A reaction of shock permeated throughout the Oregon football community on Jan. 22.
Its head coach, Mario Cristobal, had just announced his departure from the program seeking a role at his alma mater, the University of Miami. While Cristobal’s time in Eugene was far from flawless, Oregon faithful had grown accustomed to his winning ways, a philosophy predicated on defense and consistent recruiting classes. The Ducks were building something, just as they had during Chip Kelly’s time at the helm. Sustained comfort is difficult to find at the collegiate level. It’s what any program seeks.
Before Cristobal’s departure, the Ducks’ 2022 recruiting class sat atop the Pac-12 conference; that would soon change as many Oregon recruits followed the coach to Miami while others chose to attend different programs.
Soon, that wave of shock turned into a feeling of doubt.
Towards the end of the 2021 season, the Ducks — a perennial west coast powerhouse — imploded in the form of three losses by 15 points or more. The departure of their coach and key players such as Kayvon Thibodeaux, Verone McKinley III and Travis Dye, among others, added insult to injury.
For months following, one question loomed over the Oregon football program: Where was this once-National-Championship-contending program heading?
Fast forward to mid-October and I’m writing this article a block away from the Memorial Quad on Oregon’s campus as the ESPN Gameday crew builds their set in preparation for the Ducks’ most anticipated home game in four years.
Rewind two months to Oregon media day, and the questions that dominated the afternoon made it seem like this season would be a rebuild: a transition year between Cristobal’s former roster build and the new recruiting class that head coach Dan Lanning would bring in 2023.
Instead, what unfolded over the next six weeks was unexpected to say the least, especially after the Ducks’ season started with a 49-3 loss to Lanning’s former employer, the Georgia Bulldogs.
A team highlighted by 10 transfers such as quarterback Bo Nix, running backs Bucky Irving and Noah Whittington and cornerback Christian Gonzalez has put the nation on notice, wiping away the agony that came with watching Cristobal’s lackluster offensive showings: a team that rarely covered the spread — playing down to opponents such as 5-6 Arizona State in 2019, and a 2021 Stanford team that finished the season 3-9.
While Oregon teams during the Cristobal era found success as displayed by the 35-13 record, the offense sputtered to the tone of dink and dunk passes and talented quarterbacks whose play was capped by the play calling. The Lanning iteration of the Ducks has Eugene buzzing. Tents are set up on Thursday outside of the Memorial Quad in preparation for Saturday’s GameDay.
And as No. 10 Oregon prepares to host No. 9 UCLA, it’s in the midst of a season that projects to nearly match the statistical outpour that Kelly and former head coach Mark Helfrich once provided Ducks fans.
In 2012, when the Ducks went 12-1 and won the Fiesta Bowl, quarterback Marcus Mariota — a quarterback known for his running ability — rushed for 690 yards over 12 games. In 2022, Nix, who never surpassed 400 rushing yards in his three seasons at Auburn, leads all Pac-12 quarterbacks through six games with 331 rushing yards, and is on track to nearly match Mariota’s 2012 mark by accumulating 662 yards.
Alongside Nix in the backfield, those aforementioned transfers, Irving and Whittington, have helped the Ducks to lead the conference with 241.7 rushing yards per game, averaging 7.2 and 6.5 yards per carry, respectively.
Through the air, sophomore standout Troy Franklin has already accumulated 429 receiving yards, meaning he’s on pace for 858, which would put him third among Ducks wide receivers in the past decade. Up there with guys like Byron Marshall and Dillon Mitchell.
The stats speak for themselves, and this Ducks team in its first season under Lanning certainly passes the eye test. Give creative offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham his flowers. The product on the field has been a refreshing sight for Ducks fans’ eyes who had grown accustomed to the recurring pattern of attracting elite level athletes, yet rarely playing to their strengths, and ho-hum offenses who would refuse to push the ball downfield.
Many collegiate football programs across the nation seek long-term sustained success, building from the bottom up each time they welcome a new head coach. Take the Bruins for example, who have been building for a season like the one they’re experiencing for five years, since hiring Kelly. The Ducks are enjoying that level of riches in Lanning’s first go at it.
While it may not result in a National Championship run — as one-loss Pac-12 teams struggle to earn respect from the CFP committee — 2022 acts as a foundation for the bright future that Lanning and his staff are building in Eugene. It’s made apparent by the offensive stats, and the excitement that floods Eugene this game week.
Saturday’s game against UCLA and the pressure that comes with hosting GameDay will test the Ducks, and it will be telling — for the future of this season and this program — how they respond to it all.
