When looking at the Oregon Ducks’ schedule for the 2022 season, it’s clear that there are a handful of games that are going to pose a real test for Dan Lanning and his new coaching staff.
While the Ducks may not have the hardest conference schedule in the Pac-12, they easily lead the way in non-conference difficulty, and there are a couple of conference games near the end of the year that are sure to pose a challenge.
It’s hard to argue against the notion that Week 1 vs. the defending champion Georgia Bulldogs, and Week 11 vs. the Utah Utes are the two biggest games of the year. Sure, there are matchups that stand out, like Week 3 vs. BYU, or Week 7 vs. UCLA, but a win against either Georgia or Utah has a chance to change the Ducks’ season completely.
So which one means more for the Ducks? Which game do they have circled going into the summer?
It seems that the obvious answer is Georgia, for several reasons. Here’s 247Sports reasoning:
They’re all vital for first-year coach Dan Lanning, but you know the season opener vs. his former school — the defending national champions in fact — is a game the Ducks can’t wait to play. Oregon has been underrated for the most part in the early rankings we’ve seen. In our own poll, there’s a sizable gap between the Ducks and the No. 12 team, per the ballot results, but they’re outside of the top 15 per CBS Sports and others. Assuming Lanning will get this Oregon defense to bring its hard hat to work in 2022, the Ducks should be one of the top teams out West in terms of talent and upside and could give Georgia a serious test early.
The reasons for the Bulldogs being an obvious answer are clear. It is Lanning’s former team; it’s the defending champs; it’s an SEC opponent on a “neutral site” — is Atlanta really neutral…? — and it of course is the first game of the year. A win in Week 1 changes the entire season for Oregon and opens up new doors under this new coaching staff.
However, I…
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