If you're anything like me, you've probably been binging on EA Sports College Football 25 for the past month and a half, waiting for the start of the 2024 season. You've probably been dominating with Oregon football who just so happens to be one of the best teams in the game.
On Saturday evening, video games aren't going to have to hold us over any longer.
The Ducks will take the field to open a much-anticipated 2024 season against Idaho for the 60th matchup in the series history. Currently, Oregon holds a 52-3-4 advantage over the Vandals with the last matchup coming in 2004 and just four games between the two since 1970.
While this isn't exactly a must-watch game, it'll grab the attention of Duck fans everywhere.
So with the excitement building for the big game, I figured it would be a cool idea to run a simulation of the season opener on EA Sports College Football 25 to see how the computer thinks the game would play out.
Here are the results.
Results from Oregon football vs. Idaho simulation
Note: Since Idaho isn't in the game, I decided to substitute the Vandals with Georgia State of the Sun Belt to make it somewhat comparable. Idaho came from the Sun Belt before getting demoted to the FCS in 2018 and Georgia State has average ratings for the conference.
Oregon obviously won the five-minute quarter game and it wasn't very close, as you could imagine. The Ducks wrapped this one up fairly early and the stats were interesting.
The Ducks won 41-3 and it was as lopsied as you'd expect with Oregon out-gaining "Idaho" 514-236. They also won the turnover battle, 3-1.
Dillon Gabriel passed for 317 yards and three touchdowns on 25-of-30 completions and his favorite target was Tez Johnson who caught seven passes for 101 yards. Traeshon Holden was second on the team with six catches for 72 yards and a score, Terrance Ferguson had five catches for 57 yards, and Evan Stewart finished with three catches for 43 yards. Noah Whittington and Jordan James had the other two receiving touchdowns.
In the run game, James led the way with 125 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries and Whittington had 43 yards and a score on 13 touches. Gabriel added 20 rushing yards.
Lastly, on defense, the Ducks were led by Matayo Uiagalelei who had seven total tackles and 2.5 sacks. Jeffrey Bassa had six total tackles and an interception and Jabbar Muhammad finished with two tackles and a pick as the two other defensive standouts.
Let's see how close this is to the actual final on Saturday night.