Oregon
Beaver believers think No. 18 Oregon State is ready to compete for the Pac-12 title
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) — When Jonathan Smith returned to his alma mater, the goal was to rebuild Oregon State to where the Beavers are now.
Competitive? Smith and the Beavers have already proven that. Contenders? That’s the expectation No. 18 Oregon State will carry into this season – the last one with the Pac-12 in its current state.
“You want to embrace the expectations. It can be a distraction either way — people telling you you’re no good or telling you that you’re really good,” Smith said. “But you’d rather be on the side where you’ve built something to where people are telling you that you’ve got a chance to be good, understanding how hard it is to win.”
Oregon State went 10-3 last season and returns its most talented team since Smith arrived in 2018 to take over a program that had been 1-11 the previous season amid coaching turmoil.
Additionally, the Beavers will be playing their home games inside renovated Reser Stadium after their home field spent most of last year as a construction zone.
“It was rocking in there with only half a stadium,” wide receiver Anthony Gould said. “It’s going to be fun when that new stadium is opened up.”
The Beavers are hoping the product on the field can keep the remodeled stadium rocking like it did a season ago when Oregon State won seven of its final eight games, including a rivalry win over Oregon and a 30-3 thumping of Florida in the Las Vegas Bowl.
Most of the attention will be at quarterback, where Clemson transfer DJ Uiagalelei seems likely to win the starting job. The Beavers also bring back Ben Gulbranson, who went 7-1 as the starter last season and was MVP of the bowl game. Thrown into the mix is freshman Aidan Chiles, who enrolled last winter and was impressive during spring practices.
While it seems Uiagalelei will get the majority of snaps, the Beavers offense will be driven by the deepest crew of running backs in the conference, highlighted by Damien Martinez.
Defensively, Oregon State led the Pac-12 in scoring and total defense last season, but will need to fill some key vacancies to match the numbers from 2022.
QB QUESTION
Uiagalelei was one of the biggest names in the transfer portal during the offseason and his arrival in Corvallis was seen as a coup for the Beavers. Uiagalelei started 28 games in his three seasons at Clemson and threw for 2,521 yards and 22 touchdowns last season. But shaky play late in the season led to Uiagalelei being benched.
“Some of his physicality, I mean just his strength, the size of him, he can move his feet, that is a little bit different than we’ve had around here in a long time,” Smith said.
If Uiagalelei falters, the Beavers saw what Gulbranson could do in the offense last season, including the bowl game win over Florida when he threw for one TD and ran for another. Chiles is the wild card but seems unlikely to play immediately.
CHAPTER TWO
Martinez was the Pac-12 offensive freshman of the year after rushing for 982 yards and seven touchdowns, but most of those yards came starting with Oregon State’s seventh game. Martinez had six straight games where he ran for at least 100 yards, including a career-best 178 yards and three touchdowns against Colorado.
Martinez enters this season as the clear leader. Oregon State also has Deshaun Fenwick, who rushed for 553 yards and seven TDs, and Jamious Griffin, who added 488 yards and four TDs. All told, it creates the deepest running back unit in the conference.
STAYING ON TOP
A year ago, the best defense in the Pac-12 belonged to the Beavers. Oregon State allowed barely 100 yards per game rushing, and a conference-best 20 points and 332 yards per game in total offense. The Beavers return safety Kitan Oladapo and interior linemen Isaac Hodgins and James Rawls. The question is at linebacker where star Omar Speights transferred to LSU.
ROAD AHEAD
The schedule sets up for Oregon State to have a big season. The Beavers’ nonconference schedule doesn’t feature a Power Five opponent before opening conference play with a showdown at Washington State. From there, the Beavers’ biggest Pac-12 matchups take place at home with Oregon State hosting No. 14 Utah, UCLA and No. 10 Washington before closing the regular season in Eugene against rival Oregon. It will be the final time the Ducks and Beavers meet as conference foes.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
Oregon
Foothills of the Northern Blue Mountains of Oregon under a high wind watch Monday and Tuesday
The National Weather Service issued a high wind watch at 9:29 p.m. on Sunday valid from Monday 4 p.m. until Tuesday 10 a.m. for Foothills of the Northern Blue Mountains of Oregon.
The weather service states, “Southeast winds 25 to 40 mph with gusts of 45 to 65 mph possible for the base of the northern Blue Mountains of Oregon.”
“Damaging winds could blow down trees and power lines. Widespread power outages are possible. Travel could be difficult, especially for high profile vehicles,” describes the weather service. “Monitor the latest forecasts and warnings for updates.”
Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service.
No. 1 Oregon will face No. 8 Ohio State in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.
With the rematch officially set, we’re taking a look back at the path the Ducks (13-0) took to reach the CFP as the top seed.
The season began with a clunky 24-14 win over Idaho. The right side of the offensive line was responsible for multiple penalties and three sacks to an FCS opponent that made for an unnecessarily difficult opener, even as Dillon Gabriel threw for 380 yards with two touchdowns to Tez Johnson.
Special teams rescued the Ducks in a 37-34 comeback over Boise State. Ashton Jeanty had 192 yards and three touchdowns to legitimize his Heisman candidacy. An 85-yard punt return touchdown by Johnson and a 100-yard kickoff return by Noah Whittington and recovery in the end zone by Jayden Limar erased a fourth quarter deficit. The offensive line made constant changes while allowing four sacks and committing five penalties in the unit’s most disjointed performance in years.
The early issues up front were gone as Iapani Laloulu took over at center in a 49-14 plastering of Oregon State. Gabriel threw for two touchdowns and ran for one as the offense gained 546 yards with 10 plays of 20-plus. The defense shutdown the Beavers ground game in the second half and UO secured its first win in Corvallis since 2018.
Following its first bye week of the season, Oregon officially opened Big Ten play at UCLA with a 34-13 rout at the Rose Bowl. A 28-3 lead was more than enough for the Ducks to coast and they held the Bruins to just 47 rushing yards.
Jordan James and Jordan Burch took center stage in a 31-10 Friday night drubbing of Michigan State at Autzen Stadium. James had 166 yards and a touchdown and Burch had 2.5 sacks and recovered a fumble. Two red zone interceptions by Gabriel made things briefly more competitive but the Ducks pulled away to setup a clash of undefeated titans.
The Oct. 12 game with Ohio State lived up to the billing as the top game of the season. There were seven lead changes in the 32-31 Ducks win over the Buckeyes, who were driving in the closing seconds and Will Howard slid at the UO 26 with time expiring. A deliberate 12 men on the field penalty by Oregon led to an in-season rules interpretation by the NCAA and provided further evidence of Dan Lanning’s preparation relative to Ryan Day. Even without Burch, who suffered a knee injury two days before the game, the Ducks were able to generate some pressure on Howard.
A Friday night trip to West Lafayette, Ind. will be remembered as Oregon’s first shutout since 2012. Purdue was hapless, throwing for less than 100 yards. Even with Traeshon Holden suspended and Terrance Ferguson out following an appendectomy, the Ducks were vastly better in every facet.
A 38-9 blowout of Illinois was filled with physicality in all phases. The defense had seven tackles for loss with three sacks, two interceptions and eight pass breakups to help build a 35-3 halftime lead.
Ferguson and Burch returned in a 38-17 beat down of Michigan at the Big House. The Ducks also suffered injuries to Johnson and Marcus Harper II but still managed to gain 470 yards and did not allow a sack against one of the best defensive lines in college football.
Gabriel broke the NCAA career touchdown record in a 39-18 win over Maryland. A season-high 12 penalties, particularly a couple of pass interference calls in the end zone, made the game more competitive than it truly was and Burch sprained his ankle.
Another fourth quarter comeback was required to escape Wisconsin with a 16-13 win. Gabriel found Ferguson on fourth and nine to open the fourth quarter and the defense closed it out with back-to-back three-and-outs, a fourth down stop and interception by Matayo Uiagalelei to cap an eighth straight conference win in as many weeks.
The second bye week allowed for Johnson to return for a 49-21 rout of Washington to cap a 12-0 regular season with Dan Lanning’s first win in the rivalry. Burch had 2.5 of Oregon’s 10 sacks and Uiagalelei had two. The Huskies ran for just 43 yards and could not stretch the field vertically.
A battle of top 10 defenses instead was a shootout in the Big Ten championship game, which Oregon won over Penn State 45-37 at Lucas Oil Stadium. Gabriel threw four touchdowns, with three going to tight ends, and the defense had two interceptions to help secure the conference title, No. 1 seed in the CFP and Rose Bowl berth.
CFP quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl
- Who: No. 1 Oregon Ducks (13-0) vs. No. 8 Ohio State (11-2)
- When: Wednesday, Jan. 1
- Time: 2 p.m. PT
- Where: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
- TV channel: ESPN
- Stream: You can watch this game live for FREE with Fubo (free trial) or by signing up for Sling (cheapest streaming plans, $25 off your first month). If you already have cable, you can also watch this game live on Watch ESPN with your cable or satellite provider login information.
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— James Crepea covers the Oregon Ducks and Big Ten. Listen to the Ducks Confidential podcast or subscribe to the Ducks Roundup newsletter.
The Oregon Ducks will face the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1. The Buckeyes handled business in the first round of the College Football Playoff and will now face the Ducks in the quarterfinals. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. PT on New Year’s Day.
What do the Vegas oddsmakers say about the upcoming matchup between Oregon and Ohio State?
The Oregon Ducks and Ohio State Buckeyes will play in the Rose Bowl for a trip to the College Football Playoff semifinals. The Buckeyes are coming off a 42-17 dismantling of the Tennessee Volunteers in the first round of the CFP. That performance was enough for Ohio State to now be a slight favorite over the No. 1 ranked Oregon Ducks.
It’s nearly a pick ‘em, but Ohio State is a one-point favorite as of now. The over/under is set at 53.5 points.
The odds makers have loved the Buckeyes all season, and they still do. Not only is Ohio State a slight favorite over Oregon, they also have better odds to win the national championship.
Texas is the overall favorite to win the national championship with odds of +340. Ohio State has the second best odds of +380. Oregon is third with odds of +400.
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Oregon and Ohio State treated the country to one of the best games of the 2024 regular season when they played in October. The Ducks outlasted the Buckeyes in a 32-31 thriller at Autzen Stadium in Eugene.
The Ducks were underdogs in that game too, but prevailed and won outright. Now, the two will play against each other in the “Granddaddy of Them All” in the Rose Bowl. The winner will play the winner of the Texas-Arizona State game in the semi-finals.
What are the other games in the quarterfinal slate?
The quarterfinals in the College Football Playoff will kick off when No. 3 Boise State plays No. 6 Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl at 4:30 p.m. PT on Dec. 31.
The New Year will start off with No. 5 Texas and No. 4 Arizona State in the Peach Bowl at 10 a.m. PT on Jan. 1.
Following the Rose Bowl between Oregon and Ohio State to finish off the quarterfinals is No. 2 Georgia and No. 7 Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl at 5:45 p.m. PT on New Year’s Day.
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