With the start of a new season comes hope, but it also brings a burgeoning expectation from the hundreds of thousands of Oregon athletes, students and fans worldwide. Before conference play begins, head coach Dan Lanning and the team find themselves faced with three crucial games against unfamiliar opponents: games that could prove key to their success in the Pac-12.
The Ducks enter their first gameday at No. 15 in the preseason A.P. poll, historically the most-trusted barometer of teams’ relative strength. While they rose as high as sixth last year in the midst of an impressive run that included wins over Colorado, Cal and UCLA, an injury to quarterback Bo Nix ultimately curtailed what could’ve been a run at the Pac-12 Championship game.
Last year, Oregon overcame an opening-day loss to No. 3 Georgia by going eight unbeaten on the way to postseason candidacy, something they’ll look to replicate in 2023. They locked in their head coach on July 27, handing Lanning a five year extension after a successful 2022. In his sophomore year, Coach Lanning will have the opportunity to improve upon an already exciting first year that saw the team post a 10-3 record on their way to a Holiday Bowl victory over the University of North Carolina. He’ll return alongside the star quarterback-receiver duo of Nix and Troy Franklin, both of whom will play important roles in their second seasons at Autzen Stadium.
This year, they’ll need to take advantage of an opening salvo of three games against out-of-conference opponents — Portland State, Texas Tech and Hawaii. They could enter their Oct. 14 matchup with the No. 10 ranked Washington Huskies with a month of good form under their belts. In Lanning’s words, “The only way you get in football shape is playing football.” That’s what these first three games mean to the Ducks: a chance to enter Pac-12 play without a doubt in their minds.
To do so, they’ll need to make adjustments: joining Lanning in 2023 is a new offensive coordinator for the Ducks, Will Stein. Stein, previously of the University of Texas at San Antonio, made his excitement clear, saying, “Oregon has become synonymous with explosive offense and dynamic playmakers.” Those three games give the team a chance to gel with Stein’s offense and ensure that the “explosive” plays return.
In preseason, Lanning discussed his expectation through multiple position groups that he believes can help the Ducks race into the season. He highlighted his running backs, saying “We have multiple guys in that room that can push to play a lot of snaps … we want to use as many guys that can play for us at a high level [as we can].”
They’ll return three of their backs from last year’s successful go-around — Bucky Irving (1,058 yards, 5 TD), Noah Whittington (779 yards, 5 TD) and Jordan James (189 yards, 5 TD) — while adding Dante Dowdell and Jayden Limar to a group that could be the key to Oregon’s next level.
Running backs coach Carlos Locklyn told media in April that Irving and Whittington will be key to his plans for success in 2023, saying that, “I’m pressing on them more to become leaders. The football part, I’m gonna help them take care of it. I’m gonna help them with that. But the biggest part is helping them become better leaders, showing the young guys the standard, what the standard is.”
Lanning echoed Locklyn’s sentiment as he spoke on the first day of training camp, saying, “Your veterans have to serve as some of your coaches, right? They have to help guys, they have to help bring guys along, too. And that’s certainly an expectation for us that these guys that have been through this, they gotta be able to pull some young guys along with them.”
One of those veterans is now Nix, who’ll enter his second and final season with the Ducks as one of the nation’s top-ranked quarterbacks across several polls. A 2022 transfer from Auburn, Nix posted 3,593 yards and 29 touchdowns before suffering a knee injury against Washington, leading him into potential Heisman candidacy. However, this year he’s come back even more focused.
In an interview with Pro Football Focus, when asked about the opportunity to compete for the Heisman Trophy, Nix said, “Yes, it’s a goal, like being a draft pick, but one of my ultimate goals right now is to win a championship … Team success always ends up in individual success. Ultimately, I want to win a championship for Oregon and go out and do something in college football.” That mentality, especially early in the season, is what Lanning and his staff hope will lead the Ducks to success early in 2023.
