Predicting every game on the 2024 college football schedule for the Oregon Ducks

It is always fun to look at the upcoming schedule of the Oregon Ducks and one marvellous to know that the actual season is near. Oregon is going to face a schedule that will give them a good run and lots of winning chances, enhanced by two recent offseason additions in top signal caller Dillon Gabriel and number one wide receiver Evan Stewart.

Decidedly determined to break the door in and make a competitive stand in the Big Ten conference, what lies in stored for the Ducks in 2024?

Breaking down the upcoming season; a predicted schedule for Oregon Ducks 2024

Week 1: U. of Idaho

Oregon scheduled themselves a warm up match in the first week against University of Idaho which was a formidable team in the previous season, being second in the Big Sky conference with a record of 9-4.

This game isn’t going to be a dog fight; the Ducks are currently allowing a score differential of -43. 5 favorite. Oregon ought to make a clean sweep in this game, but the manner in which they will do it will set the precedents for discourses on this team. What will become of Gabriel’s first match playing under the Will Stein offense? Is the run game solidified with the new lead back Jordan James? But there will still be things that need to be learned from this game that the Sox may or may not take to heart as they head out on the field tomorrow even if they better the Yanks by a score of, let’s say 7-2.

Prediction: Win.

Week 2: Boise State

Playing Boise State is sort of like a familiar old rivalry, actually, there is a lot of fond history between these two teams, which mostly probably Big Ten viewers couldn’t recall off the top of their heads.

The Ducks are back at home for their second game in a row and should have no problem getting past this Broncos team but they do have few players of interest. They were able to acquire former five-star quarterback Malachi Nelson in the portal from USC, and they return arguably the top running back in the nation in Ashton Jeanty.

Key to this game for the ducks: somewhere shut down the run or Boise State might be able to shock people and stick around longer than what is expected.

Prediction: Win.

Week 3: At Oregon State

After the Pac-12 becomes defunct, I am happy that Oregon and Oregon State made it a point to ensure there was going to be a Civil War game. The team is representing Oregon State which is one of the two remaining teams of the defunct Pac-12 Conference but OSU lost a lot of its assets who bail out with the conference realignment through the transfer portal.

Oregon next has a relatively short road trip to Corvallis where they should be more than capable of outplaying their fellow Oregonians.

Prediction: Win.

Week 4: Bye

Week 5: @ UCLA

The fourth game of the season and for the first time, the Ducks are to move out of the State of Oregon but they won’t have to go very far – west coast again – it’s a duck migration to Pasadena where a new member of the Big Ten but originally of Pac-12 the former UCLA Bruins await them.

UCLA took a huge leap on the defensive side of the ball last season, though nine defenders and the defensive coordinator , and head coach Chip Kelly , are gone now.

Prediction: Win.

Week 6: Michigan State

Week 5, and Oregon will get its first taste of a physical Big Ten side, as the Spartans come to Autzen Stadium in Eugene.

The Spartans go into the year with questions along their line on offense and defense, and the Ducks should be able to take advantage of that with their athletic front seven.

Prediction: Win.

Eyes turn to Week 7 with the Buckeyes coming to town.

And still another week later and another game on the west coast and this week is Oregon’s first real test with the Buckeyes coming to town. This could well be the biggest game of the year for the Ducks, and probably the only one that is as important for the Ohio State team that is likely to be the favorite to clinch the conference title.

This is a difficult one. Ohio State plays much of the game very well and has superior talent everywhere on the field. For the Ohio State that has been a team that every year seems to lose [or nearly lose] more games than they should, they have gigantic helpings of National championship expectations and they are measured against those anyway. Moreover, anything short of winning the CFP would be seen as pathetic by the aforementioned sports’ fans.

If there’s one real uncertainty about this Ohio State team for the year it’s quarterback, where there’s still a battle between grad transfer Will Howard and Julian Sayin, but Howard seems to be the one to pull ahead.

Ohio State should have an extremely physical football team led by two of the country’s best running backs, TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins with the latter expected to grace the NFL 2025 Draft. This will be the test of the year for Oregon and frankly, at this stage, I am not certain whether they defense will be able to stand in this game. They certainly can, but Illinois, in my mind, is not going to beat Ohio state.

Prediction: Loss.

Week 8: @ Purdue

In this case, the Ducks were coming out of their first loss of the year in the week six and would be visiting the Midwest for the first time in the year. Spoiler: Oregon’s schedule is very dozy most of the year before it gets to travel for the rest of its schedule to compensate for not leaving the West Coast for the first two months of the season.

Purdue was one hundredth in passing defense last year; the team was 99th in the Big Ten and averaged 241. ,5 passing yards per game, on the other hand, allowed 30. 4 points per game. In other words, their defense cannot keep up with Oregon’s incandescent offense, which will be a rejuvenation match of some sort for the Ducks should they fall in their Week 7 game against Ohio Sate.

Prediction: Win

Weel 9: vs. Illinois

Oregon gets a chance to keep it rolling in Illinois, who has only four seasons above . 500 since the year 2001.

Illinois said goodbye to their two leading receivers in terms of receiving yards in the previous year, and the defense also bids farewell to their two promising defensive tackled Jer’Zhan Newton and Keith Randolph to the NFL. I can easily foresee Oregon being able to score in different fashion against this team and should not have a problem.

The only thing to really be careful of here is a let down in a game where IU may overlook their opponent. This team can not have it is eyes looking forward to a road game against Michigan the following week, but I believe Dan Lanning will make sure that this is avoided.

Prediction: Win.

Week 10: @ Michigan

Unranked Oregon’s second-toughest game of the season is a tough one, facing last year’s national champions Michigan Wolverines in The Big House. Michigan is not the same team as the previous year, which let go of a lot of talent in McCarthy, who moved to the NFL, but still has some strong players and the meanest defense in college football.

Oregon’s defense will be up for a big test against the Michigan run game and they will see a lot of Donovan Edwards coming out of the backfield. I believe that if the Ducks can contain at least the run element of Oklahoma while getting their own ground game going, they should be in good position to come and take down the Sooners on the road.

Prediction: Win.

Week 11: vs. Maryland

This is one more place where Oregon is going to have to be careful with feelings because it will not be shocking to see Oregon face a high-stakes, high passion game the week prior. Lanning will again have to check on his players to ensure that they are focusing, this will be much easier at Autzen.

Maryland shouldn’t give Oregon much trouble, though their secondary is always a unit that has to be respected.

Prediction: Win.

Week 12: @ Wisconsin

Of course, the team that came out of Wisconsin last year was not going to light up the world offensively — but they were pretty solid on the defensive side of the ball. They only allowed their opponents a meagre 20. 2 point per game, and held the opponents to 6. 5 yards per pass.

They have since drafted in Tyler Van Dyke in the hope of hoping up their offence, but this should be a game that the Ducks should be able to exploit with comparative ease.

Prediction: Win.

Week 13: Bye

Week 14: vs. Washington

Oregon ending their season against their worst nemesis in Washington in a week where College Football Playoffs possibilities and a potential trip to the Big Ten Championship game hangs in the balance is just brilliant work in timing by the schedulers. Seriously, no notes.

Washington will – in many respects – seem like a very different place to what it was this time last year. Last year’s head coach Kalen DeBoer is now at Alabama in the year after Saban, and gone are quarterback Michael Penix Jr, starting wide receivers Rome Odunze and Ja’Lynn Polk, and Jalen McMillan, as well as running back Dillon Johnson. The team is a shadow of what it was before Flint’s exit.

Though, in a rivalry game, nothing is a given. Washington shall quite definitely rise up and challenge Oregon in the biggest fight that they can guarantee in order to act as a spoiler. However, I am still going to have to give this one to Oregon.

Prediction: Win.