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The Ducks have a deep receiving corps made up of the speedy Jamere Holland, the reliable Jeff Mahel, the highly-touted Lavasier Tuinei, and the bruising tight-end duo of Ed Dickson and Malachi Lewis.
The Ducks have a monster defensive end Will Tukuafu who should be a lock in the All Pac-10 first team.
As always, the Ducks will have a deep secondary, anchored by senior cornerback Walter Thurmond III, Junior cornerback Talmadge Jackson III, and senior safeties T.J. Ward and Titus Jackson.
The Ducks will also have a deep linebacking corps, led by juniors Spencer Paysinger and Casey Matthews, and sophomores Eddie Pleasant and Terrence Pritchett.
The one thing that has rarely been a problem in the '00s for the Oregon Ducks has been depth.
Like many previous years, I do not expect the Ducks to have problems with the depth of their team.
The Broncos are definitely not as loaded as the Ducks. The Broncos do have a good starting quarterback in Kellen Moore, but the Broncos have lost arguably their most valuable offensive weapon in running back Ian Johnson.
The Broncos claim to never get any respect in the preseason rankings. My argument to their so-called plight is that the Broncos schedule at most one decent non-conference opponent per year. They torch up the WAC and then ask why they aren't included in BCS talks.
Two word answer: The WAC.
With a loaded defensive line and linebacking corps that will take much pressure off a secondary that has had to replace their two best players, the Oregon defense will be able to pressure the Boise State offense into making bad decisions.
Will the game be a blow out? Who knows? But, more likely than not, the Ducks will leave the smurf turf victorious, but vomiting from the hideous turf.
The Purdue Boilermakers should be an easy victory for the Ducks. The game will be at Autzen, which significantly reduces the possibility for the same nearly hurricane-force winds that messed with the Ducks all-game long last season.
Simply put, the Ducks offense will be way too potent to be stopped this season, and the defensive line and linebacking corps will always be a thorn in the sides of opposing offenses.
Now to move onto the real challenge for the Ducks. The Utah Utes.
The Utes biggest threat will be their defense, specifically their run defense. The Utes allowed only 99 rushing yards per game and 3.1 yards per carry last season.
The Ducks averaged 280 rushing yards per game and 6.2 yards per carry, basically doubling the stats that Utah allowed.
The Utes have not seen a running attack as fierce as Oregon's. They will have to find a way to tackle LeGarrette Blount, who consistently can carry three or four guys on his back for an extra ten yards, and shifty redshirt freshman LaMichael James, who was rated so much higher on recruiting draft boards than Oregon State's freshman phenom, Jaquizz Rodgers.
The Utes face finding solutions for a ton of holes on the offensive side of the ball. The deciding factors in this game will be whether or not the Utes can take the heat from the Auzten crowd, and whether or not their defense can live up to their statistics from the previous year.
My guess is no to each of those questions. The best rushing offense that Utah faced last season was Texas Christian's. The Utes let the Horned Frog's feature back, Aaron Brown, run for 106 yards.
Sorry Ute fans. Brown is nowhere close to LeGarrette Blount.
After analyzing the Ducks' non-conference schedule, I would expect the Ducks to start their conference schedule with a 3-0 record. However, if the Ducks were to hiccup, I believe it would be against the Broncos in Boise.
This will be Chip Kelly's first season as the head coach of the Ducks. A perfect season is too much to ask for right now.
However, Kelly is not brand-new with the players. The offense will still run like a well-oiled machine. The Ducks' defense line, who has been coached by Jerry Azzinaro for the whole summer, a coach who has bred the likes of Dwight Freeney, will be a force to be reckoned with.
I do not care if I am called a homer for my projections. What I see is an Oregon Ducks team waiting for the kill. They're hungry for a big helping of revenge against the upstart Boise State Broncos in Week 1.
All doubters can say whatever they wish to me. I will let the Oregon Ducks' offense and much improved defense do the talking.
It's going to be a great college football season.
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