Behind the hype is a lot of brotherhood and substance: Ducks kick off 2023 season at noon today

 

24 hours out from game 01 kickoff ⏳#GoDucks pic.twitter.com/ENobfixZIM

— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) September 1, 2023

It's the most anticipated season since Marcus Mariota won the Heisman.

You can never guarantee wins or championships. The Ducks will be in the thick of it, but Utah looked impressive in their opening win over SEC Florida, well-coached, dominant on defense. The Utes were missing 8 starters including quarterback Cam Rising and star tight end Brant Kuithe, but they played disciplined and inspired football, holding the Gators to 1-13 on third down in a 24-11 victory at Rice-Eccles Stadium.

USC looked vulnerable on defense last week against San Jose State, but still won 56-28 behind a four-touchdown performance by Caleb Williams.

Freshman quarterback Jaden Rashada threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns as first-time head coach and former Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham got a win in Arizona State's opener, 26-24 over Southern Utah. Stanford won in Hawaii Friday night, 37-24 under new coach Troy Taylor. Next year The Cardinal and the Bears will be in the ACC.

There are few easy outs in the PAC-12 Conference, particularly this year with so many good quarterbacks. It's a marathon. The Ducks have to stay healthy. They have to stay focused.

This is as talented and deep a team as Oregon has ever had. If they protect Bo Nix and show improvement on defense, this can be a conference champion or a playoff team. But it's a marathon: October 14 at Washington, October 28 at Utah, November 11th host USC, then at Arizona State, then host the Beavers. That's the crux of the season; they'll have to be at least 4-1 in those games--just one stumble--or the championship dream slips away for another year.

As the video suggests, the players don't care about the hype and the accolades, the billboards and the cameras, they care about each other. It's a bit ironic that Jonathan Stewart narrates this video: he had a great career at Oregon and went on to make a nice living in the pros, yet in 2007 he was an integral part of one of the most thrilling AND heartbreaking seasons in Duck history. That team beat Michigan in the Big House. They bested USC and destroyed Washington with over 500 rushing yards. They reached 8-1 and number two in the country, seemingly headed to the BCS Championship. 

Then Dennis Dixon crumpled to the turf in Tempe, Stewart suffered a crippling bout of turf toe and it all crumpled with them.

In sports, you just never know. That's why we file into the stadium and watch the games. This will be an exciting and explosive team and the effort will be fantastic. To win a championship you have to have talent, heart, desire, and a little bit of luck and magic. That's the part that's not guaranteed.