Oregon’s bye week hasn’t slowed the conversation around what comes next. The No. 15 Ducks are resting up, but the back half of the schedule is starting to draw attention - and ESPN’s Rece Davis thinks a few of those looming Big Ten matchups are getting overlooked.
On “The Pat McAfee Show” during his “Rece’s Pieces” segment, Davis pointed to several teams he believes are flying under the radar, including a pair Oregon will see at Autzen Stadium.
“There’s some teams lurking around in college football,” Davis said. “A little bit quiet so far. And you’re gonna find out just how good they are coming up in the next few weeks.”
He singled out Iowa, UCLA and Nebraska as teams worth watching.
“Iowa is one. You’re gonna find out Saturday.
I’ve been really impressed with what Bob Chesney’s doing at UCLA. You take Iowa, you take UCLA, you can even take Nebraska who’s going to get Indiana in a couple of weeks and we may have some sneaky teams that give the Big Ten the type of depth that everybody has been saying ‘Wow, the Big Ten’s good at the top, but what about the middle?
What about the upper middle class?’” Davis said.
For Oregon, the more immediate name to circle is UCLA. The Bruins are under new leadership with Chesney, a coach Ducks fans already know well. Oregon beat Chesney’s former team, James Madison, 51-34 in the first round of the 2025 College Football Playoff.
Chesney was already headed to UCLA before the Ducks played JMU, and he brought 11 of those players with him to Los Angeles, a familiar modern college football move that has quickly reshaped the Bruins’ roster.
He inherited a team that went 3-9 in 2025, though there were a few bright spots, including an upset of Penn State. Since then, UCLA has started 4-0. The schedule hasn’t exactly been brutal - Cal, San Diego State, Purdue and Maryland have been the opponents - but every win has come by at least two scores.
One of the transfers making the biggest impact is senior running back Wayne Knight. Ducks fans will remember him from 2025, when he ran for 110 yards on 17 receptions against Oregon.
This season, Knight has been a major piece of UCLA’s ground game, which has produced 1,126 yards and 18 touchdowns so far. Knight has accounted for 445 yards and nine touchdowns on 49 carries, giving the Bruins a huge chunk of their rushing production.
That shared history matters. Oregon and UCLA know a lot about each other’s personnel, and Davis believes that familiarity could make the Bruins a sneaky problem when the Ducks finally meet them.
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