We’re just days away from JMU facing Oregon in the College Football Playoff. 

To better understand the fifth-ranked Ducks, we enlisted the help of Zachary Neel, an Oregon beat reporter with USA Today’s Ducks Wire. We had an email Q&A with Neel about the game and what makes Oregon one of the nation’s best teams.

If a JMU fan hasn’t watched the nation’s No. 5 team this season — shame on them — but what’s one thing they should know about this year’s iteration of the Oregon Ducks?

Neel: If you haven’t seen Oregon yet this year, I think one of the biggest things that stands out is the defense. While the Ducks have long been known as the flashy offensive team, it’s been the defense that has really separated them this year. They have one of the best secondaries in the nation, with a dominant pass-defense that rarely gives up big plays, and they also have a stout rushing defense, led by A’Mauri Washington and Bear Alexander on the inside — a pair of future NFL players. Their offense is still very good, and can find success in multiple different ways, but it’s their defense that has created the separation so far this year.

Oregon has NFL talent across its roster, and the Ducks don’t seem to have any notable weaknesses. How has Lanning approached building out his roster since a 2022 blowout loss against Georgia in his head coaching debut?

Neel: Dan Lanning has truly taken the SEC model of building a roster and brought it to the Pacific Northwest. It all starts in the trenches, where the Ducks value size up front on both sides of the ball. Oregon’s average offensive and defensive lineman is well over 300 lbs, with an average weight of about 320 lbs. for DLs, and about 325 lbs. for OLs. Beyond that, it’s all about speed and length. Oregon’s skill position players are quick and shifty, while the secondary is long. Nobody in Oregon’s starting secondary is shorter than 6-foot, and they are rangey, on top of that.

In terms of building out the roster, Lanning and his staff have taken an interesting approach to things, using the transfer portal to supplement things early on while they built things in a way that they wanted. In the first couple of years, Lanning leaned heavily on the portal to find starters and depth pieces. After compiling four straight top-10 ranked recruiting classes, though, Lanning now has the depth he wants, and uses the portal less, finding true difference makers at certain positions — like WR, DL, CB, and S — to act as the cherries on top of a talented roster.

The Ducks have been banged up at times this year. How might the three-week break help the team’s overall health?

Neel: The three-week break has been an interesting point of conversation here in Eugene. On the one hand, yes, it absolutely was big to allow this team to get a bit healthier, particularly at the wide receiver position with Dakorien Moore and Gary Bryant Jr., the two leading WRs on the team, missing the last month of the season, but now likely to be good to go for the CFP. However, a year ago, Oregon had 25 days off between games ahead of the Rose Bowl vs. Ohio State, and it caused significant rust and was partially responsible for their blowout loss — I think they lose that game against the Buckeyes even without the long break, but it certainly didn’t help. I think this year, Lanning and his staff learned a lot from last season and scheduled their time off in a way that would allow them to get healthy, but not build up as much rust as they did a year ago.

What makes it so hard to win at Autzen Stadium?

Neel: Playing at Autzen Stadium is really deceptive for opposing teams. When players first arrive and walk the field with empty stands, it isn’t intimidating. The stadium isn’t big — about half the size of The Big House in Michigan, or Beaver Stadium at Penn State — but once those seats are filled and the 59,000 fans are ready to go, it’s as loud as any arena in the nation. A lot of that has to do with the architecture of the stadium, where the overhang on the south side traps the noise and redirects it at the field. It’s one of the best home-field advantages in the sport, and when Duck fans get going, they’re hard to stop.

Do you have a score prediction for Saturday’s game? How do you see it playing out?

Neel: With all due respect to James Madison, I don’t think this is going to be a close game. Ultimately, I think Oregon is going to be able to win by margin and choose to rest some players in the fourth quarter if things go according to plan. It might be a close game in the first quarter, with both teams dealing with the rust factor, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Oregon click into gear after a couple of drives and not look back. I’ve got 35-10, Ducks. The Dukes are a well-coached team with a very sound defense and some offensive weapons that can find success, but I simply think that the talent disparity between both sides is going to be too much to overcome on Saturday.

Photo courtesy of JMU Athletics Communications