Coming off of a perfect regular season and a Big Ten Championship in the Ducks' first season in the conference, it's easy for the fans to come into this season with high expectations. What some people might not remember, though, is Oregon did not look like a team capable of going undefeated in the first two games last season. With so many players being new to the program due to transfer portal acquisitions, the team chemistry did not appear to be where it needed to be to compete for a championship.
"In most seasons, you are gonna experience some form of adversity," head coach Dan Lanning said at Oregon's 2025 media day. "It's about how your team handles that. I thought our guys handled it really well early in the season. We were able to get in sequence and into gear. That's always gonna happen. We had a new quarterback last year. We're gonna have that again. There's gonna be some growing pains as we grow as a team. The key is, you hope you can grow through wins and not through losses."
In the season opener against University of Idaho, the numbers weren't necessarily bad for Oregon -- but given the talent on its roster and the fact that it was playing an FCS team, it certainly wasn't happy about the level it played at in that game.
Idaho was definitely at a higher level than Portland State University, the FCS team that came to Autzen for the opener the year before and Oregon demolished 81-7. The fact that it was a one score game until very late in the fourth quarter, and quarterback Dillon Gabriel was sacked three times raised some concerns, given the schedule was only going to get harder.
The following week, Boise State University brought an even bigger challenge to Eugene. The Oregon defense struggled to stop Broncos running back Ashton Jeanty, who rushed for 192 yards and three touchdowns, and the offensive line allowed four sacks on Gabriel. The Ducks improved in the second half and were able to kick a game winning field goal as the clock expired.
"When you look at the end of the season you realize, Boise State was a pretty good team," Lanning said at media day. "They're a team that's playing in the College Football Playoff. You know, Idaho is a good team at their level. Certainly, we want to be able to play to our standard, not base it off of somebody else."
It goes without saying that the Ducks saw tremendous growth after those games. In Week 3, the offense dominated in a 49-14 win over the Ducks' in-state rivals, the Oregon State Beavers, and barely a month later, Oregon battled out a 32-31 win over eventual national champions Ohio State in an instant thriller.
This year, Oregon will have a much younger roster, without some of the veteran knowledge that allowed it to ride out the early storm last season. It will face one of the top FCS teams in the country, Montana State University, in the season opener on Aug. 30.
"You always want to start fast," Lanning said.
From the get go, the Ducks' defense will aim to reduce the explosive plays on the other side, both in the air and on the ground, and the offensive line needs to hold their ground. Struggling in those areas with a less experienced roster may not result in wins the way it did last year.
The defense will need to pay close attention to wide receiver Taco Dowler, the primary offensive threat for the Bobcats. Similar to Oregon, Montana State has a lot of new pieces to its roster, and the first game of the season will be the opportunity to test the new players for both teams. On the other side, Montana State's defense relies heavily on its defensive line. If the Ducks can do their job protecting the quarterback, that should create opportunities for some explosive plays on offense.