Home-and-Home: Where do Oregon and Washington stand as they ready for the Big Ten?

Christian Caple and Tyson Alger check in on the Ducks and Huskies before spring ball gets underway.

Home-and-Home is a regular conversation between Christian Caple of On Montlake and Tyson Alger of The I-5 Corridor. With more than two decades of combined experience covering football in the Northwest, join On Montlake and The I-5 Corridor for their unique views on the Ducks, Huskies and Pac-12 football.

ALGER: Christian, it’s been a minute. The last time we did a Home-and-Home was Nov. 29. Here’s a rough list of things that have happened since we co-published Everything is on the Line, Part 2. 

1. The Huskies beat Oregon 34-31 in the Pac-12 championship game. 

2. The Huskies beat Texas in the CFP semifinals. 

3. The Huskies lost the national championship to a Big Ten team in a game where if just a few plays went differently early…

4. Hey Oregon fans know that one.

5. The Ducks kept their coach. 

6. The Ducks kept a lot of their roster. 

7. The Huskies lost their coach. 

8. The Huskies lost a lot of their roster. 

9. The Ducks signed a monster recruiting class. 

10. The Huskies did not. 

Oh, and On Montlake hit the one-year mark with a subscriber count equal to some small countries. Congratulations, buddy. I can’t wait until two years from now when you experience your identity crisis and end up with me in the soccer press box. 

So, here’s my question for you: Was it worth it? Not the Substack thing, but the season. Or would, say, Washington have benefitted from maybe splitting that season series with the Ducks and not starting the avalanche of success that ultimately led to another program reboot? 

Simple question, I know.

CAPLE: What a world, Tyson, where a Fiesta Bowl victory (even over Liberty) doesn’t make the list.

I’ve seen this question arise in some UW fan circles. I see it as a subspecies of the debate over whether Washington would have been better off missing the CFP in 2016 and facing Penn State in the Rose Bowl instead.

My answer to your question is a hard “yes.” You play football to win games, and you want to win games so that you might be able to compete for a national championship. If you’re going to fret over the unintended negative consequences that might be wrought by winning, why follow the sport in the first place? Coaches come, coaches win, coaches leave. It happens. I’d challenge any Husky fan to mentally transport themselves back to the morning of Dec. 1, looking forward to that night’s Pac-12 championship game, and tell me there’s anything you’d have traded, in that moment, for a UW defeat in Las Vegas. Be honest.

It’s also worth reminding that the 2024 season would have required something of a rebuild, anyway, even if Kalen DeBoer had stayed put. The Huskies had 13 guys at the NFL Combine last week. Jedd Fisch’s challenge is greater, of course, particularly because so many offensive linemen chose to transfer. But he did get the same quarterback to stick around, along with UW’s top portal receiver, and has brought starters from Arizona at running back, cornerback and edge rusher. The roster remains in dire need of game-ready players in the trenches, on both sides of the ball. But at this point, I think it’s worth wondering how many 2024 victories DeBoer’s departure is really going to cost the Huskies, because they already were entering the Big Ten with a much different roster.

The 2023 season was absolutely, unequivocally worth it for Washington. If it wasn’t, then what’s the point?

Anyway, Dan Lanning is 2-for-2 so far in leveraging momentary coaching-carousel panic to generate goodwill. Has his approval rating increased since the end of the season? It likely was already fairly high, aside from his 0-3 record against the Huskies, and he’s appearing among the top three or so coaches on every best-of-Big-Ten list.

ALGER: I mean, the day after the Pac-12 Championship game, some of Oregon Twitter was focusing, again, on the fact that Lanning seemingly smiles a lot while delivering bad/somber/losing news. That’s never a good place to be.

They’ve seen it three times now after Washington games and if it happens a fourth time, well, IT WON’T HAPPEN A FOURTH TIME BECAUSE DAN LANNING, THE BEST COACH ON THE MARKET, TURNED DOWN ALABAMA.

Or at least that was the gist of it, right?

To be up front: This has been a terrific offseason for the Ducks. They signed the No. 3 class in the country, they added the best quarterback out of the portal to replace Bo Nix and they added the portal’s No. 2 WR to replace Troy Franklin. DE Jordan Burch announced he’s returning. OL Ajani Cornelius announced he’s returning. Hell, all the coordinators are returning, which doesn’t happen often around here. Lanning enjoyed himself a February, with trips to the Waste Management Open in Phoenix and the Super Bowl in Los Angeles. Last week at Civil War hoops, he had his every step applauded whenever he moved from his court side seat. His Q-rating — is that still a thing? — couldn’t be higher. 

And while most of it is earned, I feel like there’s some yada-yadaing going on here. Because let me tell you something Caple, there was a dark cloud hanging over this state those first two weeks of January. Washington’s ascension felt imminent. Duck fans were turning against one another. This. Was. The. End. Then Michigan won, UW lost its coach and here we are again comparing offseasons without anyone placing real hardware on the table. 

How are things settling in with Fisch? Have the fans warmed up to him yet? How is he with the media? And, if you have the time, did Jonathan Smith have the worst offseason in football by taking the Michigan State job before UW and UCLA opened? 

CAPLE: You know, that was my first thought when Smith left Oregon State — that Washington just lost its top candidate to replace DeBoer, should he leave for … Michigan, which everyone believed to be the primary threat to steal him away.

You know how it is with a new coach. There will always be a certain segment of the fan base that more or less immediately convinces themselves the new guy will be better in all the ways the old guy wasn’t, and that the old guy only won because of the previous coach’s players, and that the new guy “gets it” in ways the old guy didn’t. You’re seeing some of that. Not that excitement isn’t warranted. Fisch did just take a moribund Arizona program from 1-11 to 10-3 in three seasons, and his reputation as a recruiter is certainly appealing. Given the circumstances, I think the consensus among UW fans is that Troy Dannen nailed the hire. One more big year in Tucson — which seemed a distinct possibility, given the Wildcats’ move to the Big 12 and the talent they return — could have elevated Fisch among the hottest names on the market.

He cuts a different personality than DeBoer, too. It stood out that at his February signing-day press conference, Fisch referenced 247Sports rankings and Pro Football Focus grades. He speaks in a straightforward fashion about how finances impact the sport, from coaching salary pools to NIL for players. And he obviously loves to tout his NFL background, and wants the NFL to be a noticeable throughline in everything the Huskies do.

The general vibe does seem to have shifted from “2024 will be a disaster” to “actually, this team could be OK” in the span of a few weeks. A lot of that has to do with retaining some key transfers and current players who initially entered the portal, and the fact that Fisch made some pretty encouraging hires to fill out the defensive coaching staff. If he can cobble together a decent o-line this season, expectations will be far greater going into 2025 (how’s that for getting ahead of ourselves?).

Speaking of expectations, have you booked your travel for the Big Ten title game yet?

ALGER: The thing I love most about conference realignment, Christian, is all the added time we’re going to get in Indianapolis. Why spend Pac-12 media days in Los Angeles when you can get the nation’s freshest shrimp cocktail at Saint Elmo in Indy? And, do you remember when we got lunch before last year’s Pac-12 championship game in Las Vegas, and how we both hated that it was warm enough to wear shorts, t-shirts and walk? 

Well I have good news, pal: the frigid air and wide lanes of the Midwest knock out those three birds with one stone. I simply can’t wait to make it my second home. 

And, yeah, there’s a chance the Ducks are going for a visit this year, too. Dillon Gabriel is about as plug-and-play as you’re going to get when trying to replace Nix’s near-Heisman-level production from 2023, and it’s pretty wild to look across some of the “way too early” top-25s out there and see Oregon as a near-consensus top-five team. Of course, the gap between what Oregon is supposed to be/do and what the Ducks are/have done is the reason why that final Pac-12 trophy is sitting up in Seattle. I still think if the Ducks and Huskies played one more time in 2023, UO gets them. 

Oregon is going to be really good this year. But I also pause every time I see a 2024 schedule that includes Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Washington in just October and November. There are so many challenges in this conference and I’d love to fast-forward and see what the average record is for the conference champion after five years. You’re going to have to be a bear of a team to come out of a schedule like that unscathed, which is why I also think we’re going to see more of these top-level teams attempt similar moves to what Oregon did this offseason, when they also landed game-tested quarterback Dante Moore to back up Gabriel. 

The logic is that Moore takes the reins when Gabriel leaves in 2025. But I also think it’s an acknowledgment that if you don’t have depth, everywhere, there’s a good chance you could get run over. 

The expanded playoff is coming at the perfect time for the Huskies, no? The 12-team era at least expands the bubble of fanbases thinking they have a shot if things go right. 

CAPLE: Yes, the 12-team field does give the Huskies (and other programs like theirs) hope that if they can find a way to scratch out 10 wins, they could play (and maybe even host) a pretty important game come December. That wouldn’t be the case with a four-team field. It’s almost like expanding the Playoff will be good for the sport. Who knew?

The way you’re describing Oregon feels a little like Washington’s pre-2023 narrative, albeit for different reasons; the Huskies returned just about every key player at every key position, whereas the Ducks are reloading at a couple spots with highly-rated talent. It’s an interesting time for the Big Ten to be adding new members. Ohio State had a big offseason, but Michigan is entering its post-Harbaugh era, Penn State can’t seem to break through, Wisconsin is finding its footing under Luke Fickell, USC took a huge step back last year, Washington still has some holes to fill …

Tyson: was the 2023 Pac-12 better than what awaits UW and Oregon in the 2024 Big Ten?

Alger: Last year was a really good and a really fun year of football for the Pac-12. USC had a Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, the Washington/Oregon rivalry peaked, Arizona completed its near worst-to-first turnaround and even the teams left for dead — Washington State and Oregon State — managed to put up a fight for most of the year.

It was as competitive as the conference has been since I started covering it, and when it was all said and done, three Pac-12 teams were ranked in the final AP Top 25 to the Big Ten’s four.

And you’re right, some of the OG Big Ten teams might not be at their apex here in 2024. The Ducks may show up and win the dang thing with a team comparable to the 2023 one in talent. But with all the money and attention being reconsolidated at the top here in realignment, I have a lot more confidence in a Penn State or a Wisconsin giving the Ducks and Huskies competitive games going forward in 2025, 2026 and 2027 than I would a Cal or Colorado. This is going to start feeling a lot more like an NFL schedule than what we’ve grown used to at the college level. 

OK, hit me with some names to watch for the Huskies as spring camps are set to get going. 

CAPLE: Good points. Man, it’s hard to believe the Pac-12 only had three ranked teams at season’s end. I guess having two dominant teams (and another, Arizona, that won 10 games) does mean a thinner middle, vis-a-vis win-loss records, but Utah and Oregon State were at least top-25-caliber, and USC had the presumptive No. 1 draft pick at quarterback. And this is really cherry picking, but what the heck: each of the Pac-12’s top seven teams received more votes than the Big Ten’s No. 5 team in the final AP poll, so the depth was there. 

Then again, the unbeaten Big Ten champion did beat the unbeaten Pac-12 champion by three scores in the national championship game, so there’s that.

As for UW names to watch: offensively, The Dudes, so to speak, should be a pair of transfers — tailback Jonah Coleman, from Arizona, and receiver Jeremiah Hunter, from California — and, of course, quarterback Will Rogers, though that sort of goes without saying. Third-year sophomore receiver Denzel Boston has the potential to get there, as does sixth-year tailback Cam Davis. Defensively, I envision The Dudes as Arizona transfer cornerback Ephesians Prysock, Montana State transfer defensive lineman Sebastian Valdez, linebacker Carson Bruener and safety/nickel Kam Fabiculanan, with linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala and cornerback Elijah Jackson also possessing Dude Potential. A handful of others could play their way into similar status, but that feels like the core.

What about the Ducks? We know about Gabriel, and Jordan James looked ready for lead-back duties as a true freshman. But who becomes WR1 with Troy Franklin moving on? Who’s the next Brandon Dorlus? 

ALGER: The Ducks lose Franklin, yes, but they do return Tez Johnson and his team-record 86 receptions from the 2023 season. Honestly, the receivers are going to be a blast to watch this spring — returners Traeshon Holden (37 catches), Gary Bryant Jr (30) and Jurrion Dickey will all vie for some of Franklin’s targets, but none may end up catching more balls than transfer Evan Stewart, who had 91 catches, 1364 yards and six touchdowns in 18 career games at Texas A&M. I want to see how Gabriel clicks with those guys and how much separation there is between him and Moore. 

The defense is going to be a bit more of a project this spring. The Ducks are replacing Dorlus, Casey Rogers and Taki Taimani on the line. They’re replacing Khyree Jackson, Evan Williams, Trikweze Bridges and Steve Stephens IV in the secondary. They’ve made a few portal additions (Jamaree Caldwell, a 6-foot-1, 325-pound DL from Houston; Jabbar Muhammad, a cornerback who needs no introduction here) to directly address those losses. But I also think this is the spring where we see Oregon’s linebacking and EDGE players establish themselves as the face of UO’s defense. Second-year players like Matayo Uiagalelei and Teitum Tuioti look ready to take a leap outside, while seniors Jeffrey Bassa and (a healthy) Jestin Jacobs really steady things up the middle. 

And with it sitting at about 35 degrees here in Portland with a light drizzle, it just feels like spring. 

You ready to get back out there? 

CAPLE: Typically, I enjoy a little downtime after the season, but the national championship game already feels like it happened about six years ago, and with so many changes on the coaching staff and roster, I’m eager to see what this team looks like on the practice field. Plus, Fisch’s spring practices are open to the media in their entirety, which makes for ample observing. 

The Huskies start practice April 2. Oregon gets going a week from Thursday. The I-5 Corridor and On Montlake will have you covered. 

— Tyson Alger and Christian Caple