If you ask any fan of the Oregon Ducks about their expectations going into the start of the season less than a month from now, you’ll get a lot of positive reactions. With Bo Nix returning at the QB spot, plus Bucky Irving and Troy Franklin back for another year around him, Oregon’s offense should be as good, if not better than it was a year ago when the Ducks were among the top-scoring teams in the nation. On top of that, a lot of additions have been made on defense that should give fans confidence that the unit can be more dominant in 2023.
Outside of Eugene, though, the confidence is not quite as high. Oregon is ranked No. 15 in the Associated Press Top 25, and No. 15 in the USA TODAY Preseason Coaches Poll. The Ducks also rank No. 15 in the ESPN preseason rankings as well.
So which subset of people is wrong? Are Oregon fans way too confident in their team going forward, or is the national media underrating the Ducks so far? According to CBS reporter Barrett Sallee, the latter is true.
The Ducks at No. 15 is very strange. I had them at No. 6 in my preseason ballot for the CBS Sports 133 because of a dynamic quarterback in Bo Nix, a two-headed monster at running back and a tough and an experienced front seven. Simply put, the Ducks have the perfect recipe to make a CFP run. They should be able to put up 40 points on a regular basis and have the firepower on defense to force enough stops to be considered the Pac-12 favorite.
There are a lot of questions to answer early on for the Ducks, many of which pertain the offensive line continuity, the defensive line success-rate, and the overall look of Will Stein’s new offense in Eugene. If we see a positive outlook in the first few weeks, though, don’t be surprised if Oregon starts making a lot of noise going into October and beyond.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]