Oregon football scheduled for a pair of Friday games in 2026

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Spring practices are in the books, meaning it’s time to look ahead to the fall. The Oregon Ducks have known their schedule for some time now, and it looks fairly daunting. However, most of the game times won’t be decided until weeks before the games, except for those that aren’t played on Saturdays.

The Ducks announced they will play two Friday games this season. In Week 3, Oregon will host Portland State in Autzen Stadium on Sept. 18. The Ducks will travel to Michigan State for a Friday game on Nov. 20, which will air on FOX. Game times for both games will be announced at a later date.

Oregon played just one Friday game in the regular season last year, flattening Minnesota 42-13 in Eugene. The last time the Ducks played the Spartans, they hosted them for a Friday game in Autzen Stadium in 2024. Dillon Gabriel totaled three scores and Jordan James rushed for 166 yards and a touchdown in a 31-10 win.

Friday games can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on the timing. The Ducks will only have one bye week this season, which makes a pair of Friday games a challenge for the coaching staff to handle. Oregon’s Friday game at home against the Vikings will come on the heels of the Ducks’ trip down to face a much-improved Oklahoma State team. That means there will be less time to rest coming off a physical game.

However, by playing on a Friday, Oregon will get an extra day to rest on the other side of the game before traveling to USC the following week to open up Big Ten play.

The game in East Lansing could be even trickier. The Ducks have their only bye week after visiting the Trojans, meaning they will play eight consecutive games to end the regular season. Michigan State is scheduled to be the seventh of those games, but it is sandwiched in the schedule around some of Oregon’s most important games.

The Ducks will make a trip to Ohio State and return home to face Michigan in consecutive weeks to begin the month of November. Those might be the most physical games on the schedule for the Ducks, and they could control their placement in the College Football Playoff and their chances to make it back to the conference title game. Losing a day of rest after two games that are expected to be intense could have some experts labeling the trip to East Lansing as a trap game for the Ducks.

After visiting Michigan State would be a great time for a bye week to rest after an exhausting month of games. Instead, Oregon will come back to Eugene and have to focus on taking down its rival, Washington, to finish the season.

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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Oregon hosts Portland State, visiting Michigan State for Friday games

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