Oregon Ducks Football is ready to take on the new Big Ten Conference and chase a league title in year one, but the old guard, Michigan Wolverines, are ready to defend their turf.
Oregon Ducks Football might be entering the Big Ten Conference among the favorites to win the league, but that doesn’t mean the old guard has to like it.
Michigan has reeled off three Big Ten titles in a row, finishing last season with a national title as well. Several popular betting sites have the Wolverines as third or fourth for best odds to win the league again, sometimes behind Penn State but never ahead of Oregon or Ohio State.
“Honestly, I don’t think that we care,” Michigan running back Donovan Edwards said. “I’d say we don’t care, in the sense that it’s us against everybody as it was last year.”
Edwards was joining former Wolverine tight end Jake Butt on his podcast, The L.A.B., where he was asked about the Buckeyes and Ducks being favored was a good motivator for the defending champs. The Wolverines lost their head coach, Jim Harbaugh, as well as nearly 20 players to the NFL.
The Oregon Ducks mascot stand behind the endzone during the game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium.
“The way that I’ve been looking at it is, you can look at the offensive side of the ball — a lot of guys, including myself, haven’t been in a position to where your number is called on every single play,” Edwards said. “I want to be one of those guys where my number is called on every single play. I want the coaches to rely on me.
“It’s the same thing with all the guys on the offense. C-Love [tight end Colston Loveland] is the only returner on the offense, so it’s like — you want that pressure. You want that expectation, and guys are going to rise to that.”
Of course, talk in July won’t mean much when November rolls around. By then, Ohio State will have already travelled to Eugene (Oct. 12). Then in the final month of the regular season, the Ducks are in Ann Arbor on Nov. 2 with The Game slated for Nov. 30.
In the new Big Ten, Oregon could face either Ohio State or Michigan twice this fall. With the removal of divisions, the top two teams in the league standings will mean for the Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis on Dec. 7.
No matter who emerges from the round-robin between these three schools in the regular season, or who ultimately wins the Big Ten title, all three programs could see themselves in the College Football Playoff. An Oregon-Michigan rematch for the conference crown followed by an Oregon-Ohio State rematch for all the marbles? Count me in.
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