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During the 2025 regular season, the Oregon Ducks faced what felt like a bunch of subpar quarterbacks. The defense capitalized, ranking among the leaders in pass defense for much of the season.
The lack of competent quarterback play on the opposing side won't be the case in 2026, however. The Athletic released tiered rankings of all 138 projected starters at the FBS level, with eight quarterbacks on the Ducks' schedule coming within the first four tiers.
Ohio State's Julian Sayin led the way in Tier 1, ranking as the No. 5 quarterback in college football. Oklahoma State passer Drew Mestemaker, who led the country in passing last season at North Texas, was also in Tier 1 at No. 6. The Cowboys will host Oregon in Week 2, a pivotal early-season test for both squads. Another early road test will come against Jayden Maiava and USC, who's star quarterback slid into Tier 2 with a ranking of ninth overall. Those three quarterbacks have the ability to create plenty of problems for a talented Ducks defense that expects to shut down passing attacks.
From there, Washington's Demond Williams Jr. was named to Tier 3 and was ranked No. 20. UCLA's Nico Iamaleava (Tier 3, No. 25) and Michigan's Bryce Underwood (Tier 4, No. 31) are in a similar situation entering their second year at their schools. Both have immense talent, but have yet to fully put it together but hope to do in 2026.
Projected Nebraska starter Anthony Colandrea, a transfer from UNLV, will have to beat out talented sophomore TJ Lateef for the starting nod, though Colandrea landed at No. 39 in Tier 4. Illinois' Katin Houser, transferring in by way of East Carolina, earned a Tier 4, No. 41 overall ranking.
Each player listed thus far has the ability to get hot and have some sort of success against what's shaping up to be a stout Oregon pass defense — but that's not the reality for the other three passers that the Ducks will face this fall.
Oregon's Week 1 matchup against Boise State features Maddux Madsen, who was a Tier 5 quarterback at No. 61 overall. Michigan State's Alessio Milivojevic and Northwestern's Aidan Chiles (who transferred from Michigan State after being benched for Milivojevic) come in as Tier 6 selections at No. 69 and No. 70, respectively.
All told, the quarterback play on the opposing side of the Ducks will be much more strong in 2026 than in 2025 — whether it be returners that are projected to have upped their game, or accomplished, talented transfers walking into an ideal situation.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, Oregon's own signal-caller, Dante Moore, was the No. 2 ranked quarterback in all of college football, behind only Ole Miss' Trinidad Chambliss.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Oregon's 2026 opposing QBs in The Athletic's QB Tiers
