Six weeks of foundation-laying has built the Buckeyes to this moment.
The difficulty has gradually increased week over week for Ohio State. It opened the season with Akron and Western Michigan, the Buckeyes got a bye, then Marshall came to town to round out a linen sheet-soft non-conference slate. Big Ten play opened with a Michigan State team in rebuild mode, then continued with an Iowa squad that could test the Buckeyes with its run game and defense but never posed a real threat to best them in Columbus.
#3 Oregon
Ducks
But finally, 42 days after Ohio State's 2024 campaign opened against the Zips, the No. 2 Buckeyes will be tested by a team of a similar caliber in No. 3 Oregon.
The Ducks are one of four new Big Ten member schools this season and have quickly established themselves as a contender in the conference. They are one of 12 undefeated teams remaining in the FBS, fresh off a 2023 season in which they were a Pac-12 Championship Game win away from a bid into the final four-team College Football Playoff.
With a 12-team CFP in 2024, the loser of Saturday's contest between the Bucks and Ducks will still be favored to make the tournament for college football's ultimate prize. The winner can probably penciled in already, however, and will have an inside track to the Big Ten Championship Game and a potential first-round bye in said CFP.
Oregon is formidable on both sides of the ball. Some fun history has been included in previous editions of Five Things to Know, but this week, it's all about what's coming on the field.
The Lanning With Planning
Hiring the right head coach might be the most important ingredient for a winning college football recipe, and native Missourian Dan Lanning has looked like a home run hire for Oregon so far.
It's the first top job for Lanning, who is now in his third season at Oregon, but he gained prestige quickly in the coaching ranks as Kirby Smart's defensive coordinator at Georgia from 2019 through 2021. The last of those years resulted in a Bulldogs national championship driven by one of the best defenses in college football history.
Lanning inherited a solid situation from Mario Cristobal when the former Oregon head coach left to take over Miami's program, but a 10-3 2022 season with a win in the Holiday Bowl laid a strong foundation for Lanning’s tenure. His second season got the Ducks thinking about future national championship ambitions as they went 12-2 with both losses coming by exactly three points to Washington, which played for the CFP title in 2023.
Oregon blew out Liberty 45-6 in the Fiesta Bowl as a consolation prize. The Ducks didn't fly out of the gate in 2024, sleepwalking through a 24-14 win over Idaho and barely clinging to a 37-34 victory against now-No. 17 Boise State and Heisman Trophy contender Ashton Jeanty. But Lanning's soldiers have rattled off three straight wins against Power Four opponents by at least 21 points since. A 49-14 shelling of rival Oregon State was followed by a 34-13 win at UCLA and a 31-10 win last week over Michigan State.
16,000 Yards
With Bo Nix off to the NFL, Oregon turned to the transfer portal for an answer at quarterback and found about the most experienced option one could ever ask for.
Dillon Gabriel is a starting quarterback for an unprecedented sixth season at his third different school. This is made possible by a COVID-19 waiver and a medical redshirt taken in 2021 after he broke his clavicle. Gabriel's 16,314 career passing yards are the fourth-most in NCAA history, and he's got a long shot at breaking former Houston quarterback Case Keenum's record of 19,217. Beating out former Hawaii quarterback Tommy Chang's 17,072 career yards for second place should be a formality if Gabriel stays healthy this season.
Gabriel's 136 career passing touchdowns are third all-time, with Keenum again the record-holder at 155.
He started as a freshman in 2019 at UCF and posted back-to-back 3,500-yard seasons before his season-ending injury in 2021. He transferred to Oklahoma and had a down year in 2022 before completing 69.3% of his passes for 3,660 yards and 30 touchdowns with just six interceptions in 2023.
His efficiency in 2024 has been breathtaking. Gabriel has completed 77.8% of his throws, leading the nation. He's got 1,449 passing yards thus far, with 11 touchdowns and three interceptions. His yards per pass attempt has hovered around his career mark, with 8.7 per toss.
Gabriel is also a threat to run, with 1,131 career rushing yards and 29 scores on the ground. He's currently fifth in Heisman odds on DraftKings, and he’d boost his chances with a big performance against the Buckeyes.
Weapons, Weapons Everywhere
Completing more than three-quarters of one's throws becomes easier when there's a garage full of Lamborghinis to help drive the offense. Outside Ohio State's top three of Emeka Egbuka, Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate, it's hard to find a starting trio of receivers better than Oregon's.
Tez Johnson, a 2023 Troy transfer who gobbled up 1,182 yards and 10 touchdowns for the Ducks that season and already has 43 receptions for 395 yards and five scores in 2024, will be in the conversation for the Biletnikoff Award at year’s end. He's added a punt return touchdown just for kicks.
PUNT RETURN TD FOR TEZ JOHNSON @oregonfootball takes the lead pic.twitter.com/gi0pjUwU8w
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 8, 2024
Former Alabama wideout Traeshon Holden has emerged as the second option behind Johnson, with 19 catches for 274 yards and three touchdowns this year. Evan Stewart, a first-year Duck who had 1,163 receiving yards across 18 games in two years at Texas A&M, rounds out the starting trio. He's got 16 catches for 182 yards in 2024.
All the attention can't be paid to those three, however, because Oregon also has one of the nation's best tight ends in senior Terrance Ferguson. Already with two 390-yard campaigns under his belt, Ferguson is off to his fastest start yet this year with 16 receptions for 259 yards.
Ohio State held college football's No. 1 passing defense in 2023 and returned four of five starters from its secondary before adding the nation's No. 1 transfer in Caleb Downs as its fifth starter at free safety. The Buckeyes are No. 4 in passing yards allowed per game (129.8) and No. 8 in yards allowed per pass attempt (5.5) this season, but the Ducks can attack them through the air like few have in the past two years.
The Ducks also have a productive running back in Jordan James, who has 552 rushing yards and five touchdowns at a clip of 6.3 yards per carry in 2024.
Staunch Defense
Defensive end Jordan Burch spearheads Oregon's defensive front. (Photo: Troy Wayrynen – Imagn Images)
Lanning's a defensive-minded coach, and if it weren't for Boise State's 34-point outing on the back of a 192-yard day from Jeanty – one of four 180-yard games he's posted this season – Oregon would rank alongside Ohio State as one of the best defenses in college football in 2024.
The big four statistics are still good with that game against the Broncos. The Ducks have allowed 17 points per game (21st in the country), 263.4 yards per game (11th), 101.4 rushing yards per game (24th) and 162 passing yards per game (18th).
Linebacker Bryce Boettcher is Oregon's tone-setter with a team-high 32 tackles and an interception. Defensive end Jordan Burch is responsible for more disruption than any other Oregon player with 19 tackles, a team-high seven tackles for loss and five sacks, four pass breakups and a fumble recovery.
Another vaunted defensive tackle tandem awaits Ohio State's interior offensive line after it took on Iowa's Aaron Graves and Yahya Black last week, with nose guard Jamaree Caldwell and former Michigan State gap-eater Derrick Harmon plugging the middle. Caldwell weighs in at 340 pounds while Harmon is 310. Harmon, who Ohio State also pursued when he entered the transfer portal, has enjoyed a highly productive season for a DT thus far with 19 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.
As a team, the Ducks rank 16th in college football with 16 sacks on the season.
Don't discount Oregon's secondary either. The Ducks are No. 2 nationally in passes defended with 37. Cornerback Jabbar Muhammad is responsible for a team-high six of those.
OL Questions
Even with James' success running the football, Oregon has only averaged 4.6 yards per carry as a team, which ranks 68th in the FBS. The Ducks have yielded seven sacks (40th) and 24 tackles for loss (45th).
Those numbers are mediocre relative to the national landscape, but when trying to battle against a roster that looks as complete as Ohio State's, there's a potential weakness to exploit in Oregon's offensive line. There's a bit of patchwork that had to happen in building the starting unit, and the Ducks have finished three separate games under 4.5 yards per carry.
Left tackle Josh Conerly Jr. is a returning starter from a year ago but left guard Nishad Strother is an East Carolina transfer, and though he's experienced, it's his first year at the Power Four level. A player should never be judged on Pro Football Focus grade alone, but Strother graded out below a 60 in his last two games and is at 68.6 for the season.
Iapani Laloulu flashed and started in the Fiesta Bowl as a freshman last year but is still inexperienced in manning the middle of the line at center, and his PFF grade is even lower than Strother's at 65. Marcus Harper II, who started at left guard for the past two seasons, moved over to right guard after Indiana transfer Matthew Bedford suffered a knee injury that has sidelined him so far this season. Oregon does have a stalwart right tackle in Ajani Cornelius, a former Ohio State transfer portal target before it landed Josh Simmons in the 2023 offseason.
Oregon averaged just 4.3 yards per carry at UCLA two weeks ago but saw an uptick to 5.8 per attempt against Michigan State, surrendering no sacks to the Spartans. If Ohio State's defensive line can win the trench battle, it could be the edge the Buckeyes need in Eugene.
