A little bit more than a year ago, fans of the Oregon Ducks were getting ready for arguably the greatest home schedule in the history of the football program.
Schools like Ohio State, North Dakota State, USC, Washington, and Stanford were all set to come to Autzen Stadium to take on the Ducks. Then the coronavirus pandemic came and shut all of that down. With the loss of non-conference games, there was no showdown with the Buckeyes or Bison, and fans were not present for games against the rest.
Now that we seem to be heading in a new direction with a brighter future, there is hope that fans will be able to attend Oregon games this fall. The Ducks will travel to Columbus, Ohio in the second week of the season to take on the 4th-ranked Buckeyes, and a healthy home schedule should have fans rejoicing to be seated next to Rich Brooks Field.
That’s all well and good, but what about that non-conference game that was lost in 2020? The one that would surely make Eugene home to College Gameday once again, with a potential top-10 or top-5 matchup?
According to Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens, getting Ohio State to Oregon is something that’s on the to-do list.
That has been a popular question, for sure. It was unfortunate, 2020 was maybe arguably going to be the best home schedule in the history of Oregon football, and to think we were going to have a North Dakota State, Ohio State, USC, Washington and Stanford all at Autzen Stadium. We were certainly disappointed for a lot of reasons that we weren’t able to have that Ohio State game here, but we will find a way to get that game back here. It’s probably not on the timeline that everybody wants, just because of the nature of the way football scheduling works, we’re so far out now, but we’ve worked closely with Gene Smith and Ohio State to find a solution.
The Ducks have an unfortunate history with the Buckeyes, with a career 0-9 record against tOSU. The most recent loss came in the inaugural College Football Playoff final in 2015, where Ezekiel Elliott led the Buckeyes to a 42-20 beatdown of the Ducks on the biggest stage. Before that, OSU also beat the Ducks in the 2010 Rose Bowl by a score of 26-17.
If you want to look at the bright side, it might be a good thing that Oregon didn’t have to play Ohio State last season, seeing as an early season game with Tyler Shough at the helm might have spelled trouble, but the high profile game is always hard to pass up.
Nonetheless, it appears that there is hope for another chance to get the Buckeyes in Eugene in the future. We may not know when, but the thought of it is enough to keep us going.
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