Dillon Gabriel reveals key to No. 1 Oregon staying even-keeled in 2024 season

Things didn’t really go to plan for Oregon the first two weeks of the season. FCS Idaho gave the Ducks fits, and then Boise State nearly upset them in Autzen Stadium.

Oregon’s high-flying offense hadn’t taken flight yet, partly because of the issues it was having on the ground. The Ducks averaged 2.9 yards per carry against Idaho and 3.0 yards per carry versus Boise State. What’s more, after allowing five sacks all last season, Oregon gave up seven in the first two games.

Those hiccups are now a blip on a radar decorated with the Ducks’ rainbow of uniform colors. Quarterbacked by two-time transfer, sixth-year veteran and now Heisman Trophy candidate Dillon Gabriel, Oregon is No. 1 in the country with a top-two win over Ohio State in its back feather.

The Ducks are in a row, and head coach Dan Lanning is at the front of that line, helping his team avoid panic and instead find its footing in September.

“I think having a guy like Coach Lanning that emphasizes the right things and is never too high or too low,” Gabriel said on “The Hard Count” with On3’s J.D. PicKell. “If we weren’t winning a certain way that others thought or winning a certain way up until last week, I think we’ve just learned to stay even-keeled and continue to grow.

“How can we continue to get better and grow as a team? That’s been our emphasis from the beginning. So I think, not to look back, but I think just two different spots that I’m in, personally, the player I was last year [at Oklahoma] and the player I am now, but also just being around a bunch of great guys that have played a bunch of football, understand what it takes to win and how tough it is week-to-week to do so.”

Gabriel pointed out he’d love to give Lanning all credit, but what’s happening in Eugene is bigger than one person.

“I think it’s everyone involved that has the right mindset,” he said. “And when there’s ever a person that may stray away of a way you think, we have a brother right next to us to challenge us and continue to make each other better. So it does take a village. And it takes everyone to help one another out.”

The adversity Oregon faced at the beginning of the 2024 campaign forged Lanning’s group into a resilient and battle-tested team.

That same team is now living up to preseason expectations that pegged the Ducks as a Big Ten title, and even national title, contender.

Oregon is coming off a 35-0 win at Purdue and now will be under the microscope again this week against No. 20 Illinois.