It's finally here, Oregon Game Week. The Ducks host Montana State Saturday at Autzen Stadium, 1 p.m. PT on the Big Ten Network.
Last year in the opener Dan Lanning's squad shot themselves in the foot and got fooled by trick plays, needing a drive in the fourth quarter to subdue a stubborn Idaho squad 24-14.
Montana State beat Idaho twice last season, 38-7 in October, 52-19 in the FCS playoffs in December, rushing for 283 yards and five touchdowns in the rematch.
The Bobcats finished 15-1 in 2024, losing 35-32 to North Dakota State in FCS Championship Game. Their quarterback Tommy Mellott won the Walter Payton Award. In Week One they beat New Mexico of the Mountain West 35-31.
Mellott is gone, picked in the sixth round by the Raiders, who are converting him to wide receiver. Even without him both the Big Sky media and coaches picked MSU to win the conference, and the team is ranked No. 2 in the FCS preseason poll.
It's a quarterback competition in Bozeman between Stanford transfer Justin Lamson, a career 47 percent passer, and holdovers Chance Wilson and Patrick Duchien. Head coach Brent Vigen, 47-10 in five seasons, favors athletic running quarterbacks.
The Ducks will have to keep whoever takes the snaps in the pocket while showing an improved run defense.
Last year the Bobcats featured a potent offense that cranked out 41.1 per game, driven by a running attack that averaged 295 yards a game and 6.5 yards per rush. It's a run-first operation: Mellott threw for 174 yards a game.
Running back Adam Jones returns, a redshirt sophomore who rushed for 1,152 yards last season with 14 touchdowns, 6.3 yards a carry. He wears No. 23, 6-1, 200, All Big Sky as a redshirt freshman.
The other chief weapon is punt returner/slot receiver Taco Dowler, 5-9, 175. Dowler grabbed 38 passes for 597 yards and 11 touchdowns while averaging 12.5 yards per punt return. He's a former Montana State Gatorade Player of the Year.
His twin brother Caden is the team's strong safety at 6-0, 205, one of six team captains. He'll draw the tough task of matching up to Kenyon Sadiq, 6-3, 250.
The Bobcats return three starters on the offensive line and another four players who accumulated 290 or more snaps in the trenches. Junior tackle Titan Fleischmann, 6-4, 300 from Pocatello, Idaho is considered one of the best linemen in the FCS.
It's in the secondary where Montana State gives up the most to Oregon in terms of the matchups. All five starters are new and redshirt freshman cornerback Jhase McMillan is just 5-9, 157, though he is very fast, clocking 20.69 200 meters at Katy Thompkis High in Fulshear, Texas.