The first thing Dan Lanning wanted to do when he came to Oregon and analyzed the roster was to get the Ducks more physical across the board, especially up front.
Whether he had a premonition of the Ducks going into the Big Ten alongside Michigan and Ohio State or he just wanted his team tougher, that particular part of the job is as finished as possible.
So possible that according to ESPN, the Ducks are more than ready to match up on a physicality standpoint with the defending national champion Wolverines and the Buckeyes and a whole host of other Big Ten foes.
Following the spring college football season, ESPN analyzed the biggest strengths and takeaways for the top teams in the nation. In part, this was their analysis:
The Ducks are going to be one of the most physical teams in the new Big Ten.
There’s plenty of skepticism about how the former Pac-12 teams like USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon are going to fare in their first season playing physical, defensive-minded Big Ten football. USC, for example, has made it a point to try and beef up its lines on both sides of the ball and though that remains a work in progress, there’s little doubt that the Ducks already have that pedigree going into this season. Their spring game was a manifestation of that.
While other teams took on a “thud” approach where they weren’t fully tackling each other, Dan Lanning’s team went all out with full tackling during its game (except for the quarterbacks) and showed off their athleticism. Come Big Ten play, Oregon should be more than equipped to take on its opponents. — Paolo Uggetti
Washington, UCLA, and USC will also be joining the Ducks in the big move to the Big Ten. It’s assumed that the Huskies and Bruins will have a more difficult time adjusting to the hard-hitting league, but in the immediate future, the Trojans and Ducks should be able to handle their own.
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