Looking to continue its undefeated start to the season, the No. 6 Oregon football team will hope to build on its 34-13 win over UCLA last weekend in a return to Autzen Stadium against Michigan State Friday in Eugene.
The Ducks (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) will face an all-too-familiar coach in Jonathan Smith, who previously coached at Oregon State before taking the Spartans‘ (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) job in East Lansing following last season.
Here are three keys to a successful outing against the Spartans this weekend.
Ducks must be ready for new wrinkles from Jonathan Smith
Though these coaching staffs only met against one another twice, Oregon coach Dan Lanning and Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith are more than familiar with one another.
Smith, a former Oregon State player and coach, left to take the Michigan State position less than 24 hours after the Ducks defeated the Beavers last November, 31-7 at Autzen Stadium. The year before, in Lanning’s first season at Oregon, Smith and the Beavers defeated the Ducks at Reser Stadium, 38-34, in Corvallis.
Smith will return to the Autzen visiting sideline this Friday, albeit in different colors with a new logo on his clothes. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
“Yeah, there’s definitely some similar pieces,” Lanning said. “I think they always do a good job of challenging you in the run game, creating different pictures than maybe what you see across college football, they always do a great job of that. Defensively a little bit different than what they were last year at Oregon State, but still really, really sound and do some things that challenge you as well.”
Smith isn’t the only coach with connections to the state of Oregon on staff, but another familiar face will be Spartans’ cornerbacks coach Demetrice Martin, who coached in the same role for the Ducks last season.
The Spartans also tout several players that donned orange and black in Corvallis last season, like tight end Jack Velling and starting quarterback Aidan Chiles.
Don’t let Michigan State QB Aidan Chiles get loose
Speaking of Chiles, the Ducks will need to cut off the head of the snake if they want another sound victory Friday night.
Though the sophomore quarterback has struggled protecting the ball this season, he has undeniable athletic ability and a propensity to test secondaries deep.
“They take a lot of shots,” Lanning said. “They have some wideouts out there that have done a good job winning on the perimeter, and he throws a really good deep ball. So, I think those are probably the two things that stick out the most is the ability to connect on deep shots and then his ability to extend plays with his feet.”
In five games, Chiles has thrown for 1,058 yards and five touchdowns, but has also tossed eight interceptions and completed just 56.3% of his passes.
Showing an improved pass rush for most of the early season, if the Ducks need to keep Chiles in the pocket and force him into bad decisions.
Oregon must adjust to short week, Friday kick off vs. Michigan State
In its first Friday game of the season, the Ducks have a short turnaround after their trip to Los Angeles Saturday.
After the game, Lanning said that his staff had come up with a plan for this very week and felt confident his players could respond.
Still, a condensed week feels a bit different from a standard Saturday game week.
“Shoot, I’m a little tired, I can’t even lie,” outside linebacker Teitum Tuioti said. “But we’re good, we got Sunday rest, I think we’re ready to go. We all feel good.”
The Ducks have played in just two Friday games since Lanning took over the program in 2022, a 31-7 win over Oregon State last season and a 34-31 loss to Washington the following week in the Pac-12 Championship game.
This season, with two Friday games on the regular-season schedule in this week’s game against the Spartans and a road trip to take on Purdue Oct. 18, this week’s preparation is the key.
“They’re obviously on a short week, we’re on a short week as well,” Lanning said Monday. “But you know, our guys came out there again to work today and did a really good job. But it’s about stacking the next few days as well, continue to improve. And then our fans support at Autzen is unbelievable, right? When you have the fans that we have, they make a huge impact on that game.”
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon football vs. Michigan State: 3 keys to victory for Ducks
