CAROUSEL OF CONSISTENCY
GAMEDAY
GAMEDAY, the Daily Emerald’s football edition, is published by Emerald Media Group, Inc., the independent nonprofit news company at the University of Oregon founded in 1900.
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(On The Cover) Traeshon Holden (1) grins at Tez Johnson (15) as he crosses into the end zone. The University of Oregon Ducks defeated the Boise State Broncos 37-34 on Sept. 7, 2024, making a kick two seconds before the start of overtime.
(Miles Cull/Emerald)
(Right) Oregon sophomore quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) looks for an open man to pass during the first quarter. The No. 13 Oregon Ducks play the Oregon State Beavers at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on Nov. 29, 2013. (Ryan Kang/Emerald)
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WEEK 3 TEAM ROSTERS:
OREGON OREGON
OREGON OFFENSE
PLAYER
HOLDEN, TRAESHON
STEWART, EVAN
JOHNSON, TEZ
CONERLY JR., JOSH
HARPER II, MARCUS
PICKARD, CHARLIE
LALOULU, IAPANI
CORNELIUS, AJANI
FERGUSON, TERRANCE
GABRIEL, DILLON
JAMES, JORDAN
1
7
15
76
55
70 No. 72
65 No. 3
8 No. 20
OREGON DEFENSE
PLAYER
BURCH, JORDAN
CALDWELL, JAMAREE
HARMON, DERRICK
UIAGALELEI, MATAYO
JACOBS, JESTIN
BASSA, JEFFREY
TUIOTI, TEITUM
MANNING, DONTAE
JOHNSON, TYSHEEM
SAVAGE, KOBE
MUHAMMAD, JABBAR
JOHNSON, BRANDON
No. 1 No. 90 No. 55 No. 10 No. 4 No. 2 No. 44 No. 8 No. 0 No. 5 No. 7 No. 3
OREGON SPECIAL TEAMS
PLAYER
JAMES, ROSS
SAPPINGTON, ATTICUS
BOYLE, ANDREW
BASSO, LUKE
JAMES, ROSS
JOHNSON, TEZ
WHITTINGTON, NOAH
OREGON STATE OFFENSE
PLAYER
CLEMONS, DARRIUS WALKER, TRENT NOGA, JEREMIAH CHRISTIAN-LICHTENHAN, GERAD GRAY, JOSHUA WELLS, VAN VOLTIN, TYLER STARCK, GRANT TERRY II, JERMAINE MCCOY, GEVANI GRIFFIN, JAM
No. 1 No. 7 No. 18 No. 71 No. 67 No. 58 No. 79 No. 66 No. 84 No. 4 No. 8
OREGON STATE DEFENSE
PLAYER
OMOTOSHO, OLUWASEYI
SCHUSTER, JACOB
SALUNI, SEMISI
TAYLOR, NIKKO
CHISOM, ISAIAH
JORDAN IV, MELVIN
ROBINSON, JADEN
KANE, JACK
THOMAS, SKYLER
JORDAN JR., ANDRE
THOMAS JR., NOBLE
# No. 33 No. 62 No. 45 No. 25 No. 9 No. 44 No. 4 No. 24 No. 17 No. 27 No. 21
WLB LCB
OREGON STATE SPECIAL TEAMS
JR/TR
RS-JR/TR
RS-SR/TR
RS-JR
RS-JR/TR
SR/TR
LS H PR KR # No. 92 No. 36 No. 98 No. 43 No. 92 No. 15 No. 6 YEAR
RS-JR/TR
PLAYER GREEN, JOSH HAYES, EVERETT HAYES, EVERETT HOGAN, PEYTON GREEN, JOSH
WELLS JR., DAVID GRIFFIN, JAM
PK KO LS H PR KR # No. 37 No. 35 No. 35 No. 33 No. 37 No. 6 No. 8
RS-SR/TR SO
RS-SR/TR
HOLDEN HIS OWN
How Oregon wideout Traeshon Holden finds consistency amidst change
By BRADY RUTH Sports Editor
In this new era of college football, the only constant is that nothing stays the same.
Yet, Traeshon Holden finds a way to improve and produce, despite the chaos.
Holden is no stranger to change. After two seasons at the University of Alabama, he transferred to Oregon to play an unspoken, but valuable role in the Ducks’ offense.
He’s played with three different quarterbacks in his four seasons, and has never been at the top of the depth chart on any team he’s contributed to. At Alabama, he played with Bryce Young, but was targeted less than big names like Jameson Williams, John Metchie III and Jermaine Burton.
But Oregon was always in the cards. Holden took an official visit to Eugene before eventually committing to Alabama as a four-star prospect from the state of California. Two seasons later, he was back on the West Coast, decked out in green and yellow.
Not much changed after the transfer. With big wideout names like Troy Franklin and Tez Johnson lighting up the stat sheet and the scoreboard during his tenure in Oregon, Holden had to make his moments count.
“Change is either good or bad, but you’re going to have to [go through it] no matter what,” Holden said. “No matter who the coach is, whatever he’s calling, you gotta go in there and run it.”
With the constant adjusting and adapting to new
quarterbacks, teams and systems that Holden’s tackled, it’s impressive to see the numbers he’s still imposing on defenses year after year.
Over his two seasons at Alabama, Holden reeled in seven touchdowns on 46 catches for 570 yards. His second year with the Crimson Tide was statistically the better one as he began to establish himself as a weapon.
In his first season at Oregon, he had seven touchdowns (six receiving and one rushing) on 37 catches for 452 yards, all while never being Bo Nix’s top wideout option.
He tied his career-high with six receptions for 33 yards and a touchdown in the Ducks’ win over Stanford a season ago and tallied a season-high 69
Traeshon Holden (1) surveys the field before the game. The University of Oregon Ducks defeated the Boise State Broncos 37-34 on Sept. 7, 2024 making a kick two seconds before the start of overtime.
(Miles Cull/Emerald)
So, me, I be me. Everybody knows when I walk on the field I’m coming. Straight business.
yards on five catches in the 2024 Fiesta Bowl.
Now a veteran on the 2024 Ducks, Holden has to once again adjust to a new single caller as Dillon Gabriel takes over. One of Holden’s tasks at fall camp was finding chemistry with his third quarterback in as many seasons. Amidst the change, Holden is still rooted enough to have confidence and pass on wisdom to the younger faces.
“I’m just reminding them, it doesn't matter who we play,” Holden said. “At the end of the day, it’s us versus us. It all depends on what we want to put on film. If we say we’re the best offense in the country, we gotta show that every weekend no matter who we’re playing.”
That mindset keeps him anchored in his process, one that lets him continue to be a viable offensive weapon. In the Ducks’ season-opening 24-14 win over the University of Idaho, Holden had three receptions for 36 yards.
“My preparation before games is always going to be the same,” Holden said. “That’s how I prepare and that’s what I do everyday and at every practice.”
It’s those very practices that provide opportunities for players like Holden, who might be — unfairly — flying under the radar to stand out and catch the attention of those who hold the cards.
The recipe for doing just that on Oregon head coach Dan Lanning’s team is simple.
“Make plays,” Lanning said. “Just work really hard. The best guys will be out there on the field.”
With numbers that continue to improve year after year, Holden is establishing himself as one of the best of the field, and he’s not afraid to admit it.
Prior to Oregon’s 37-34 win over Boise State, Holden said he was excited about facing a defense that runs a man coverage scheme.
“[Man coverage]’s what I like so hopefully [Boise State] does that because I don’t think nobody can guard me,” Holden said.
It ended up paying off for him as he tallied four catches for 78 yards — 59 of which came on a catchand-run touchdown — in the victory.
Those confident words from Holden sound similar. After all, it was his own teammate, Tez Johnson, who claimed to be the fastest receiver in the nation after Oregon’s 2024 Spring Game.
With such a talented wide-receiver room, Holden has to do everything he can to stand out, a task, he says, that’s become a part of who he is.
“Really just be yourself,” Holden said when asked how he makes himself seen on such a loaded roster. “So, me, I be me. Everybody knows when I walk on the field I’m coming. Straight business.”
Entering last Saturday’s game, Boise State held a 3-0 all-time record over the Ducks. But that was a number Holden felt destined to change.
“They ain’t beat me,” Holden said. “Coach Lanning wasn’t here when they won, so they ain’t beat none of us.”
Thanks in part to Holden, they still haven’t.
Traeshon Holden(1) barely misses a catch in the endzone at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., on Sept. 7, 2024. (Miles Cull/Emerald)
- Traeshon Holden, Oregon Wide Receiver
OREGON VS. OREGON STATE PREVIEW
The Ducks look to stay undefeated as they face their in-state rival
By LILY CRANE Sports Reporter
No. 9 Oregon narrowly defeated its opponent for the second week in a row. Now, its attention shifts to taking down a familiar foe.
The in-state rivalry between the Ducks (2-0) and the Beavers (2-0) looks a little bit different this time around. Oregon embarked on a new journey in the Big Ten while Oregon State was left behind with Washington State as the last two members of the Pac12 conference.
The Ducks’ start to the Big Ten era has been nothing short of anticlimactic. Their matchup against Boise State University last Saturday came down to a gamewinning field goal in the waning seconds. The 37-34 nail-biting victory followed a 24-14 win against the University of Idaho in Week 1. Oregon’s season has been defined by the struggles of its offensive line. Transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel recorded 623 passing yards and four touchdowns on 84.3 percent completion. The Ducks appear to be doing almost everything right on paper — except protecting their quarterback.
In each of the two seasons that Bo Nix was the starting quarterback, the offensive line allowed only five sacks. In the first two games of the season,
Oregon has nearly equaled the total sacks allowed in the previous two seasons combined with seven. The Ducks score on a high percentage of their red-zone opportunities, but the sacks have limited it to just six trips to the redzone. “We’ll watch the film and evaluate and figure out who our best five or six or seven, whoever that might be, that can play winning football for us,” head coach Dan Lanning said about the offensive line after the win against Boise State.
Meanwhile, the Beavers underwent a drastic roster shakeup in the offseason. Many of its stars from its 2023 team—which finished fourth in the Pac—12—exited as the program ended on the wrong side of conference realignment. Enter Gevani McCoy. Oregon State’s new starting quarterback transferred to Corvallis after three seasons with the Idaho Vandals.
The Oregon defense will face a similar offensive scheme as it saw against the Broncos last weekend. McCoy isn’t a quarterback that puts the ball in the air very often. He only has two touchdown passes on 295 yards to his name despite blowout wins against Idaho State University and San Diego State University.
The Beavers rushed for 237 yards on 51 carries against the San Diego Aztecs last Saturday. The transfer-running back duo of Jam Griffin and Anthony Hankerson each have over 200 rushing yards in just two games. They’re two names to keep an eye on if the matchup is as closely contested as the Ducks’ first two games. “I’m anxious to get an opportunity to play those guys. I know they have always been a well-coached team. I don’t think anything has changed there,” Lanning said. “They certainly have some talent on their team and they do
a really good job.”
Oregon entered the season as the No. 3 seed in the AP Poll — its highest preseason ranking since 2014 when the Ducks made all the way to the National Championship Game. The thin margin of victory in the games against Idaho and Boise State slid the Ducks down six spots.
A matchup against Oregon State is one that usually players and fans alike get hyped for, regardless of what conference the two sides play in. It could be the exact confidence booster that the Ducks need if they’re able to get a dominant win.
“I’m excited to see our guys go out there again and we’ll be competing against Oregon [State] this week too because that’s really where our growth starts,” Lanning said. “I know Oregon State will be pumped, ready to go and excited to play.”
The Ducks head north to take on the Beavers in Corvallis at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The University of Oregon Ducks Football team defeated Oregon State University 31-7 in a home match at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. , on Nov. 24, 2023. (Molly McPherson/Emerald)
The University of Oregon Ducks Football team defeated Oregon State University 31-7 in a home match at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., on Nov. 24, 2023. (Eric Becker/Emerald)
"ON INNOVATION"
PART III: IN DEFENSE OF TRADITION
Last year the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers were closer than ever to equal
By OWEN MURRAY Sports Reporter
Everyone wants to change. Everyone wants to get better. Sometimes, though, time must stand still.
Last November, when the then-No. 16 (8-3) Oregon State Beavers rolled into Autzen Stadium, they had the opportunity to (with a lot of luck) steal a bid to the final Pac-12 Championship Game. So did the No. 6 (11-1) Oregon Ducks, who won that rivalry game, 31-7.
That was 295 days ago.
Now, they’re meeting under entirely different circumstances. Despite losing the Pac-12 Championship to the No. 3 Washington Huskies, Oregon sealed its earthshaking move to the Big Ten Conference. Alongside the Huskies, USC and UCLA, the Ducks found a new home in one of the nation’s two premier conferences.
The Ducks were a consensus preseason top-five pick to win this year’s National Championship and recruited one of the best transfer classes in school history.
One hour north in Corvallis, it’s been a nightmarishly different story. The Beavers were left without a suitor, and remained one of just two teams in the Pac-12. They lost several players, including star quarterback DJ Uiagalelei and rushing leader Damien
Martinez to the transfer portal.
Head coach Jonathan Smith left for the Michigan State job and took four-star freshman QB Aidan Chiles with him. The Beavers’ preseason championship odds hovered around +60,000. To say that they’ve gone in different directions is an understatement.
And yet, the two are still playing. Why?
“I think games like this are really important,” Oregon football head coach Dan Lanning said ahead of last year’s matchup. “It would be great if that’s something we can make happen and continue to make happen.”
While the Ducks and Beavers are playing in front of a likely sold-out Reser Stadium, a different situation will be taking place five hours north. Faced with the same set of circumstances, the Washington Huskies and Washington State Cougars decided to play their “Apple Cup” rivalry at the Seattle Seahawks’ Lumen Field. Per reports from 247Sports, it’ll be less than half-full — they sold out a larger-capacity Husky Stadium last November.
Tradition is the name of the game in college football. Both schools have their own: “Shout” permeates the national conversation. Benny Beaver and his chainsaw carve a visceral image for many Ducks fans. The tradition that matters most, however,
is shared.
And so, for all of the innovation that I talk about in this series, maybe there’s a place for some stability. There’s a reason, for once, not to make change. If it were any other team in the Beavers’ place, the Ducks’ playoff ambitions wouldn’t change. On paper, it’s no different. But that’s not where this game matters.
There will always be room for revolution. There’s potential for the Ducks to face an opponent three times this year — something that has rarely happened in college football history. Rematches like those are rife with tactical intrigue: How will coaches deconstruct each other again? Will the same game plan work? But still.
This weekend’s game matters because it means more than football. It matters not because of what happens on the field, but because of what happens around it. In a world filled with analytics, data and reasoning, there’s room for emotion. Now, time is at a standstill. It’s not about the future; it’s about the past. Enjoy this one, Oregon fans.
It’s more than a game. It’s tradition.
On Innovation is a weekly column, published in the Daily Emerald’s Gameday edition, which breaks down the University of Oregon’s commitment to living ahead of every other school, on and off the football field.
Oregon RB Jordan James (20) is surrounded by teammates afterscoring. The University of Oregon Ducks Football team defeated Oregon State University 31-7 in a home match at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., on Nov. 24, 2023. (Molly McPherson/Emerald)
DUCKS FIND THEIR EXPLOSION IN WEEK 2
Oregon finally found the explosive plays it was looking for in Week 1, but it came at a cost on Saturday, as the Ducks only narrowly edged out the Boise State Broncos
By JACK LAZARUS Sports Reporter
After Week 1’s narrow 24-14 victory against Idaho, head coach Dan Lanning noted the team’s need to create more “explosive plays.”
While the Ducks did exactly that in a barn-burning 37-34 win, they failed to work any long-winded offensive drives to tire out the defense.
Oregon attained most of its offensive yardage through “chunk plays” (plays that go for 30 yards or more). The situation created by that made it significantly harder for the Ducks to convert plays within five yards of the first down marker — especially third downs.
Oregon converted just one of its six third down attempts in the first half — a number which improved slightly by the end of the game, as the Ducks converted four of their 12 third-down attempts.
Many of those chunk plays came via improvisation by running back Jordan James, as the passing offense struggled mightily for the first half of the game. Even when Dillon Gabriel found success, it only came from throws over 30 yards downfield.
For example, Oregon’s second touchdown of the game came by way of a 34-yard bomb to Evan Stewart.
“I think our coaching staff did a good job of recognizing when we’d have [explosive play] opportunities…We told ourselves early on that we’re gonna take a shot down the field, and Evan really capitalized on that pass,” Lanning said.
Early in the third quarter, Gabriel managed to find Traeshon Holden on third-and-8 over the middle through a chaotic sea of pass rushers. In what seemed like the first short completion for positive yards, Oregon tied the game at 20.
“I think we had a lot of shots called…We gained confidence creating windows in isolation for our receivers…it’s a good time,” Gabriel said.
However, it often felt like the Ducks waited until third down to even attempt passes at all. Which was shocking considering up until the fourth quarter, the Ducks accrued more penalty yards than rushing yards.
With just over three minutes left in the third, the Ducks were again aided by an electric, explosive play — this time from Tez Johnson.
Johnson picked up a punt, quickly broke off the first tackler and saw his daylight. Eighty-five yards later, Johnson stomped into the endzone and the Ducks took their third lead of the night.
That is the type of explosive play that Lanning wanted.
“I told myself when I walked out there ‘I’m gonna be aggressive,’ just be aggressive, and as soon as I caught the ball, I was like ‘here we go,’” Johnson said.
Mistakes came back to bite the Ducks, however.
Oregon coughed up two fumbles and put the ball in the hands of Boise State’s electric running back Ashton Jeanty, leading to 14 unanswered points for the Broncos. Oregon’s defense found itself equally susceptible to explosive plays.
“We knew mistakes were gonna happen on both sides of the ball, but how fast can you move on to the next play and execute the next play?” Johnson said.
The next play for the Ducks proved another huge moment, as it might have saved Oregon in Saturday’s contest.
After falling behind 34-27, Noah Whittington returned the ensuing kickoff 100 yards to the house — tying the game.
Whittington dropped the ball just before he reached the goal line, but it got scooped up by teammate Jayden Limar, so he was credited with the score.
Once again, Oregon’s big play ability shined at the perfect moment, and it became a primary turning point in this game. Boise State did not score after this, while the Ducks pounced on their opportunity, and won the game as time expired.
It wasn’t pretty and it included a lot of stress, but the job got done. It just so happened that the mechanism by which it got done was the same exact problem that Lanning pointed out after Week 1.
Noah Whittington, (6) Jabbar Muhammad, (7) and Solomon Davis celebrate after a touchdown. The Univeristy of Oregon Ducks defeated the Boise State Broncos 37-34 on Sept. 7, 2024. (Molly McPherson/Emerald)
