Oregon doesn’t officially join the Big Ten Conference until Friday, but the Ducks football team is already looking forward to the challenge of competing in a new league come the fall.
Picked to finish second in the conference by USA Today, Oregon has more than a few players that have already played in the Big Ten, including offensive lineman Matthew Bedford, defensive lineman Derrick Harmon and inside linebacker Jestin Jacobs.
The players spoke Monday at Oregon’s Media Day at Autzen Stadium about moving back to the Big Ten after transferring from their respective previous programs.
A common sentiment expressed by the trio of players when asked the potential difference in playing in the Big Ten: “Football is football.”
“We’ve got some dudes on the d-line,” Harmon, a transfer from Michigan State, said. “We got the bodies to handle the Big Ten. This defense can match up in the Big Ten, for sure. I know this conference, they’re gonna run that ball. That’s what they want to do. We’ve got to try and stop the run, that’s going to be the main focus.”
Bedford, an offensive lineman who played at Indiana last season, said much of the same.
“Talent is everywhere,” Bedford said.
But for Jacobs, who played at Iowa to begin his college career before transferring last season to Oregon and playing eight games in the Pac-12 for the Ducks, the biggest difference is the ease of access to games for his family.
An Ohio native, Jacobs said his family will be able to travel to more of his games in the Big Ten than they did last year.
He also never thought he’d play in the Big Ten again after transferring to Oregon, just before its announced move to the conference and the collapse of the Pac-12.
“I definitely didn’t think so,” Jacobs said. “It was kind of crazy when it was first happening. I was like, ‘Wow, I just left and now I’m kind of back in it.’ I enjoyed it. I don’t feel like a certain type of way about it, I’m excited for the opportunity to go back to the Midwest area and play some football.”
Jacobs said the biggest adjustment, and the question his teammates have asked him the most about playing in the Big Ten, is the cold toward the end of the year in places like Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.
The Ducks don’t play Iowa in 2024, Jacobs’ old school, or Indiana, where Bedford last played, but take on Michigan State on Oct. 4 at Autzen Stadium.
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: Former Big Ten players talk Oregon joining new conference
