No. 3 Oregon struggles but prevails over Idaho 24-14
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Dillon Gabriel threw for 380 yards and two touchdowns in his Oregon debut, but the third-ranked Ducks struggled in their first game as Big Ten members before holding off resilient Idaho 24-14 on Saturday night.
While the victory wasn’t as decisive as expected, Oregon extended its nonconference home winning streak to a national-best 33 games. Oregon has won 20 straight home openers.
“Different than we thought it would look like,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “Great teams are able to to learn from tight matches. This was a tight match, and we didn’t create some of the explosive plays I was hoping we could create offesively. Gave up a couple of critical plays on defense. So certainly some things to attack.”
Oregon led 14-0 at the half, but Idaho narrowed the deficit on Jack Layne’s 36-yard touchdown pass to Jake Cox. After a field goal by Oregon, Layne rushed for a 4-yard TD to make it 17-14.
Gabriel found Tez Johnson with a 12-yard scoring pass midway through the final quarter to salvage the win.
“You can never doubt an opponent,” defensive lineman Matayo Uiagalelei said. ”Tip my hat off to Idaho, that’s a great program. Shoot, it was a close game. I don’t think we were expecting that.”
Tez time
Johnson caught 12 passes for 81 yards and both of the touchdowns through the air from Gabriel.
Last season, Johnson caught 86 passes for 1,182 yards and 10 touchdowns last year. His receptions were an Oregon single-season record.
Like Lanning, he saw room for improvement.
“We’ve just got to finish. That’s exactly what it is. We have to finish in the red zone,” Johnson. “And that’s something we’ll fix.”
Honoring Khyree
The Ducks held a moment of silence before the game for Khyree Jackson, 24, a former Oregon cornerback who was killed on July 6 along with two of his friends in a car accident in Maryland. Jackson was preparing for his rookie season with the Minnesota Vikings.
Oregon’s helmets this season include stickers for Jackson and former tight end Spencer Webb, who died ahead of the 2023 season in a climbing accident.
Pickard starts
Charlie Pickard, a former walk-on who followed his dad to Oregon despite offers from other schools, earned the start for the game at center.
The Ducks needed to replace Jackson Powers-Johnson, last season’s Rimington Trophy winner who was selected by the Las Vegas Raiders in the second round of the NFL draft.
Iapani Laloulu started for the Ducks in the Fiesta Bowl and competed with Pickard for the spot at center. Laloulu instead started at right guard
The takeaway
Idaho was picked in the preseason to finish third in the Big Sky after a 9-4 season that included a run to the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs. The Vandals’ defense appears to again be a strength. Last season, the Vandals were ranked 14th nationally among FCS teams in allowing opponents only 306.8 total offensive yards. All four of Idaho’s starting defensive lineman returned for this season.
Oregon, with its highest preseason ranking since 2014, was a 44 1/2-point favorite according to BetMGM College Football Odds — but the Ducks looked rusty against the Vandals. Last season, Oregon finished 12-2, getting close to the playoff before losing to rival Washington in the final Pac-12 championship game. Oregon capped the season by beating Liberty 45-6 in the Fiesta Bowl.
Up text
Idaho: At Wyoming on Saturday.
Oregon: Hosts Boise State on Saturday.
Revamped Washington begins life in the Big Ten with 35-3 win over Weber State
SEATTLE (AP) — Jonah Coleman rushed for 127 yards and three touchdowns, Will Rogers threw for 250 yards and one TD, and Washington cruised past Weber State 35-3 on Saturday night in Jedd Fisch’s debut as the Huskies’ new coach.
With Big Ten Conference logos now stitched onto the field at Husky Stadium, Washington (1-0) took the field looking little like the team that played in the College Football Playoff championship game less than eight months ago.
The result was the same as it was 14 times last season when the Huskies reached the title game before falling to Michigan.
“It was fun, man, to win here and get a Big Ten win as a head coach, I don’t take that lightly at all,” Fisch said.
The Huskies unveiled a fully overhauled coaching staff led by Fisch and a roster featuring just 11 players that remained from the depth chart at the start of last season.
But the two most important additions to that roster are Rogers and Coleman. And it didn’t take long to understand the significance of their presence.
Coleman rushed for a pair of 5-yard touchdowns and a 1-yard score on his way to the third 100-yard rushing game of his career. The previous two came last season at Arizona before Coleman followed Fisch to the Pacific Northwest to continue his career with the Huskies.
“It seems that we had some pretty gaping holes at times that Jonah was able to run through untouched for the first few yards and when you give Jonah the head of steam he’s a very hard guy to tackle with just one guy,” Fisch said.
Coleman also had a 44-yard touchdown run called back in the first quarter by a penalty.
“I was going to go to the sideline and celebrate with everybody and I looked over and I was like ‘ah, next play,'” Coleman said.
Rogers, who transferred from Mississippi State, completed 20 of 26 passes and threw a 33-yard touchdown to freshman Decker Degraaf late in the first half. Freshman Demond Williams Jr. added his first career TD pass in the fourth quarter hitting Denzel Boston on a 6-yard TD.
Damon Bankston rushed for 105 yards for the Wildcats, but the 22nd-ranked team in the preseason FCS poll eventually wore down against depth and size of Washington. Kyle Thompson’s 28-yard field goal in the final seconds of the third quarter kept Weber State (0-1) from being shut out.
The Takeaway
Weber State: The Wildcats were picked sixth in the Big Sky preseason poll, which shows the depth of the conference. Weber State will need to find a more consistent pass attack to have success – QB Richie Munoz was 11-of-32 passing for 98 yards.
Washington: One of the biggest questions for the Huskies is the offensive line and the reviews after the opener were mixed. Washington rotated several combinations and while the run game was a positive there were breakdowns in pass protection.
Quotable
“It’s going to be our worst game moving forward. We have a lot of things to clean up, but celebrate the wins,” said Washington linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala.
Injuries
Already thin at the position, Washington lost starting tight end Quentin Moore to a left leg injury in the first half. Moore was tackled low with his leg planted and was down for several minutes before being helped off the field.
Fisch said he believes Moore will be OK but still needed to be checked by doctors on Sunday.
Up Next
Weber State: hosts Portland State next Saturday.
Washington: hosts Eastern Michigan next Saturday.
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