Happy Saturday TOC Nation. Here is the second installment of our (my) series on the new teams in the Big Ten. I will take this opportunity to let you know this will probably be the end of this series; UCLA and USC do not have active SB Nation sites (long story), so unless I find an off-brand blog to collaborate with, we will not be hearing from those schools.
Back to Oregon, Carl “Badwater” Blackwell from Addicted To Quack sat down with me for a little Q&A. I will say that I think that is a brilliant name for their site. Here’s what Badwater had to say:
TOC: What were your initial thoughts when you heard that Oregon was going to join the Big Ten? How have those thoughts changed since then? Is there any sadness about the disappearance of the Pac 12 Conference?
CB: I’ll take this in somewhat reverse order. Anyone that has been a fan of a Pac-8/10/12 team is going to feel some melancholy over the demise of the conference. The sad fact is that the Pac-12 failed not because of the performance, or lack thereof, the teams and sports of the conference, but of the ineptitude of university presidents and commissioner Larry Scott. These are the people ultimately responsible for the end of the Pac-12.
My thoughts have not changed since I heard of Oregon’s entrance into the B1G. Oregon is a bit of an anomaly in collegiate sports – innovator; a love them or hate them kind of a team. It’s interesting to me that Oregon has been able to gain headway into college football (and other sports) while having a bad hand in terms of exposure and location. There are factors at play here; however, Oregon has benefitted from very good monetary support – and don’t think for a moment that Phil Knight is the only major supporter of Oregon sports – while at the same time having an outstanding athletic director that has kept the bottom line in the black at Oregon.
The move to the Big-10 is about exposure. That’s what the Ducks get out of this. The money is not an issue and does not affect us in the way that USC, UCLA, and Washington are affected. Monetarily, we’re doing just fine. Oregon’s hamstring has been the failings of the Pac-12 Network. It’s amazing that the Ducks have been able to get the exposure that they have in an incompetent conference. The Big-10 is an opportunity that Oregon will capitalize on when it comes to exposure and competing at the highest level.
TOC: What are your thoughts about the increased travel that Ducks teams will now have to do for games? In this upcoming football season, you do play your three former Pac 12 conference foes, but you also have road games at Purdue, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Do you think this disadvantages the west coast teams? For example, MSU only travels west for one game this season while having the rest of its games in the Midwest and east coast.
CB: In terms of time accommodation and money, I don’t think that travel necessarily affects Oregon teams the same way their counterparts in the Midwest seem to be affected when traveling west, or in the same way that the other former Pac-12 schools will be affected. But that’s only from a sports and sports-play perspective. I think what gets lost in the conversation is the reality that players on both sides are student-athletes, and academics can and will be affected by increased travel, and maybe not as much for football as for the other sports. But performance on the field or court? Not so much.
TOC: Oregon obviously had a great season last year. How much talent from that team is returning? Who will be replacing Bo Nix at QB? Do you think Oregon can be an instant contender in their new conference?
CB: Returning talent is but a part of the equation when evaluating Oregon football’s potential performance on the field in 2024. Recruiting out of high school has never been at a higher level here in Eugene, and Dan Lanning and his coaching staff have made excellent use of the transfer portal since he came aboard as Oregon’s head coach.
Part of the use of the transfer portal this season includes the addition of Dillon Gabriel, formerly of Oklahoma. He will be the presumed starter; a P5 veteran that we at ATQ expect good results from, even as he will differ from Nix. Our site editor, hythloday, has no peers when it comes to film review and you can read his evaluation of Gabriel here: https://www.addictedtoquack.com/2024/2/7/24064192/quacking-the-roster-qb-transfer-dillon-gabriel
A number of players that could have declared for the NFL draft have chosen to come back in 2024 and attempt to “finish the job”. They include, but are not limited to: DE Jordan Burch, ILB Jeffrey Bassa, DBs Donte Manning and Nikko Reed, and WRs Tez Johnson and Gary Bryant, Jr. A number of OL players have moved on, but for many, many years the Ducks have developed their offensive linemen and do not rely on the transfer portal to replace departing line players. Returning to the OL are Josh Conerly, Jr., Ajani Cornelius, and Marcus Harper II, to name a few.
Oregon football will be a contender in the B1G. There’s a lot of football to be played between now and the end of November, but the expectation here is that the Ducks will be in the playoff.
TOC: Speaking of Nix, he ended up being the sixth QB taken in the draft, going 12th to Denver. What were your thoughts of Nix’s pro prospects before the draft? Are you surprised that five other QBs went before him? How do you feel about him landing in Denver? What are your expectations for his pro career at this point?
CB: While I don’t follow the NFL very much, and prefer the college game, my general impression is that rookie QBs selected high in the draft have it rough, because they are invariably selected by bad teams with bad offensive lines. I think it’s very much in Nix’s favor that he was selected further down in the draft, but not precipitously so. Denver is a great landing spot; he won’t be expected to do the impossible from day one with a garbage offensive line. My expectation is that this will help his NFL career in a way that Oregon QBs selected high in the draft have not succeeded – Justin Herbert notwithstanding.
TOC: Enough about football. The Big Ten is a very deep conference when it comes to basketball. Is the Ducks hoops squad ready for life in the Big Ten?
A lot of how Oregon men’s basketball will perform comes down to injury. The past two seasons the Ducks have been snake-bitten by the injury bug, and it was especially troublesome last season. Dana Altman is not a future HOF coach for nothing, and the return of assistant coach Tony Stubblefield bodes quite well for the Ducks this coming season. I propose that ATQ and The Only Colors swap a Q&A at the outset of the basketball season where we can discuss where we think basketball is at in greater detail.
TOC: Bonus Question: What is one thing Big Ten fans should know about the University of Oregon?
CB: The grass is literally damn green in Eugene. Half-jests aside, where football is concerned the Oregon Ducks have not just suddenly popped up in the college football landscape recently and solely off the back and bucks of Phil Knight. Oregon has been on, and continues to be on, a steady trajectory since 1989, but especially since 1994. Anyone that is paying attention to the Ducks, even peripherally, should not be surprised that they are and will continue to be a top team in college football.
TOC thanks Badwater for his help with this article. Welcome to the Big Ten.