Best player Ducks will face each week during 2022

Aside from one or two opponents, there are almost no gimmes on the 2022 Oregon Duck football schedule this season. Although the official strength-of-schedule is somewhere in the middle, don’t tell that to the actual players and coaches who have to prepare for the likes of Georgia, BYU, and Utah.

Besides the teams as a whole, Oregon is going to face some very good players that will present many problems for coordinators Kenny Dillingham on the offense and Tosh Lupoi on defense.

We’ve decided to go through the Duck’s schedule and figure out which player week-to-week will cause those coaches to lose the most sleep as Oregon looks to go through the gauntlet.

It would have been easy to just pick the quarterback from each team, but that wouldn’t be fair to the other highly talented players that the Ducks will see on the field this year. Sometimes, yes, the quarterback will be that team’s best player, but not always. Here’s a look at the best player Oregon will face each week.

Week 1 – DT Jalen Carter, Georgia

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Georgia has a whole list of players we could have chosen. The Bulldogs did lose a lot from last year’s team (good for Oregon), but they also bring back many who have championship rings on their mantle (bad for Oregon).

Defensive tackle Jalen Carter was a Second-Team All-SEC performer last season with 37 tackles, 8.5 for loss, and three sacks. At 6-foot-3 and 310 pounds, Carter is expected to be a first-round draft pick in 2023. Oregon’s experience offensive line is going to be tested right away.

Week 2 – DL Joshua Jerome, Eastern Washington

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Eastern Washington went 10-3 last season and made it to the second round of the FCS playoffs. But they lost a lot of talent from that team, except for Joshua Jerome. He’s the Eagles’ leading returning tackler with 61 last year and led the team with seven sacks.

This should…