College Football is mercifully back! Week 0 gave everyone their college football fix and routine back after a seven-plus month-long hiatus from the sport. But now, almost everyone makes their return to the gridiron. Every team ranked in the top 25 is playing this week. Of those teams, only the Utah Utes won't be playing this weekend because they already played on Thursday when they dismantled the Florida Gators 24-11 in Salt Lake City. Every ranked team but LSU, Florida State, and Clemson will be playing on Saturday. Below, we'll take a look at some Oregon football predictions.

The Ducks begin the season ranked 15th in the AP Poll. They've made plenty of noise off the field for their (and the University of Washington's) move to the Big Ten Conference that will take place beginning next season. But for the 2023 season, they will still be members of the Pac-12 conference, and that season begins on Saturday, September 2nd against the Portland State Vikings. The Vikings are an FCS school from the Big Sky conference. It's a team the Ducks should handle thoroughly. That's one prediction for this game. Here are some more particular and bold predictions for this game.

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3) Oregon wins by at least 40 points

One could make the case that this is not a very bold take. But after looking at the college football lines for Week 1 and seeing that the highest spread of the week is Alabama -39 against Middle Tennessee State, having a team to win by an amount higher than that is pretty spicy. The last two times Oregon football has faced off against an FCS team over the last couple of years, they have won by scores of 48-7 against Stony Brook in 2021 and 70-14 over Eastern Washington last year. Oregon also scored at least 40 points in eight consecutive games last season. Add with that the fact that Portland State gave up at least 45 points in three of their last five games last season against the likes of Idaho, Sacramento State, and Cal Poly and the case for Oregon to win by more than six touchdowns gets bolstered.

2) Oregon holds Portland State to 7 points or fewer

Offense wasn't the problem for Oregon last season. Defense was. Oregon's defense allowed at least 20 points in nine of their 14 games last season. They allowed 386 yards per game in 2022. That was good for the fourth-best ranking in the PAC-12 last season, but it was around average or below average compared to the rest of the country. But head coach Dan Lanning is a defensive-minded coach after years studying under defensive stalwart Kirby Smart at the University of Georgia. Oregon's defense should be a much better unit this season with Lanning entering his second season as head coach. They should and will improve, and that begins against Portland State. Remember, they allowed 14 points to Eastern Washington last season, so allowing half that number would be notable.

1) Bo Nix accounts for at least 5 touchdowns

Bo Nix has a legit shot at the Heisman trophy this season. He's tied with Notre Dame's Sam Hartman and Michigan's JJ McCarthy for the seventh-best odds at winning the Heisman this season according to BetMGM. For good reason too. Nix was excellent last season in his first season at Eugene. His completion percentage skyrocketed from 61.9% at Auburn to 71% at Oregon. His yards per attempt ballooned from 7.1 to 8.8. He threw for 29 touchdowns and ran for 14 more. He averaged roughly three touchdowns per game last season. But against a team Oregon football should have no trouble moving the ball against, it's safe to forecast more than that. At least two more, in fact.