It’s been a turbulent start for the 2024 Oregon Ducks football team. Both of this year’s games have been uncomfortably close, but the No. 9-ranked Ducks are 2-0 heading into Week 3’s final non-conference matchup of the season.
Although Oregon’s offense struggled to find consistency against the University of Idaho, Oregon’s defense looked solid. Duck defenders limited the Vandals’ offense in the season opener, allowing only 14 points and two third-down conversions on 12 attempts.
The defensive line did an especially good job, allowing only 49 total rushing yards while recording four sacks and seven tackles for loss. Sophomore edge rusher Matayo Uiagalelei was responsible for two of each, but expressed his dissatisfaction.
“Even if we did play good, it’s like ‘where can we get better?’” Uiagalelei said after the Idaho game. “Even though we won, there’s a lot of stuff we could have done better.”
According to Uiagalelei, the rest of the team is similarly focused on improving. “We’re playing us every week. If we play to our standard, I don’t think we can lose a game,” Uiagalelei said.
After a narrow victory over Idaho, Uiagalelei and the Ducks turned their focus towards Saturday’s Week 2 showdown with Boise State University, which presented Oregon’s defense with an interesting challenge in the form of Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty.
Jeanty, who was named the Mountain West Conference’s Preseason Offensive Player of the Year, made headlines in Week 1 after carrying the ball 20 times for 267 yards and 6 touchdowns in a 56-45 win over Georgia Southern University.
Jeanty’s performance seemed to motivate Oregon’s defensive preparation. “I feel like it’s a mission to stop him from doing that against us,” defensive tackle Derrick Harmon said during a mid-week interview.
Fellow tackle Jamaree Caldwell compared Jeanty’s ability to absorb contact to that of Oklahoma State University running back Ollie Gordon II, who was voted last year’s Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. Caldwell transferred to Oregon this offseason after two seasons with the University of Houston, against whom Gordon tallied 154 yards and three touchdowns in 2023.
Oregon ultimately defeated Boise State via a last-second field goal, but the Ducks defense was tested all night. Jeanty carried the ball 25 times for 192 yards and three touchdowns, and Oregon only managed to sack quarterback Maddux Madsen a single time.
Jeanty’s biggest play came with 13 minutes remaining, when he ran a simple inside zone through a gaping hole in Oregon’s defensive front. Completely untouched, Jeanty took the ball 70 yards for a touchdown that tied the game at 27. Oregon head coach Dan Lanning described the run as something Jeanty “creates with a lot of teams”.
“You can bottle him up, bottle him up, bottle him up, and then he makes a huge explosive play,” Lanning said.
Although Oregon allowed some big plays as a result of defensive mistakes, defensive lineman Jordan Burch remained optimistic. “We all know we had some mistakes that we gotta clean up but as a whole I feel like everybody played really hard and tried to get the win,” Burch said after Saturday’s game.
With possibly the season’s biggest running threat behind them, Oregon’s defensive front moves forward as a group united by a determination to keep improving. “It’s like family now,” Caldwell said of this year’s defensive line. “[With] a lot of transfers coming in, it takes a little while to get to know a lot of people, but now I can call people as brothers.”
