New-look Oregon Ducks ready to embark on their second Big Ten season

The new season has brought some big changes for both Oregon and Montana State.

Neither the No. 7 Ducks nor the Bobcats will look much like they did last year when the two teams meet on Saturday at Autzen Stadium.

Oregon lost 10 players to the NFL draft, including quarterback Dillon Gabriel, top receiver Tez Johnson and top running back Jordan James.

Montana State’s prolific quarterback Tommy Mellott also went pro, to the Las Vegas Raiders, and running back Scottre Humphrey is now at New Mexico.

All the new faces make it a bit hard for either team to scout their opening opponent. But the Ducks have one advantage in that they’ve faced the Bobcats’ new quarterback before.

Montana State starter Justin Lamson spent the last two seasons at Stanford. He started for the Cardinal against the Ducks back in 2023, going 11-of-20 for 106 yards in a 42-6 Oregon win. He was sacked four times.

Oregon coach Dan Lanning said that while it’s helpful to have seen Lamson before, other more important factors go into preparation for the opener.

“You look at that for an evaluation as a player, but you spend a lot more time watching scheme from coordinator’s perspective and what Montana State did last year on offense perspective as that falls in,” Lanning said.

Lamson played in six games for Stanford last year, throwing for 300 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions.

Oregon will likely have Dante Moore under center. Moore spent last season as Gabriel’s backup, eventually redshirting, after transferring from UCLA.

Montana State coach Brent Vigen said Moore poses a different challenge than Gabriel and his Oregon predecessor, Bo Nix.

“They’ve had the two most experienced quarterbacks in the history of college football. So that’s going to change. So what does that mean? I would suggest that’s going to mean they’re going to have to lean more and more on all those playmakers, and those playmakers have changed a little bit, too,” Vigen said. “So I think the big thing is let’s not get caught up in maybe certain individuals so much as know that they’re gonna be good all over the place.”

Bobcats rewind

Montana State, which plays at the FCS level, won its third straight Big Sky Conference title after going undefeated in league play. The Bobcats went a program-best 15-1 last season, with the lone loss coming in the FCS National Championship, where they fell 35-32 to North Dakota State.

Ducks rewind

After beating top-ranked Ohio State at Autzen in October, Oregon went on to defeat Penn State in the Big Ten title game 45-37, finishing undefeated in its first season in the conference. But the Buckeyes got revenge in the College Football Playoff, beating Oregon 41-21 in the quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl.

It’s not how you start …

Asked if he got a good sense of his team’s identity in camp, Lanning said he hoped not.

“I think regardless of result or whoever we are on Saturday, I hope it’s not remotely close to who we become, right? And you always talk about becoming, you know, the best version of yourselves. And I think we’re a long ways away from what we could become, but I think this would be a good starting point to assess exactly where we’re at,” he said.

Moving on

How exactly do you replace a dynamic player like Mellott? He threw for 2,759 yards and rushed for another 1,050, accounting for an eye-popping 46 touchdowns. He won the Walter Payton Award.

It will take a team effort. In addition to Lamson, the Bobcats return last season’s top receiver, Taco Dowler. And then there’s running back Adam Jones, who rushed for 1,172 yards and 14 touchdowns last season, and was named Big Sky freshman of the year. He was named the league’s preseason offensive MVP heading into this season.

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