Athlon Sports: Oregon Ducks Have To Earn Respect In 2016
Oregon should enter the upcoming season inside the Top 25, but will have to earn respect along the way to get back to where they are used to being.
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The Oregon Ducks are clearly a team in transition once again entering the season. Be it on Offense at Quarterback, or on Defense with a new Coordinator and a totally new scheme installed by DC Brady Hoke. In breaking down where the football team will land the folks at Athlon Sports have the Ducks in the Top 25, but have close to half of the Pac-12 Conference ranked ahead of them.
Luckily for Oregon, the Ducks will have to face several of those teams. Washington(11), Stanford(12), UCLA(14) and USC(22) are ahead of Oregon at 23. Mark Helfrich and Company will face three of the four with Washington and Stanford at Autzen Stadium and the USC Trojans on the Road. September will tell a lot about this team. We did see some of the pieces come together in the Spring Game, but by the time Fall gets here, all of that will change.
Vernon Adams is gone, and the Dakota Prukop experiment begins. One thing that Oregon will not have to worry so much about is the ability in the backup Quarterback position as there are several very capable players ready to step in if needed, including Travis Jonsen who should be in line for the 2017 season.
With a new Defensive Scheme and Oregon moving to the 4-3, the hope is that Defensive Disruption will Win the Day and get the ball back in the hands of a fast paced Offense. The Non-Conference slate begins with UC Davis, and Virginia at home before a challenge with Nebraska on the road.
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The first part of the season will tell a lot about this team entering an always entertaining Pac-12 slate. The Oregon Football team is in Summer Break and preparing for Fall Camp in a little under two months from now.