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Oregon football has gotten off to a great start in the 2024 season. The Ducks are 3-0 and getting ready for their first-ever Big Ten game on Saturday. Oregon will take on UCLA and dynamic QB Ethan Garbers, who could be a problem for the Ducks on defense.
Oregon football's head coach Dan Lanning shared his honest assessment of Garbers before this weekend's matchup.
“I think he’s very athletic,” Lanning said, per James Crepea of The Oregonian. “He’s a guy that when he does scramble, he scrambles and looks to throw. I think that’s something he’s had some success in each of his games. I think he’s getting more and more comfortable. But he throws a good ball. He’s able to really attack a soft zone really well and is getting more and more comfortable in their system.”
Lanning's defense has fared pretty well against the pass through three games, but none of those were Big Ten matchups. This should be a good litmus test for how good the Ducks actually are on the defensive side of the ball.
Oregon football keys to victory against UCLA and QB Ethan Garbers
Shutting down Ethan Garbers is the key to beating UCLA.
Garbers has showed some flashes of brilliance this season, but he has yet to put up a monster performance. This could change against Oregon, unless the Ducks succeed in containing him in the pocket.
“We got to keep (Garbers) in the cage and do what we got to do on defense,” linebacker Devon Jackson said. “Make sure we can’t let him run and let him go around all day, let him throw the ball. Keep him contained, make sure he doesn’t get outside of us and try to expand us on defense.”
Jackson is not the only Ducks defender who is focusing on bottling up Garbers on Saturday.
“I feel like they’re more pass heavy,” defensive tackle Keyon Ware-Hudson said. “Usually they’re run, have a good solid O-line to run behind. They use their running back a lot with the screens. We got to work on our cage. Our cage wasn’t good against Oregon State so we got to emphasize that this weekend.”
Oregon's first-ever Big Ten game will kick off at 11PM ET on Saturday.
