On the fourth official day of the new college football season, Saturday, August 31st, the University of Oregon and the University of Idaho will face off in the mid-afternoon slot as their 2024 campaigns begin. The game will tip-off at 4:30 PM Pacific time in Eugene, Oregon, at Autzen Stadium and will feature a low stakes, if not intriguing, matchup between a predicted powerhouse of the new-look Big Ten vs a young, competitive Big Sky contender. While ESPN does not have an official line or over/under posted for the game, on their website, they have given Oregon a 99% win probability, and the spread will likely reflect that number and heavily favor the home team. Idaho will likely be looking at this game as a way to shake out the preseason jitters, hammer out positional decisions, and simply see how they match up with a Power 4 juggernaut as a measuring stick before they settle into an easier yet more important conference schedule. On the other side, this is one of two softer matchups (the next vs. Boise State) for Oregon to pad their early schedule before things get a bit tougher with home games at Oregon State and UCLA in weeks 3 and 4.
Last season, Dan Lanning’s squad was largely dominant, going 12-2 in an incredibly volatile Pac-12 conference, yet came up short regarding the big moment. Both losses came to the University of Washington, one early in the season and the second in a devastatingly close Pac-12 championship game. Adding insult to injury, they were thrown an easy, nonmarquee matchup in the Fiesta Bowl, rolling to a frictionless win against overmatched Liberty. Over the offseason, they lost Heisman candidate Bo Nix to the NFL and seven other plays in the 2023 draft. However, they loaded up over the summer as well, amassing the #2 ranked transfer class with one 5-star and six 4-stars, as well as the #3 ranked recruiting class with a staggering twenty-two 4-star players. Leading the charge will be incoming star quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who will be playing his sixth year of college football after successful stints at UCF and Oklahoma, going 10-2 at the latter in 2023. Joining him at the top will be top cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, who transferred in from Houston, freshman wide receiver Evan Stewart, who flipped his commitment from Texas A&M, and returning star WR Tez Johnson.
A state over to the east, Idaho put together a rock-solid 2023 season, going 9-4 overall and finishing second in the Big Sky conference. While their year, unfortunately, ended with a disappointing loss in the FCS quarterfinal vs. Albany, it was the program’s best result and record since 2016 and showed a clear positive trajectory for a team that had floundered for too long. Their big loss over the offseason came at the quarterback position, as starter Gevani McCoy transferred to Oregon State to compete for the starting position there. He was Idaho’s starter over the last two seasons, throwing for 42 touchdowns and 5,600+ yards combined during that stretch. While not an elite prospect coming into college, he impressed at Idaho and showed his worth as a smooth, athletic, level-headed leader who could orchestrate an effective offense. Stepping into his shoes will be sophomore Jack Layne, who was not expected to be the starter this year but seemingly has the support of coaches and players alike. His job will be a hard one, as Idaho also lost wide receivers Hayden Hatten and Jermaine Jackson to the NFL, as well as Terez Traynor to the transfer portal, the three of whom accounted for a large chunk of the teams’ receiving yards last year. While this Vandals team does have a solid defense and will try to grind the pace of the game to a halt, their reliance on young players across the board will be a constant challenge.
Going into this matchup, expect Oregon to cruise to a win atop the strength of an excellent quarterback, dominant offensive and defensive line, one of if not the best receiver corps in the country, and a raucous and massive crowd ready to start their destiny in a brand new, bigger conference. Idaho is a well-crafted, improving program that will no doubt put up a fight, but who are also simply hampered by a gargantuan talent disparity and a hostile, overwhelming road environment. Excluding the possibility of a miracle upset, let this game be a fun, high-scoring, if predictable, buildup to the bigger matchups later in the day.
