Portland Isn’t Even A State

A home opener preview written from Northeast Portland.

It’s the annual: “Who is that?” “Where’d he transfer from?” and “He’s number 2 now?” game, and I’m just glad we don’t have to to it against Georgia this time.

The Ducks host Portland State in Eugene tomorrow at noon, and if you happen to have $7 you can bear witness to an in-state rivalry as fierce as Cain and Abel.*

*If Cain was really good at football and Abel was only really good at putting on farmers markets.

Oregon is quite literally out of Portland State’s league, and it’s still sort of wild that we’re allowed to play FCS teams at all, but I’m naturally also excited that we get to start things off with a true shake-the-rust game for the first time in three years.

And surely this Duck team is still very good—they were a 10-win team just a year ago—but there’s still going to be plenty of rust to bust.

Let’s start where everyone starts: with the big fellas.

The Ducks are all new at the offensive line, and it’s pretty much the main thing anyone can talk about nationally when they’re trying to make a case that we’ll regress. But as good as our O-line might have been last year, please allow me to make the case that they might have actually improved in 2023.

We’re revamping up there, sure, but there are still plenty of familiar faces plugging into some new responsibilities.

At left tackle, I think it’s safest to assume that we’ll see Josh Conerly, who was well-known last year for his appearances in the jumbo/short-yardage running package as a lead blocker. He also scored a touchdown at Colorado, but then again, who didn’t?

As a 6’4”, 305 lb. sophomore out of Rainier Beach HS in Seattle, Conerly is a Never-Husky after my own heart. He just might be the most talented offensive lineman that Oregon has ever brought into the program, that’s why he’s playing the second most important position in football. I can’t wait to watch him live up to the hype.

On the other side at right tackle, you’ll ideally see our 6’5”, 308 lb. transfer, Ajani Cornelius (AKA The Pride of Rhode Island). I’ve met a handful of people who hail from our nation’s smallest state, and 100% of them are now lifelong, devoted Ducks.

I expect Ajani will follow in their footsteps.

Despite missing a handful of practices late into camp, it seems that Jackson Powers-Johnson is the heir apparent at center. I have all the love in the world for Alex Forsyth, but if JPJ can manage to have just one less snap violation penalty than we did last year, then I will consider Johnson to be an upgrade at that position.

Of course, it’s Portland State, so it probably shouldn’t even matter who we put out there to play and we should expect to see a ton of rotation up there, but like I’ve been saying, I think we added talent, experience, and new life into our big uglies.

We have reloaded, if you will.

But beyond snapping the ball legally, I’d say a good performance tomorrow would include: allowing zero sacks, and running for 300+ yards no matter who ends up carrying the ball.

Defense was a struggle last year, we all know that, but if there was ever one game where we could ask for perfection out of this team—even in Game One—it’s tomorrow.

And to be clear, I’d settle for much, much, much less than perfection.

It would just be nice to see a National Title winning defensive coordinator and his legendary defensive recruiter/bagman actually call a game where we get off the field on third down a lot of times.

Even if it’s just Portland State! I’ll take it!

Thankfully, Popo is back. And so is Brandon Dorlus. And Matayo Uiagalelei is probably going to flash enough to compete for Pac-12 DFOY.

But a criminally under-buzzed about addition to this defense is South Carolina transfer defensive end, Jordan Burch.

Big Burch joined us deep in the woods after starting in all thirteen contests last season for the Gamecocks, notching 7.5 TFLs and 3.5 sacks. He’s a bonafide SEC contributor on a team that finished hot last season and beat both Tennessee and Clemson.

With Burch, Popo, Dorlus, and Casey Rogers, our D-line is probably our most experienced position group, which is good because we need to get to the QB this season when we’re rushing just four.

Right behind them, at linebacker, I expect an immediate increase in speed.

Not because I believe Iowa transfer, Jestin Jacobs (#4), is super fast, but rather because I am a lifelong subscriber to the Bill Bowerman school of coaching where: lighter materials = faster.

Using Bill’s logic, we had some important jersey number changes at the LB position. Our very own blitz boy Jeff Bassa changed from #33 to #2, and Jamal Hill dropped down from #19 to #9.

Both of those shifts account for a significant loss of jersey fabric, and when you multiply that by the number of steps they’ll take over the course of just a single game, they’ve probably reduced the pounds of force on their bodies by at least multiple dozens.

But it’s just like Uncle Ben said: “With great skill position numbers, comes great responsibility.”

I didn’t talk much about PSU’s roster or matchups. Maybe it’s worth mentioning that their quarterback is a dual-threat guy (ya know, like pretty much every other QB in college football now). Or that LB Parker McKenna is straight outta my hometown of Beaverton. For better or worse, he’s going to have a ton of tackles tomorrow.

But it’s safe to say that our littlest brother is in for a tough day in Autzen, but don’t feel too bad for the Hillsboro Vikings, we’re paying them a lot of money to kick ‘em around!

They’ll take their beating like a champ (pray nobody actually gets hurt) and then take all that money back up north and build themselves their own stadium. And maybe this one will actually be in Portland again.

Then again, this Willamette Week article told me that Kruse Way in Tigard is the new Main Street.

Final Score: Oregon 62, Tigard State Vikings 13.

Go Ducks.