Oregon football has big holes to fill and big questions to answer in 2020.
Without question, Oregon football is coming off of a season in which the Ducks performed quite well. After a season-opening loss to Auburn — a tough one to swallow at that — Mario Cristobal’s team went 12-1 down the stretch, concluding the year with a Pac-12 Championship and a win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl. But now things are changing, even if there’s still plenty of hope.
Long-time starting quarterback Justin Herbert is now a member of the Los Angeles Chargers, which raises some questions there. The good news is that the offense is loaded with talented skill position players, the best offensive tackle in college football and a defense that could really impress throughout the 2020 season. Yet, big questions remain for the Ducks.
Specifically, Oregon football will need to address these five questions in their 2020 campaign if they want to repeat as conference champs and get into the College Football Playoff conversation.
5. Oregon football questions: Is Tyler Shough ready to step into Justin Herbert’s shoes?
Throughout his time at Oregon, Herbert certainly has his fair mix of fans and critics. But one thing you can’t argue with was his production, his talent and the success he led the Ducks to. He was the prototype in terms of arms and tools and, as discussed, led the team to 12 wins in the 2019 season. Now it’s up to Tyler Shough to replace him as the starting quarterback.
Shough has extremely limited experience seeing the field for the Ducks. Last season, he threw only 15 passes in garbage time, though he did complete 80 percent of them for 144 yards and three touchdowns with no turnovers. However, the former 4-star recruit and top-150 player in that class has plenty of fans on the roster and in the coaching staff.
In the limited number of spring practices that Shough was able to have this offseason, he won the support of his teammates and Cristobal, even if there wasn’t a whole lot to put on display given the time frame.
The good news for Shough and the Ducks, though, is that they have a slight insurance policy on the roster with the addition of graduate transfer Anthony Brown. That should give Oregon some comfort to not hold back with Shough and to be ready to make a change should that be necessary. All told, the situation to replace Herbert isn’t without flaws but looks favorable at this point.