The Oregon Ducks are entering year three under coach Dan Lanning with championship-sized hopes and expectations. The 2024 college football season is brimming with change, as Oregon joins the Big Ten conference in the first season of the expanded 12-team format for the College Football Playoff.

Lanning and the Ducks boast an impressive roster of veterans plus the addition of the Big Ten’s best transfer class. Transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel, wide receiver Evan Stewart, cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, defensive lineman Derrick Harmon and defensive lineman Jamaree Caldwell are already making their presence felt in Eugene.

Stewart and returner Tez Johnson lead a wide receiver unit that could be the best in the country. What does Stewart want in 2024?

“That ball, man. I’m trying to get those passes,” Stewart said after practice this spring. “Oregon suited everything that I was looking for. I wanted to bein a great program that had a lot of order and construction. Everything is so much better here, honestly, I’m happy with my decision.”

The Ducks are confident in their abilities to compete against the likes of Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State and others in the Big Ten. Oregon has the third-best odds to make the College Football Playoff, trailing only Ohio State and Georgia.

Lanning hopes to build on his success during his two seasons as head coach. Lanning’s 22-5 record and two bowl game victories are a product of the old adage, practice makes perfect.

“It’s so competitive (at practice),” Johnson told Oregon Sports Illustrated’s Bri Amaranthus. “You would think we’re out there in a national championship game playing against whoever – we’re so intense at practice.”

Are the Ducks National Championship bound? Oregon reaches the semifinals to face the Ohio State Buckeyes, but loses to fall short of the title game, in a new prediction from CBS Sports below:

FIRST ROUND

No. 12  Liberty at No. 5 Oregon

The prediction here is that Oregon earns the No. 5 seed in their first season in the Big Ten. The Ducks have a rematch in the first round of the College Football Playoff against the Liberty Flames who are projected to finish undefeated again.

No. 4 Kansas State vs. No. 5 Oregon (Fiesta Bowl) 

Oregon would face the winner of the Big 12, in this case the Kansas State Wildcats.

No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 5 Oregon (Orange Bowl)

If this matchup is to happen, it’d likely be the third time the Ducks face Ryan Day’s Buckeyes: A regular season matchup in Autzen Stadium, a Big Ten Championship showdown and then the Semifinals game. Can you imagine the drama?

From there… the prediction is No. 1 Ohio State vs. No. 2 Georgia in the National Championship game.

PORTLAND, Ore (KPTV) – The state of Oregon is making strides to help accommodate people who are the most vulnerable to the heat.

The Oregon Health Authority said in the span of several months they’ve been able to distribute potentially lifesaving equipment to nearly one thousand people.

Over the past several years, OHA said the Pacific Northwest has been seeing weather like never before.

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“Oregon has recorded it’s hottest days in state history over the past five years,” said Dave Baden, OHA’s Deputy Director for Policy and Programs. “The climate models show the severity of heatwaves is likely to increase.”

Baden said OHA is trying a federal first for Oregon Health Plan members. He said Medicaid funds are being directed as a benefit to qualifying members, who are receiving long-term heat-related help with the installation of potentially life-saving equipment like air conditioning units or refrigerators to keep medications cool.

Baden said the program will last for at least a couple of years.

Oregon Health Plan members can call +1 (888) 834-4304 or email ORHRSN@acentra.com to see if they are eligible for heat-related equipment.

Some Portlanders might also qualify for an air conditioning unit. https://www.portland.gov/bps/cleanenergy/how-request-cooling-unit

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PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – It’s only the first week of July, and fire season is already well underway in the Pacific Northwest.

The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) held its annual fire boss training on Tuesday with local employees and firefighters to make sure resources on both the air and the ground are prepared for the coming days.

Ground crews made up of employees from ODF and the Hillsboro and Clackamas Fire Departments got the chance to practice communicating with planes about where exactly to drop water on fires.

A pair of Air Tractor 802′s, normally used for agriculture purposes, flew over Hagg Lake to demonstrate scooping up the hundreds of gallons of water–normally about 600 gallons for each plane.

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“More so now than at any time in my career, the wildland fire environment is changing,” said long-time ODF employee Wally Waible, who participated in the training.

“We require various resources, and aviation is becoming more and more important for us in what we do…we’re here to learn how to call in drops and how to communicate with them best,” he said. “We have to put ourselves in their shoes and try to describe it in the best way possible for them to understand what it is that we want.”

Pilot Aaron Vince said it’s a satisfying feeling to drop water exactly where the ground crews were hoping. But sometimes, it’s difficult to communicate.

“Sometimes you have to interpret what they’re saying as, ‘I think he really wants this’, and you go and give him a drop and see if you’re on the same page,” he said.

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A number of elements make it harder every year for these crews to do their jobs.

“Increase in fire activity and decrease in personnel,” Vince said. “It’s like really hard to find pilots right now and I also understand it’s the same for ground resources.”

“With record high temperatures in early July, just continue to compound, and as we get into later in the summer, things are going to get hot and dry and continue to elevate in fire danger,” said Neal Laugle, the State Aviation Manager with the Oregon Department of Forestry.

ODF employees said they are not expecting this fire season to be worse than years past, but they know flames are unpredictable.

“My boss always says, ‘ask me in October, and I’ll tell you how fire season went,’” Waible said.

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