Sports Illustrated Preseason Top 25: Oregon Ducks Land at 21

Sports Illustrated has the Oregon Ducks in the bottom of their Preseason Top 25, but cite several concerns as to why.

More from Autzen Zoo

• Oregon football: Ducks and Coach Prime playing it cordial leading up to Saturday
• Oregon Basketball: Non-conference slate features Michigan coming to Eugene
• Oregon football: Ducks find complete game effort in win vs Hawaii
• Oregon Ducks must get run game going against Hawaii
• 8 Pac-12 teams represented in Associated Press Top 25 after Week 2

The Oregon Ducks have been pegged in the 20’s in most Preseason Polls so far. Sports Illustrated continued the trend pegging the Ducks at 21st.. However, nlike the Pac-12 Media poll who has Oregon 3rd in the Pac-12 North, once you do the math and see that Washington State and Washington are ranked along with Stanford, Oregon is actually 4th in the Pac-12 North and you honestly don’t have to go far to see why this makes sense.

SI is not hedging their best on just Running Back Royce Freeman, but they have not really ‘seen’ Dakota Prukop. Last season Vernon Adams navigated the Oregon Ducks to a 9-4 record. Another cause for concern is the new 4-3 Defense and how it will look on the field. Will Oregon find success that will take away the 28+ points per game the team gave up in 2015?

This is actually a transition season for the Oregon Ducks. A one and done QB with the hopes that following 2016 they will have a Quarterback they can lean on for several seasons in a row. Royce Freeman won’t be around forever as much as we would like him to be, and there will be new faces that will wow us this fall at Autzen Stadium.

Still, 21st in the Nation is not a bad place to be. The team will be out of the National Spotlight until it matters. Their first opportunity to show off the 2016 team will be in week two against Virginia on ESPN. A winning record from there should put Oregon where they want to be, but they need to win the games. There are enough Pac-12 teams ahead of them that if they do the job right, they could find themselves creeping into the Top 10 by the end of October.

Next: Devon Allen Considering His Multi-Sport Options

According to the Coaches, the Oregon Ducks appear to be ready to go and have not missed a step since Spring Camp and were back at it when Fall Camp started on Monday. The first game for Oregon is September 3rd against UC Davis(2pm Pacific Time, Pac-12 Networks)