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Idaho is the perfect warmup for Oregon football's gauntlet of a schedule

By Connor Muldowney

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning talks with running back Jordan James during practice with the Oregon Ducks Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024 at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex in Eugene, Ore.
Oregon head coach Dan Lanning talks with running back Jordan James during practice with the Oregon Ducks Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024 at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex in Eugene, Ore. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Opening the season on Saturday evening (late-afternoon locally) against Idahoa, Oregon football will begin its quest for that elusive national title.

Dan Lanning has built quite the squad in Eugene and experts have been lauding the Ducks as the third-best team in the land and Kirk Herbstreit and Desmond Howard actually believe that Oregon will win the national title this year. Nick Saban, too, had some poisitive things to say about the Ducks, hyping them as the second-best team in the country behind only Georgia.

It's safe to say that there are some dangerous amounts of hype surrounding this team heading into the 2024 campaign. And for good reason.

Oregon has a defense that should be elite, an offense led by one of the best quarterbacks in the nation, a deep backfield, and top-tier targets in the passing game, and one of the best coaches college football. There's a reason everyone is so high on this team.

But it'll get somewhat of an interesting test in the opener against an Idaho team that went 9-4 last season and lost in the second round of the FCS playoffs to the No. 5 team in the land by just one score. The Vandals beat Nevada last year, 33-6, and took Cal to the fourth quarter before losing 31-17. On top of that, they beat the Nos. 2, 4, and 19 teams in the FCS in 2023. This team doesn't back down from challenges.

This will be the perfect warmup for the Ducks before facing a gauntlet of a 2024 schedule that features Texas Tech and Boise State in non-conference play and Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Washington in Big Ten action. The schedule isn't going to be a walk in the park.

And facing a cupcake in the opener would be a mistake, but Idaho is a team that'll be able to hold its own and make Oregon work for a win. It might end up being a blowout of epic proportions (my money would be on the line), but Idaho is going to make Oregon better.

It has a solid defense and a quarterback in Jack Layne who had eight touchdown passes on just 32 pass attempts last year. He threw six touchdown passes in his only extended action of the season.

Oregon is going to have to work in the opener. Even if this is a sure win, it's not going to be a walk in the park. A blowout will show that this team isn't messing around in 2024.

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