As we get further into the offseason, it’s given us an opportunity to look at non-roster elements of the Oregon Ducks’ upcoming 2024 season. While the transfer portal, and incoming recruits, and returning starters are incredibly important, they are only half of the equation.
The schedule is the other half, pitting Dan Lanning and the Ducks up against their new Big Ten Conference foes while taking them to new places across the country. At the moment, Oregon is scheduled to play in 13 regular-season games next year, but their Week Zero game against the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors is currently in question due to some scheduling issues.
While the Pac-12 years offered a lot of continuity for Duck fans, where there was some certainty about who was good and who wasn’t, that knowledge doesn’t currently exist yet in the Big Ten for the new expansion teams. We know that there is a lot of talent at the top with schools like Ohio State, Michigan, and Wisconsin, but what about the rest of the conference? Will games against the likes of Purdue, Northwestern, or Nebraska give the Ducks problems?
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Earlier this weekend, we went through the Ducks’ schedule and offered an early preview of what to expect in each game. Now we want to rank the games from what we think will be the easiest wins, to what might be the most difficult in the end. Here are our rankings: