There are a lot of college football fans who have grown frustrated with the way that the bowl game landscape has changed over the past few years, where it becomes the norm for veteran players to often opt out of the game with eyes on the NFL draft, and teams often dealing with depleted rosters because of the transfer portal.
While those complaints are valid, bowl games are still incredibly fun to watch for a lot of fans because it gives an opportunity to see some players you may not be used to. While the regular season doesn’t usually see underclassmen and freshmen get on the field, there’s a chance that we could see a lot more of that this week for the Oregon Ducks.
“Certainly, there’s gonna be a lot of young guys out there for us for both teams,” coach Dan Lanning said on Tuesday. “there can be negative connotations with who’s in and who’s out of these games, but I’d rather see the end of the positive side. That’s the side of some young guys are gonna get opportunities that all year have been sitting there waiting for their chance. You hope that they’ve done everything they can to prepare themselves for that moment.”
When Lanning and his squad go up against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Holiday Bowl on Wednesday afternoon, both sides will be without a number of key players. The Ducks have had guys like CB Christian Gonzalez, LB Noah Sewell, and DE DJ Johnson declare for the NFL Draft, while others like WR Dont’e Thornton and TE Moliki Matavao have transferred to new schools or are in the portal.
That leaves a lot of spots to fill on the field, and we can assume that the players lower down on the depth chart will likely get a chance to prove themselves. In essence, this game against the Tar Heels is sort of like a spring game in a sense, giving Oregon fans a chance to see who some of the next best players will be. Last year in the Alamo Bowl vs. Oklahoma, we saw Troy Franklin have a major impact, acting as a launching pad.
Here’s who I think could end up having a breakout game against North Carolina: