Oregon Ducks ranking: 4/134
[Check out RJ Young’s ultimate 134 college football rankings here]
Conference ranking: 2nd in Big Ten (+200 to win conference)
Teams ahead of them: Texas (3), Georgia (2), Ohio State (1)
Teams behind them: Florida State (5), Ole Miss (6), LSU (7), Michigan (8), Alabama (9)
[Oregon 2024 schedule]
RJ’s take: Dan Lanning and offensive coordinator Will Stein went to get a gunslinger from my woods (Oklahoma) in the Wild West to help them wear out Midwestern mushers — Dillon Gabriel.
At Oklahoma last year, Gabriel became the first Sooner QB to ever throw eight TDs in a game and has passed for more than 14,000 yards in his career. He ranks No. 8 on the all-time list (14,865), and one spot behind Heisman winner Ty Detmer (15,031) and two spots behind the last starting QB at Oregon, Bo Nix (15,351).
Realize Nix threw for 4,145, 40 passing TDs and just three INTs in Will Stein’s offense last year. Then realize that if Gabriel passes for 4,353 yards, he’ll become the NCAA’s all-time leading passer ahead of former Houston QB Case Keenum (19,217) after three years at UCF, two at OU and this one at Oregon. Helping his cause will be wideout Tez Johnson, who caught 86 passes for 1,182 yards with 10 TDs as the No. 2 target in the offense last year. He’ll be joined by Evan Stewart, a former five-star who has yet to reach his potential.
Among teams with the five toughest schedules according to their opponents’ combined 2023 record — Florida, USC, Northwestern, Georgia Tech and Oregon, respectively — the Ducks look most likely to run the table.
Most of that has to do with Lanning, who wears his big boy britches to work and was first to snub Bama to stay in the city that Bill Bowerman built. Maybe it doesn’t mean much to fanatics portending a Duck dynasty that Oregon’s 2023 opponents went 101-57, nine of which were ranked and nine of which won games against ranked opponents, but it sure leaves a mark on the rest of us.
Oregon’s Win Total Odds: Over 10.5 (+100) Under 10.5 (-120)
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