THURSDAY, NOV. 21, 2024
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.
EMERALD MEDIA GROUP
1395 University St., rm. 302 Eugene, OR 97403 541.346.5511 | dailyemerald.com
NEWSROOM
Editor in Chief
Tristin Hoffman
Print Managing Editor Mathias Lehman-Winters
Copy Chief
Alex Woodward
Sports Editors
Brady Ruth Jack Lazarus
Sports Reporters
Lily Crane
Joe Krasnowski
Owen Murray Beck Parsons
Photo Editors
Molly McPherson
Jonathan Suni
Photographers
Kai Kanzer
Design Editor
Sam Butler
Designers
Eva Andrews
Adaleah Carmen
Gabriela Martinez Contreras
Bella Lyon
Peyton McQuain
BUSINESS
President & Publisher
Eric Henry x317
Vice President, Operations
Kathy Carbone x302
Creative Director Anna Smith x327
ADVERTISING
Director of Sales and Digital Marketing Shelly Rondestvedt x303
Student Sales Manager Lola Tagwerker
Account Executives
Cooper Gast Elliot Byrne Ysai Hong Nate Ghilarducci
(On the Cover) Atticus Sappington (36) celebrates on the Oregon sideline as he warms up his leg for the final extra point kick of the game. The No. 1 ranked Oregon Ducks took on the Michigan Wolverines on Nov. 2, 2024, at the iconic 'Big House" in Ann Arbor, Mich. (Jonathan Suni/Emerald)
(Left) Oregon receiver Traeshon Holden (1) celebrates as his team tacks on a final touchdown late to end the game in front of a disappointed home crowd. (Jonathan Suni/Emerald)
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF BRACKET
With the postseason looming and Oregon football on the verge of qualification, it’s time to learn about the new structure
BY OWEN MURRAY Sports Reporter
It’s a momentous year for college football. It’s also a confusing one for fans. The new playoff structure is unprecedented, and so The Daily Emerald is here to take you through the new postseason ahead of what seems increasingly like the first Oregon appearance since 2014. Here are five things to know about the new College Football Playoff.
#1
This is the first year of the expanded bracket
The former College Football Playoff, which existed from 2014-2023, was a four-team bracket that regularly included only conference champions or excluded a power conference entirely. Oregon qualified once, in the 2014 edition, where it eventually lost in the championship. In 2023, the Playoff announced its expansion to 12 teams, with guaranteed slots for the five highest-ranked conference champions and atlarge bids for the next highest ranked schools.
#2
There’s no limit on teams per conference
In the expanded edition of the Playoff, berths outside of the five conference champions are simply allocated to the next highest ranked teams. This means that there’s no cap on how many teams can make the bracket from one confer
The four highest-ranked conference champions get a bye
While five conference champions receive an automatic bid into the Playoff, the four highest-ranked champs will also receive a first-round bye. Whilst seeds No. 5 through 12 are playing first-round games on campus, the four best seeds will wait in the second round — benefiting from a crucial rest week.
Notably, this does not mean that the four byes will go to the four power conferences — the Big Ten, SEC, Big 12 and ACC. If (for example) potential Mountain West champion Boise State ends the year higher ranked than the Big 12 champion, the Broncos would likely receive the first-round bye and the Big 12 representative would receive the No. 12 seed, with a first-round road game at No. 5. It’s a huge tradeoff, and one to keep an eye on.
#3 #4
For the first time, games will be played on campus
Previously, Playoff games were hosted at a rotating set of New Year's Six bowl games — the Orange, Sugar, Peach, Fiesta, Cotton and Rose Bowls. The National Championship was hosted at a neutral site, like last year, when it was played at Houston’s NRG Stadium. This year, Atlanta will play host to the season’s final game.
In 2024, first-round games will be hosted on campus for
9 through 12 on Dec. 20 and 21, 2024. Not only will the home teams get a sizable advantage, the atmosphere will be unlike anything fans have seen in the postseason to date.
#5
The final set of rankings will be announced on Sun., Dec. 8.
While the Playoff committee will continue to release rankings on Tuesday evenings weekly, the one that really matters — the final set — will be released on Sunday, Dec. 8, following conference championships. This is when the four byes will be allocated and home games decided. Following the conference championship weekend and the final poll, teams will get a minimum of 12 days off between conference championship game and the first round.
Have more questions? Follow the Emerald’s coverage of Oregon football and the College Football Playoff on social media, @DailyEmerald, and online at dailyemerald.com/category/sports.
(BELOW) The NCAA National Championship trophy in Autzen Stadium. The University of Oregon Ducks Football team defeated the University of Colorado Buffaloes 42-6 at Autzen Stadium in Eugene on September 23, 2023. (Kai Kanzer/Emerald)
OREGON’S “THUMBS DOWN” MENTALITY
In a season filled with interesting tidbits all around, No. 1 Oregon’s use of the film “Gladiator” for inspiration has bled into all of the Ducks’ sports programs
BY JACK LAZARUS Sports Associate Editor
“Are you not entertained?”
A phrase borrowed from the classic, Oscar-winning film “Gladiator,” but it started to mean a lot more than that to the Ducks.
While the secondary dominates Big Ten offense after Big Ten offense, a fun celebration makes it all the more interesting. The usage of the “thumbs down,” an homage to the widely-renowned celebration of the Ducks’ star cornerback Jabbar Muhammad, is spreading like wildfire through the program and the university.
“I want to take credit for [the celebration], but we watched the Gladiator movie this past week, and that was kinda the motto. In the Gladiator movie, they do the thumbs down to execute them, or whatever. That was the team motto last week, so everyone was doing that, it’s just ironic that it’s my celebration,” Muhammad said.
Muhammad’s “box down” caught on before the season even began, which was due to his excellence at the position last season at Washington. Muhammad was a crucial part of the Washington squad that made it all the way to the National Championship, which the Huskies lost against Michigan.
It was in Muhammad’s 2024 rematch against the Wolverines when the celebration really went viral.
Heading into Oregon’s roadtrip against the defending national champions, the Michigan Wolverines, head coach Dan Lanning wanted to stress the importance of silencing The Big House and its cavalcade of noise created by over 110,000 raucous fans.
“We talked about eliminating the crowd in this game. The warriors are the ones who fight the battle, and they’re the ones who control the atmosphere, not the spectators. I thought we did an elite job of that,” Lanning said after the contest.
Elite job would be a tremendous understatement. Oregon trounced Michigan 38-17 at the beginning of the month, which was largely due to the team’s ability to score early to silence the crowd. The Ducks scored on four of the five drives they had in the first half and set the tone early that the crowd was to be a non-factor for the No. 1 team in the nation.
What made the moment that much more special were
the constant reminders of the iconic film they had watched that week.
Each week, the team’s videography department produces a cinematic recap titled “Ducks vs Them” which chronicles the team’s preparation ahead of gameday. The main factor explained in the Michigan week’s preparation was the team’s play on “Gladiator.”
In the team’s “motivation meeting”, Lanning walked the Ducks through the lessons that Ridley Scott’s masterpiece taught them. The most important one was about the “man in the arena.”
“I’m gonna remind you at some point in this game, I’m gonna tell you to look up at the stands at some point in this game, and you’re gonna start to see it empty out,” Lanning said to his group before the game through the cinematic recap. “We’ve made the decision before we even stepped on the field, all day, it’s thumbs down, it’s no mercy.”
“ All day, it’s thumbs down, it’s no mercy. “
- Dan Lanning, UO Head Football Coach
That’s exactly what the Ducks’ head coach did. Late in the fourth quarter, with the game practically put to bed, Lanning called a timeout with the sole intention of showing his team the emptying out of The Big House.
“Are you not entertained?” Lanning asked his team.
The thumbs down celebration has even stretched itself to other departments in Oregon’s abundant athletics sector. Muhammad’s cousin, Amina, is a starting forward for Oregon’s women’s basketball team.
Muhammad instantly became a leader in Kelly Graves’ squad, as she is a junior who spent her first two seasons playing down in Austin with the University of Texas Longhorns. The fun part is that she followed in her cousin’s footsteps and adopted his iconic celebration in her own way.
Amina Muhammad is a tenacious defender just like her cousin, which has shown in the Ducks’ first four wins — Muhammad has averaged just under two steals a game since arriving in Eugene.
Muhammad can often be seen throwing thumbs down after strong defensive plays of her own, which proves the universal manner of the message behind it. Jabbar Muhammad’s celebration made waves even before it was adopted under the “Gladiator” umbrella, as the secondary had been seen throwing its thumbs down all throughout the early portion of the season. Given what Muhammad has said about his defensive backfield, that should be expected.
“All the extra time we spend together. A lot of us are in our last years, and this is it for us, so we put everything we have into it,” Muhammad said.
This group is locked into being the best unit in their position in the country, which inevitably helped fuel the Ducks’ push to the top of the AP Poll for its fifth consecutive week.
The celebration is more of a microcosm of the bonds built between the players on this team.
“We see each other off the field, it’s probably the most connected secondary I’ve ever been a part of, and that’s just a testament to everything we do off the field,” Muhammad said.
Execute and finish.
It showed up in Lanning’s slideshow presentation that week, which described the thumbs down mentality as “finish everything.”
That’s exactly what the Ducks and Muhammad have used to become and remain the No. 1 team in the country for five weeks running. Given how the team has prepared so far, it’s safe to say that the Ducks will continue to execute at the highest level and finish off everything, leaving nothing but downed opponents in their wake.
(BELOW) The Oregon Duck's defensive back group celebrates their dominant win over the reigning champions. The No. 1 ranked Oregon Ducks took the Michigan Wolverines on Nov. 2, 2024. (Jonathan Suni/Emerald)
The Oregon Duck’s Wardrobe
Ranking the Oregon mascot’s costumes this season
BY LILY CRANE Sports Reporter
Before No. 1 Oregon football even played its first game to spark what’s been a dominant season, its mascot went on his own tour of the nation.
The Duck spent the offseason traveling across the country to visit the program’s new foes in the Big Ten Conference.
When the mascot returned to Eugene to begin the football season, the shenanigans were just getting started. The Oregon Duck is notorious for its costume entrances which range from Batman to trolling Colorado coach Deion Sanders.
The Duck has been just as creative as ever with his pregame fits this season. Below, the top five outfits of 2024 are ranked from worst to best.
Napoleon Dynamite
The Oregon mascot made its Big Ten debut against Michigan State on Oct. 4.
He dressed in a curly wig, fake glasses and a “Vote for Pedro” shirt as he did the dance from the 2004 film “Napoleon Dynamite.”
While it was funny and had an uncanny resemblance to the character, it was a bit underwhelming in comparison to the other outfits on this list — especially considering it was the program’s first-ever appearance in Big Ten Conference action.
#2 #3
Greatest Showman
Oct. 12 was a day that immediately belonged in the history books for Oregon athletics and college football.
Oregon football defeated Ohio State 32-31 in a top-3 thriller at Autzen Stadium — but the day got even better when The Duck arrived for his performance of “The Greatest Mascot.”
It was an ode to Hugh Jackman’s character in the musical film “The Greatest Showman.”
The mascot was welcomed onto the field by the marching band, jugglers and dancers on stilts.
The Duck and his friends went full out on the commitment to performance, which earns it the third spot on this list.
#1 #4 #5
Dancing With The Stars
The Duck made his case to be on a future season of the hit series “Dancing with the Stars” in his Nov. 9 entrance.
The mascot was just as flashy as ever, despite the energy in the stadium being lower than usual for Oregon’s game against a four-win Maryland squad. The Duck wore a bedazzled jacket as he spun around its partner.
The hype surrounding this appearance wasn’t as high as others on this list. Still, The Duck showed that there’s competition for best dancer among Big Ten mascots.
Minion
This one wins the title of cutest entrance.
An Oct. 26 date with Illinois was Oregon’s final game before Halloween — meaning it was a perfect opportunity for The Duck to reveal this year’s costume.
The mascot dressed as a yellow minion from the movie “Despicable Me.” Over a dozen kids who were also dressed as minions chased after The Duck during its entrance onto the field.
Not only did this outfit pay tribute to another beloved cinematic character, but it also included the youth of the Oregon fanbase.
Mr. Potato Head
The first-place spot goes to what The Duck wore in the second home game of the season: a Mr. Potato Head costume.
This one snagged the top spot because it combined humor with an outfit that made sense to the team's matchup. After all, Oregon faced off against Boise State University which is located in the Potato State.
The program’s performance versus the Broncos wasn’t its most convincing outing of the season. Oregon did win 37-34 against a team now ranked 13 in the nation, however, and it never looked back.
Perhaps the Mr. Potato Head outfit was a good luck charm at the beginning of an undefeated season.
WHAT TO WATCH DURING OREGON’S BYE WEEK
Which Week 13 games should Duck fans watch?
BY BECK PARSONS Sports Reporter
After winning eight games in a row with no rest, the undefeated Oregon Ducks will now enjoy a much-deserved bye week. Oregon’s players will use their bye week for rest and recuperation, but the grind never stops for Ducks fans. Here are three games Oregon fans should watch during the team’s Week 13 bye.
No. 5 Indiana (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten) @ No. 2 Ohio State (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten), 9:00 a.m. PST
If you only watch one more game of regular-season college football this year, make sure it’s this one. The game will be this season’s fifth between two teams ranked in the AP Poll’s Top-5, and its winner will most likely be in Indianapolis on Dec. 7 for the Big Ten Championship Game.
Led by sixth-year senior quarterback Kurtis Rourke and firstyear head coach Curt Cignetti, the Hoosiers enter Week 13 alongside Oregon and Army as one of three remaining undefeated FCS teams. As a result, Indiana recently signed Cignetti to an eight-year, $72 million-dollar contract extension.
Though their strength of previously-played schedule ranks 106th, Indiana has beaten nine of ten opponents by 14 or more points. The Hoosiers are two wins away from playing a Big Ten Championship game in their state capitol for the first time.
Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, they’ll be fighting an uphill battle in Columbus. Ohio State leads the nation in points allowed per game (10.3) and is second in yards allowed per game (250.8). Their season’s only blemish — a 32-31 loss at Oregon in October — is easily the nation’s best loss of the season.
Despite their success, the Buckeyes’ future is unclear. Assuming No. 4 Penn State (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten) wins out, Ohio State will need to do the same to secure a Big Ten Championship berth.
No. 16 Colorado Buffaloes (82, 6-1 Big 12) @ Kansas (4-6, 3-4 Big 12) , 12:30 p.m. PST
Remember last year, when Oregon fraud-checked Colorado 42-6 in
front of the whole country? Colorado does. Now, 14 months later, head coach Deion Sanders and the Buffs are contenders for a Big 12 title. Sanders’ son Shedeur, who currently leads the nation’s No. 7 passing offense (322 yards per game), will likely be the first quarterback drafted in April. Heisman favorite cornerback and wide receiver Travis Hunter is also making headlines as perhaps the most effective two-way player of all time.
Meanwhile, the Jayhawks enter this Week 13 showdown riding the momentum of two straight ranked wins, first over No. 16 Iowa State and most recently at then-undefeated No. 6 BYU. The Jayhawks must win out if they want to secure bowl game eligibility
No. 7 Alabama (8-2, 4-2 SEC) @ Oklahoma (5-5, 1-5 SEC), 4:30 p.m. PST
For all that Oregon head coach Dan Lanning has done, he hasn’t beaten Washington, and he hasn’t beaten Kalen DeBoer, who coached the Huskies for two seasons before becoming head coach of Alabama’s Crimson Tide this offseason. Though Alabama struggled in October — losing twice to Vanderbilt and Tennessee — it’s since rebounded, winning its last three games by a combined score of 128-20.
With newfound momentum on their side, the Tide are alive and kicking in the SEC Championship and CFP Playoff races.
Their opponents this weekend? Not so much. After starting 3-0, Oklahoma has lost five of its last seven. Though they won’t be competing for an SEC Championship appearance or playoff berth, the Sooners are one win from bowl eligibility and have two remaining chances to get there.
Will Oklahoma finally find some success, or will the Tide keep rolling towards the postseason?
(ABOVE) Four military jets fly over the over 100,000 fans ready for a heavy weight matchup of the No. 1 ranked Oregon Ducks against the Michigan Wolverines on Nov. 2, 2024. (Jonathan Suni/Emerald)
The No. 3 ranked Oregon Ducks football team took on the No. 2 ranked Ohio State University Buckeyes on Oct. 12, 2024, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene. (Molly McPherson/Emerald)
BRYCE BOETTCHER'S NFL DRAFT CHANCES
One of social media’s favorite headlines has become one of the Ducks’ unsung heroes in 2024
BY JOE KRASNOWSKI Sports Reporter
Bryce Boettcher looks like something out of the 1980s, with his hard-nosed style of play, gritty mentality and neck pad sticking out behind his helmet.
He flies down the field with vigor, the 6-foot-2 South Eugene High School graduate middle linebacker always in the right spot at the right time en route to 69 total tackles and five tackles for loss on the season.
"I love Bryce Boettcher,” Dan Lanning said after
.276 with 12 home runs, 35 RBIs, and a team-high 46 runs scored while being named to the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Team as an outfielder. His impressive performance earned him a selection in the 13th round by the Houston Astros.
However, as he’s started every game for the Ducks on the gridiron this year, it's fair to question just how far his two-sport abilities might take him.
Boettcher at the very least will likely warrant late-round NFL Draft talk
the San Francisco 49ers who added 79 total tackles and 14.5 tackles for loss in his senior year at Texas Christian University) and Amari Burney (2023 6th round pick of the Las Vegas Raiders who added 79 total tackles and nine tackles for loss his senior season at University of Florida.)
However, none of those above players have the seemingly limitless potential that Boettcher does — committing to one sport only further boosts his possibilities of succeeding at the next level.
With the NFL Draft taking place in late April, there are no seven-round mock drafts readily available to assess Boettcher’s full draft stock. Boettcher has signed with the ever the Ducks’ season concludes. However, for now, fans can only speculate as to how far the Ducks’ two-way star
“I compared it to baseball a little bit,” Boettcher said after the Ducks' comeback win over Wisconsin. “Hitting comes and goes, offense comes and goes. When you’re out on the defensive side of the ball, if you’re present and bring a good mentality, that could be as consistent as you want it to be. If you look at any championship team, their defense
For now, he will be using his experience as one of the longest-tenured Ducks of any sport to help guide the
Bryce Boettcher (28) celebrates a big forced turnover against the Bruins. The Oregon Ducks took on the UCLA Bruins in its first Big Ten Conference game in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA on Sept. 28, 2024. (Jonathan Suni/Emerald)
