A new era dawns for No. 3 Oregon in 2024, as it begins its first season in the Big Ten Conference having departed the Pac-12 with Washington, UCLA and Southern California.
The Ducks open the season against FCS opponent Idaho on Saturday afternoon in Eugene, Ore.
Expectations are high for the Ducks, who are coming off a 12-2 season, an appearance in the Pac-12 Championship game and a dominating performance in the Fiesta Bowl. Third-year head coach Dan Lanning’s program is in the national championship conversation.
The Big Ten powerhouses stand in the way, plus potentially the expanded college football playoff. But first, Saturday’s game offers a chance to see how new quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who transferred from Oklahoma, looks in a new offense and program.
Gabriel replaces Heisman Trophy finalist Bo Nix, who is set to be the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos as a rookie.
Gabriel looks like the type of mobile and accurate-armed quarterback the Ducks have had in the recent past that has led the program to more than a decade of overall success, from Nix to former Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota to Anthony Brown to Darron Thomas. Los Angeles Chargers QB Justin Herbert was more known for his pocket presence, but he had 13 rushing touchdowns over his four college seasons.
Oregon has six starters returning on offense, four on defense and one specialist. Lanning said wide receiver Gary Bryant Jr., who caught two touchdowns over his final three games of last season, could play on Saturday after being limited in practices this month.
On defense, the Ducks are led by senior linebacker Jeffrey Bassa, who was the defensive MVP of the Fiesta Bowl and was second on the team in tackles as a junior. He was also named to the all-Pac-12 second team in 2023.
“We know that we want to set the bar for us, what’s our bar, what’s our standard, what do we want it to look like, and being self-aware enough that you attack the things that you have to improve,” Lanning said this week. “Regardless of who you’re playing, when you’re playing, we always talk about our biggest opponent is Oregon … to be the best version of Oregon that we can be.”
Idaho went 9-4 last season and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs. The Vandals made the FCS postseason in each of the first two years of head coach Jason Eck’s tenure.
Jack Layne didn’t enter the offseason as the lead candidate to win the starting quarterback job, but he is in line to start Saturday for Idaho at Autzen Stadium. It’s a homecoming for Layne, an Oregon native.
The Vandals are heavy underdogs against Oregon on Saturday, but that won’t stop Eck from being loose, free and aggressive on the sidelines.
“I don’t think we have any pressure on us in this game,” Eck told the Spokane Spokesman-Review on Monday. “We could lose by 100, and it is not going to affect us winning a conference championship.”
