EUGENE — At the top of the stairs leading away from practice fields in the Hatfield Dowlin Complex, Oregon Ducks football players pass in waves. Another day of fall camp in the books.
Fresh out of the cold tub, linebacker Jestin Jacobs discusses the physicality of the Big Ten — a conference he’s all-too familiar with, having transferred to Oregon from Iowa following the 2022 season. Jacobs is an imposing presence at 6-foot-4, 235 pounds, but is quickly cut down to size by teammates walking by.
“Oh my gosh,” bellows the voice of fellow inside linebacker Jeffrey Bassa. “It’s Jestin Jacobs.”
“You’re a beast, bro,” center Iapani Laloulu quips. “You’re my idol.”
A wide grin spreads across Jacobs’ face. And he has more than just his teammates’ jests to smile about: Jacobs is fully healthy after missing the first half of Oregon’s 2023 season due to injury. Bassa has said he envisions himself and Jacobs being the best linebacker duo in the country.
Lofty expectations are the norm around this Ducks football team.
“We talked about that when I first got here, because that is the standard,” Jacobs said. “You don’t play football to be mediocre or be in the middle. You play to be the best. Last year, with me missing the games, we got off to a slow start. But this year we had a full offseason, we’ve been around each other for a year, took trips together and became close.
“So, now, it’s time to put the pieces together and become the best linebacker duo in the nation. It’s not just something we say. It’s something we want to achieve and need to achieve.”
Jacobs grew up in Dayton, Ohio, eager to find new experiences elsewhere by the time his decorated high school career was over. As a four-star recruit, he signed with Iowa after fielding offers from a range of programs, including Ohio State.
“It’s kind of what I wanted when I was in high school, to be somewhere else,” Jacobs said. “Being in Ohio for 18 years, if anybody’s been to Ohio, they know there ain’t a lot to do. I wanted to go explore the world and meet new people.”
It wasn’t for lack of support that Jacobs wanted to spread his wings: His father, Seth, raised Jacobs on his own for the most part and was in his son’s corner from the time he started playing football in first grade. Jacobs’ dad pushed him on the field while also serving as a role model and “hero” off of it. And Jacobs lived by the lessons his father imparted. It wasn’t just talk.
Jacobs was an Oregon fan, too. He said that as a kid, he loved watching Marcus Mariota and company whenever they’d dazzle on national television — which was often. When he first arrived in Eugene, Jacobs spoke about the oddity of being an Oregon fan surrounded by Ohio State fans.
That game between the Buckeyes and Ducks on Oct. 12 — circled over and over again on the calendars of many college football fans — should bring back some of those emotions for Jacobs, who also took an official visit to Columbus as a high schooler.
One thing is for certain: Jacobs and Bassa say they welcome what will be a steep challenge against a high-powered Ohio State offense. And they give the impression they’re built for it, physically and mentally.
“Really smart, really intelligent guy,” Bassa said of Jacobs. “Sideline to sideline backer. I love having him in my room and I love playing next to him. Me and him outside of the facility hang out a lot and have become really close. Going out to eat, stuff like that. Building that type of bond.”
With health no longer a pressing concern, Jacobs can focus on deepening that bond with teammates like Bassa and improving on the field where coaches see fit. Pad level is something Oregon linebackers coach Brian Michalowski noted as a point of emphasis for Jacobs this fall.
But it is the friendships and joy this team provides — amid all the hype and expectations — that Jacobs seems to value most. Particularly after clearing the mental hurdles of his prior injury.
“Just coming in every day, laughing in the locker room,” Jacobs said. “Coming in, we know we have to work every day, but it doesn’t seem like work. Everybody is in the locker room laughing and connecting with one another. One of our biggest pillars is connection, and I feel like we’re really connecting. Just being brothers.”
— Ryan Clarke covers the Oregon Ducks and Big Ten Conference for The Oregonian and co-hosts the Soccer Made in Portland and Ducks Confidential podcasts. He can be reached at rclarke@oregonian.com or @RyanTClarke.
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No. 6 Oregon beat Washington 26-14 on Saturday at Husky Stadium.
Here are 10 takeaways from the game as the Ducks (11-1, 8-1 Big Ten) prepare for the College Football Playoff.
1) Exorcising demons
Oregon was supposed to win. Washington was no match, didn’t have the talent to hang and didn’t coach aggressively enough to make up the difference.
However, the Ducks still faced the pressure of needing to win, on the road, or face the possibility of the next month being about the Holiday Bowl. As Dan Lanning said postgame, there’s the teams that get to keep playing in “the real one” and those that don’t.
Given Lanning’s first two years in this rivalry, another loss given the talent gap and what was on the line would have been devastating. This wasn’t a bad Washington team, but not a particularly good one either. Kalen DeBoer isn’t on that sideline. Nor are Rome Oduze or Michael Penix Jr.
But the Ducks have been and were again limited by injury, particularly on offense. Yet they scored more than any team against Washington this season, and could have had far more. Oregon was turnover free and made more big plays.
The criticism Lanning received in loss to UW in 2022 and 2023, particularly about his aggressiveness on fourth downs, was countered with effective fourth downs and taking points when necessary to secure one of the most meaningful wins of his tenure.
2) Malik Benson’s catch will live in lore
Benson has been on the receiving end of the biggest plays of Oregon’s season. The 64-yard touchdown to seal a playoff spot should stand the test of time.
Washington had all the momentum after cutting the deficit to 19-14. Third and nine from the UO 36 and Benson finds an opening in UW’s zone, then turns on the jets to blaze past defenders and break the game.
For a player who admittedly knew nothing about the rivalry when he got here, Benson had the kind of performance that can and should be remembered long into its future.
3) Moore settled in for a big performance
It was a slow start for both quarterbacks, but once Moore settled in he made some big throws and smart decisions when running. He just missed on an early throw to Jeremiah McClellan and completely didn’t see a corner blitz that was obvious. After that, Moore was nails, going 17 of his next 20, with two incompletions to Kenyon Sadiq that were off his hands and just out of bounds.
If Moore’s statline were had by Fernando Mendoza, Julian Sayin or Ty Simpson in their respective rivalry games, it would be celebrated as Heisman worthy.
4) Will Stein’s creativity is masking deficiencies
Stein was again deep into his playbook. Oregon’s wide use of personnel packages is nothing new, but Stein used even more formations, played more receivers and tight ends in the backfield, covered receivers and did plenty of other things to make for a difficult game of chess.
Given how handcuffed Oregon’s offense is by injuries at receiver, then having two tight ends each briefly go out, the production it’s been getting is fairly remarkable. It won’t be remembered as the best offensive day because of four field goals, but there are lots of lesser play-callers who would not have gotten nearly as much out of what Stein has to work with right now.
5) Atticus Sappington is making people forget
Sappington had another big game on the road and deserves every bit of accolades that come his way.
He’s the first Oregon player with four made field goals in a game since Aidan Schneider on Oct. 29, 2016, vs. Arizona State, and first to go 4-for-4 in a game since Schneider on Sept. 19, 2015, vs. Georgia State. Add his career-long 51-yarder as context and Sappington is the first UO player to go 4-for-4 on field goals with a long of at least 50 yards since at least 1996.
Sappington’s misses earlier in the season are long forgotten about.
6) Dillon Thieneman delivered again
Teams didn’t test Thieneman early in the season. But again two of the top three opposing quarterbacks of the season he’s had two of his best games. Thieneman made plays all over the field and was once again one of Oregon’s best defenders. Given the caliber of matchups ahead in the playoffs this is the kind of play the Ducks need from their best safety.
7) Washington’s two best plays were touchdowns
The Huskies didn’t move the ball particularly well. But once inside the red zone, even they managed to find the end zone against the Ducks.
Demond Williams Jr. found Denzel Boston on both scores, the first on a pick play and the second on a long crossing route, each with Theran Johnson in coverage. It’s hard to fault Johnson in either instance, as even the crossing route had a pick of sorts.
Oregon later countered on UW’s late fourth and three by having Brendon Finney Jr. on Boston, who was stopped just shy of the first down.
8) Kenyon Sadiq had a better blocking day than receiving
By any measure, this was a tough game for Sadiq in terms of receiving. He had two balls go off his hands and a diving catch that was out of bounds. His offensive and receiving grades were brutal.
But the junior tight end did not allow that to impact his blocking, which was still effective and at times critical. He walled off the safety on Benson’s touchdown and created other lanes as well.
9) Devon Jackson’s role is declining
Jackson played his fewest snaps of the season and wasn’t on special teams. He’s in his second game back from injury, but hasn’t been the same player as a year ago.
Jerry Mixon Jr. is clearly LB2. Jackson’s spot as LB3 can’t be secure with what Dylan Williams and Brayden Platt have each shown.
10) Teitum Tuioti is quietly having a big year
Tuioti is on his way not only to a career season, but an all-Big Ten year. He’s up to 57 tackles, one shy of his career best, with 13.5 for loss including seven sacks. That’s tied for second in the Big Ten in TFLs and fifth in sacks.
It could be argued that Tuioti is having a better season than Matayo Uiagalelei did last year. Because there is no Jordan Burch on the other side to take attention away from Tuioti. Uiagalelei is being schemed out by some opponents and simply not generating havoc in other instances.
11) Jamari Johnson is showing extreme upside
Johnson’s November to remember continued. He had 14 catches for 187 yards over the last four games. He should pass Sadiq’s production from last season, which is good for this season and potentially enormous for the future.
12) The run game has to adjust to loaded boxes
It came as no surprise that Washington loaded the box. Ryan Walters was utilizing five-man lines a lot this season with good results. Still, Oregon didn’t have great answers for it and will need to as better teams will look to capitalize on this.
Other times, UO’s gains were limited by good tackling in space that prevented longer runs.
13) Effort penalties
Oregon had two discipline-related penalties that are a matter of perspective. Lanning wasn’t thrilled with either postgame.
Daylen Austin was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for a late shove of a Washington gunner on a punt. However, the ball was bouncing and UO rightly tried to get the UW player to touch the ball. Washington’s player pushed Jadon Canady, understandably, and Austin pushed him back. In plenty of other rivalry games this would go uncalled and chalked up to the intensity of the moment.
Alex Harkey’s personal foul for blocking a player well out of bounds was obvious as far as calls go. But even Gary Danielson said he wouldn’t fault an offensive lineman who found a second defender to block on a play for taking that defender for a ride. It’s also completely on brand for Harkey, who has shown all season that he’s a nasty run blocker.
14) The future of the rivalry appears bright
With most of the top jobs filled and Jedd Fisch still in Seattle it appears Washington has stability. If he can retain Williams and the freshmen who made several huge plays, particularly on defense, the Huskies are trending towards being more competitive.
Jedd Fisch wasn’t able to send the Washington Huskies’ seniors off with a victory, as his team fell 26-14 to the No. 5 Oregon Ducks on Saturday afternoon.
As sophomore quarterback Demond Williams Jr. struggled, completing just 50 percent of his passes for 129 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions, the Huskies dropped to 8-4 on the season and 1-3 against ranked opponents.
Among the 23 players who walked on senior day that were hoping to go out with a victory were running back Jonah Coleman, wide receiver Denzel Boston, offensive linemen Carver Willis and Geirean Hatchett, defensive linemen Ta’ita’i Uiagalelei and Anterio Thompson, and cornerbacks Tacario Davis and Ephesians Prysock. After the game, Fisch took some time to acknowledge what all the seniors have meant to his program.
“Couldn’t be prouder of them, the way they’ve handled themselves,” Fisch said. “A lot of them have been with me and our staff for four years, from the time we recruited in high school at a different school. 2022, were a part of changing an entire culture, and really changed it twice.”
“I want to appreciate the guys that stayed here when we arrived and bought into what we were trying to get done, and have become team leaders and captains. I appreciate the guys that just transferred in this year and were a part of a good season, proud of those guys and appreciate those guys as well.”
Since his arrival, Fisch has done an impressive job upgrading the talent on Montlake after Kalen DeBoer’s departure for Alabama left the cupboards bare. While some of those promising building blocks were apparent in the loss, like running back Adam Mohammed, wide receiver Dezmen Roebuck, offensive lineman John Mills, linebacker Zaydrius Rainey-Sale, and cornerback Dylan Robinson, Saturday’s game also showed that the Huskies still have some maturing to do before they can compete with the top teams in the Big Ten.
“That’s kind of the way it works…you lose big, then you lose small, then you win small, then you win big,” Fisch said. “That’s kind of the progression of how these turnarounds occur, or how these builds occur. I think we had some interesting ‘win bigs’ throughout the year, but these types of games, against the top ten teams, they’re challenging, and they’re going to be like this.”
A special weather statement was issued by the National Weather Service on Saturday at 11:39 p.m. until Sunday at 4 a.m. for North Central Oregon and Central Oregon.
“Patchy dense fog will reduce visibilities to one quarter of a mile or less in the city of Bend and portions of US-97, US-197, and US-20. If you are driving, slow down, use low beam headlights and allow for extra space between your vehicle and those around you,” according to the weather service.
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