Everything Big Ten Teams Said About Oregon Ducks On Final Big Ten Football Media Day

Analyzing what Oregon Ducks Football’s Big Ten teams had to say about the new West Coast team additions and the Ducks during the final Big Ten Media Day.

Jul 25, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Washington Huskies head coach Jedd Fisch speaks to the media during the Big 10 football media day at Lucas Oil Stadium. / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

We’ve reached the final Big Ten Media Day in Indianapolis, and anticipation for the 2024 season seems to have skyrocketed the more clips go viral on social media.

In anticipation for his appearance on the podium, Oregon Ducks coach Dan Lanning even made an early morning appearance on the Pat McAfee show. Though Oregon Football was the first team to speak for this day of the event, this story shifts the focus to what the other final speakers had to say, and what statements are most important for Duck fans.

Besides Oregon, the teams that were highlighted today include Minnesota, Maryland, Washington, Indiana, and Michigan. Unlike the past two days, there was not an opening speaker for this media availability.

Jul 25, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck speaks to the media during the Big 10 football media day at Lucas Oil Stadium. / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

After Lanning filibustered his way to a trimmed question and answer session, the next team to the stage was the Minnesota Golden Gophers and their coach P.J. Fleck. Fleck has been the head coach for Minnesota since 2017 and is the third most tenured coach in the Big Ten currently working.

If folks thought Lanning was talking his way to a media appearance devoid of questions, then P.J. Fleck did him one better, as the coach didn’t leave much time for questions from reporters. During his opening monologue Fleck threw some shade at teams with higher name, image, and likeness (NIL) funds.

“Fit is more important now than it's ever been,” Fleck said. “We talk about recruiting. We've just had the highest-ranked recruiting class we've had at Minnesota, and it wasn't because maybe we were the highest bidder. It's because we had the right fit for our program.”

Jul 27, 2023; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Maryland Terrapins head coach Michael Locksley speaks to the media during the Big 10 football media day at Lucas Oil Stadium. / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

Next up was Maryland’s coach Michael Locksley. Maryland was fourth in the Big Ten East Division in 2023 with a four and five conference record. The Terrapins will play Oregon at Autzen Stadium on Nov. 9.

Besides highlighting the branding of Maryland with their unique Dr. Pepper parody commercials called “Terpville”, highlighting over 700 hours of community service with the team, and claiming his “give a crap” gauge is on empty, Locksley spoke to the opportunity the new West Coast teams have to help shake up a monotonous Big Ten pecking order.

“When I think of the Big Ten now and then with the addition of the four new teams, we've expanded the room there as well,” Locksley said. “It's not just a diversity thing. It's about bringing in different ideas, different ways, different regions, and with the addition of those four teams and the way we set ourselves up at Maryland, we've been able to navigate these things at a really high level to the point where we have consistently become a team that people know has an opportunity to win.”

“When you look at the lack of divisions in the Big Ten, it's an opportunity for places like Maryland to break down that status quo that the top of our league has to be the same three or four teams,” Locksley said.

Jul 25, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Washington Huskies head coach Jedd Fisch speaks to the media during the Big 10 football media day at Lucas Oil Stadium. / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

Next up to the podium was recently instituted Washington coach Jedd Fisch. Fisch takes on the mantle of the purple reign after boosting the Arizona program to an eleventh ranking in the 2023 AP Poll and third place in the Pac-12 rankings.

Fisch wasted no time pointing out Oregon’s multiple defeats at the hands of the Huskies last season.

“Washington football has beaten Oregon the last three times we've played,” Fisch said during his opening statement. “We've beaten Texas the last two times we've played. We've beaten USC the last two times we've played. And we're coming off winning 25 of our last 28 games. We are proud to be Huskies. We are proud to be in the Big Ten Conference. And we feel really good about our future as the college football playoffs begin to take shape. We respect our past, but we are excited about the future.”

The rest of Fisch’s media availability included addressing the Huskies starting from the ground up, as former coach Kalen Deboer left the program unexpectedly to take over Alabama coach Nick Saban’s former gig.

“We will have 46 new scholarship athletes on a team that competed in the National Championship,” Fisch said. “We'll have an entire new coaching staff, an entire new training staff, an entire new strength staff, an entire new nutrition staff, and 21 of 22 new starters on August 31st. That has never been done before, and we're excited about that challenge.”

Oregon plays Washington in Autzen on Nov. 30.

Jul 25, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti speaks to the media during the Big 10 football media day at Lucas Oil Stadium. / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

Coach Curt Cignetti of the Indiana Hoosiers followed Fisch. Oregon is not slated to play the Hoosiers this season. In 2004, the last time the Ducks battled the Hoosiers, Indiana upset the Ducks’ number 24 national ranking with a 30 to 24 victory in Autzen. Oregon’s other two meetings with Indiana ended in wins back in 1963 and 1964.

“The Big Ten Conference is a great preeminent league, has been for a long time, and the addition of four West Coast teams puts us on an exciting new trajectory. I've got a lot of respect for every school and coach in this league, and we're excited to get going,” Cignetti said in his opening statement.

Cigentti also mentioned the vast need to keep up improvements in the changing climate of college football, specifically keeping up in the era of NIL.

“That number's gone up and allowed us to be very competitive and recruit good football players, and there's going to be further changes down the road that I think will benefit us also. That's why -- just one of many reasons I'm so optimistic about our future,” Cigentti said.

Jul 25, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Sherrone Moore speaks to the media during the Big 10 football media day at Lucas Oil Stadium. / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports

Lastly, was the reigning national champion University of Michigan’s Sherrone Moore. Moore took over the mantle of Big Blue after coach Jim Harbaugh left Lansing to pursue the L.A. Chargers’ head coach position. Moore’s opening statement was the shortest of the day, leaving a lot of time for questions.

“For us, it's about getting better every day, and we're always hunting. Regardless of people are coming after us, we're coming after them. So for us, we're not in the mentality of sitting back and waiting to see what goes on. We're going to attack our process. We're going to work our tails off to make sure we're doing the best things we know that are possible in the way we know to be successful,” Moore said.

The majority of Moore’s question and answer portion sought to address filling the gaps of transferred or graduated athletes after their national championship run, as well as deciding which quarterback will take the starting position, as no quarterback representative traveled with Michigan for the event.

Oregon plays Michigan at Michigan Stadium on Nov. 2 of this upcoming season.