Oregon Football: Ranking 2020 opponents by toughness

A common thread in Oregon’s schedule, and an advantage for the Ducks, is the amount of first-year head coaches on the schedule. Washington State is one of those cases.

After years of Mike Leach and his record-setting air-raid offenses and stat-compiling quarterbacks, the sport’s most eccentric coach left for Starkville to take over at Mississippi State. Former Hawaii coach Nick Rolovich is now running the show in Pullman, and that trend of electric Cougar passing attacks should continue in future years.

Rolovich coached up the aforementioned Cole McDonald, and he’ll have to develop another quarterback now. Anthony Gordon and Gage Gubrud are both gone, so it’s a clean slate at quarterback. Sophomore Cammon Cooper is the likely starter, but in this transition year, expect tailback Max Borghi to run the ball more than any Cougar back in a long time.

One of the biggest disappointments in the Pac-12 in recent years was the underwhelming results of the Kevin Sumlin-Khalil Tate pairing. Given Sumlin’s run with Johnny Manziel, many thought that Tate could end up being a similarly electric quarterback. Instead, Tate’s run in Tucson ended with a season in which he ended up splitting time at the position.

The hype isn’t all gone, however, it’s simply shifted. The passer Tate split time with, Grant Gunnell, is exciting in his own right. After setting a Texas high school record with 16,108 career passing yards, Gunnell posted 1, 239 yards and nine touchdowns, with just a single interception, during his freshman campaign.

There’s no doubt who the man under center is now, and this offense that ranked third in the Pac-12 in passing yardage in 2019 will only get more productive this season.