“I’m really excited to see our fans,” Lanning said. “They did an unbelievable job selling out the crowd, and I think we will have awesome support at Autzen this year.”

So when you see another lopsided score in the early going of the season, remember there might be another factor involved than just the Ducks’ prowess on the field.

Stepping stone? No more. 

Rainy River town? Doesn’t matter.

Big-time player in national news? You bet. 

Days after the University of Oregon officially made its long-awaited move to the Big Ten, the Ducks made a Big Time move, snagging five-star receiver Dekorien Moore from Duncanville High School in Texas. 

Moore is the Ducks’ highest-ranked recruit of all-time per 247sports — and in most ways, it feels like just another day for the Ducks. 

Now for any program, a commit like Moore moves the needle. He’s as much of a sure thing as a teenager can be. He had 1,303 yards and 15 touchdowns in his junior year of high school. Although his numbers speak for themselves, it’s safe to say his talents and potential are limitless – but this is Oregon, and this is the No. 5 ranked player in his class. Connections like that don’t happen everyday. Or at least they didn’t use to. 

Thing is, the Ducks have felt like this type of big-time player for a while. Dan Lanning is a recruiting master and well, Moore is only the most recent exclamation point for the Ducks.  

Talents like Moore used to be exclusively in the recruiting trails of Texas, LSU and Ohio State. Oregon is officially at that level now, as Moore picked the Ducks over those three schools.

“I choose the path to be different and build a legacy,” Moore said in his announcement post. 

The Merriam-Webster definition of different is “partly or totally unlike in nature, form or quality.” 

Yeah, that pretty much covers it. Under Lanning, Oregon encompasses it all. 

Oregon is now different in “nature” in the fact that the Ducks have clearly distanced themselves from rivals Oregon State and Washington. “Rivalry” week might just be little brother week this time around.

Different in “form” with the Ducks now able to now doll out thousands in Name Image Likeness, while still dominating the recruiting, schematic and transfer portal. 

“The best way to enhance your team is to enhance your talent,” Lanning said on National Signing Day. 

And lastly the Ducks are different in “quality.” The Ducks’ 76% blue chip — a metric that players who have earned four or five stars are classified under — is good for the fourth best for any program in the nation.

“We take an everyday approach to recruiting,” Lanning said in the same interview. “Our staff has been doing this a long time, and we realize that this is about doing something every single day, not focusing on the short-term.” 

Oregon may not officially join the Big Ten — a conference known for its hard-nose style of play — until August 2, but it’s really been winning in the trenches — and every other margin — since Lanning took over. And there’s no end in sight.

The domino effect of dominance started with Lanning’s “Grass is Damn Green” reformation of his time in Eugene.

It rumbled on with the team’s transfer portal retool — the third-best class in the nation per 247sports. 

But now, with blue chip prospects continuing to fall left and right to Eugene, it seems as if the path will never end. 

All of this, of course, comes with newfound expectations with the team’s conference realignment. But with the way the Ducks played in 2023 — a team that has dominated the trenches like Big Ten and SEC schools of years past — such an adjustment doesn’t seem as large. 

Lanning, who coached in the SEC as Georgia’s defensive coordinator, certainly knows what it takes to play against the best — and now he’s recruiting alongside the top schools in the nation. 

“Oregon isn’t just a disrupter in college football,” On3’s college football insider J.D PicKell said in a July 5 X post. “They are a legitimate force in college football.” 

Indeed, it is. Get used to it. 

After nine months of high hopes and dreams of grandeur, Dillon Gabriel, Oregon’s new quarterback, sat inside Oregon’s Autzen Club, seconds away from yet another confirmation that the start of a new chapter was here.

With a whirlwind five years of college football firmly in his rearview, he turned his focus to leading another new team with the No. 2 transfer class — a movement that Gabriel himself spearheaded. The foundation of a new expectation had taken hold, and what could be Oregon’s most talented team in the Dan Lanning era was finally ready for Fall camp.  

Any angst that filled the 5’11” quarterback addressing a lofty media contingent on Media Day soon gave way to something that the 23-year-old Gabriel is well-polished at: talking. 

“Success for me looks like focusing on the little details,” Gabriel said. “As we focus on that one week approach, even one day, we all know if we put this thing together the right way we will be right where we want to be. If we keep stacking those things up, we will be right where we want to be and be playing on that certain date we want to be playing on.”

Gabriel’s words set the stage perfectly for what was to come, but in so many ways it was what fans had grown accustomed to seeing from Oregon in recent years. 

On top of Gabriel’s prowess, Lanning, the man who recruited him, is even more of a known entity, with plenty of experience and the Ducks’ first 12-win season since 2019 under his belt.

And on media day, Oregon’s seemingly-official start of its Big-Ten tenure, there was no massive blowup duck — a spectacle that greeted fans by appearing in true Ducks’ fashion on Indianapolis White River at Big Ten Media Day — and little pizazz from the team. But with a media-trained group of players and a post-conference lunch, there was plenty of substance that enveloped the four stanchions the players sat at. 

“My plan for the day is to avoid giving you guys any bulletin board material,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said in his opening remarks during media day. 

In that regard, Lanning was successful, resonating confidence while being sure not to overly divulge. That same moxy resonated at Oregon’s Media Day with Gabriel, who for one day more than lived up to the heavy expectations placed upon his shoulders since his transfer from The University of Oklahoma in the offseason. 

It was no surprise that Oregon’s quarterback deflected talk about the Heisman Trophy but later lit up at the thought of competing for a National Championship. 

After all, that’s the Ducks’ goal. Not for the future, but for now. 

—————————————————————————————————————————————

The clichés of course, were abundant. 

Has Terrance Ferguson seen a team work this hard in the offseason? Never.

Has Matthew Bedford been a part of a more tight-knit offensive line group? Nope.

And does Tez Johnson think there’s a better wide receiver corps in the country? Of course not. 

Still, those ever-present words can’t fully mask that everywhere inside the Autzen stratosphere sat reminders of how much his circumstances had changed since last season. New coaches, new players and new logos. New everything.

It wasn’t just the new conference and all its new fixings, though. The landscape of college athletics has been upended since Oregon beat Liberty University in the Fiesta Bowl in January. 

Within the Ducks’ own roster, so much has turned over, too. Gabriel, a new running backs coach, a new defensive scheme and a new, stiffer schedule to handle, all with a BIG payday from the conference’s media deals on the horizon. 

Amid all the new and unfamiliar that the Big Ten will bring, the message from Lanning at the start of his third season at Oregon was, by now, rather predictable. 

“The next four weeks of preparation are about us, and becoming the best possible team we can.” Lanning said. 

Lanning understands Oregon’s branding, once again flaunting the strength that is Oregon’s marketing team.  

In that same breath, he was sure to add that Oregon is “far away from where we want to be.”

But above all, Lanning talked for nearly two minutes about the type of competition Oregon has awaiting for it. That is, afterall, the biggest theme underscoring all of the hooplah and prestige. 

“I’m just as excited to see these position battles as you guys are,” Lanning said. “I don’t really know if there’s one position where I go ‘we got to go find out who that guy is [because] that’s every position. We have depth and we have talent and we will see who rises to the top.”

The top, of course, is also where the Ducks’ new opponents reside. And — despite Oregon’s roster insisting that they’ve “played like a Big Ten team for a while” — there will undoubtedly be an adjustment period.

“Some of these guys, of course, are asking me about playing in the Big Ten,” Bedford, who played in the Big Ten at Indiana, said. 

But Oregon can compete with these guys now. The Ducks are no longer a program built to peak and then bottom out. They lost their quarterback, leading receiver, leading rusher, best offensive lineman, sack leader, interception leader and are still widely expected to be better. Last year’s 12-win season will inevitably also go down as a disappointment in Lanning and co’s eyes. 

And even when asked about future renovations for the university’s facilities, the predictably tight-lipped Lanning even made sure to mention that he certainly won’t divulge anything the media isn’t supposed to know. 

So remember, amid the new logos and flash within Lanning’s football program, the standard — toward everything — is the same.

The roster is set. The team is ready. Last summers’ talks of potential conference realignments have shifted to shocking reality, but Lanning has aligned his Ducks to be right where they need to be: in a spot to make a BIG splash.