Oregon Ducks Facing Highly-Ranked FCS Team in Week One: Upset Alert?

The Oregon Ducks will kick off their 2025 season at Autzen Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 30 at 1 p.m. PT. Their opponent is the Montana State Bobcats. Montana State is ranked No. 2 in the preseason FCS Top 25 poll. Even though they are not an FBS team, the Ducks cannot afford to overlook them.

Oregon Faces No. 2 Ranked FCS Team

Oregon Ducks Dan Lanning Montana State Bobcats Rankings FCS Week One Autzen Stadium Idaho Vandals — Combat Ducks offensive lineman Charlie Pickard, left, hikes the ball to quarterback Brock Thomasas the Fighting Ducks face off against Mighty Oregon in the Oregon Ducks spring game on April 26, 2025, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Montana State Bobcats are coming off of an 15-1 season in 2024. They made it all the way to the National Championship game, where they fell to FCS powerhouse North Dakota State 35-32. The North Dakota State Bison come in ranked No. 1 in this preseason top 25 poll.

Oregon's Week 1 opponent - Montana State, checks in at #2 of the preseason FCS Top 25 poll. pic.twitter.com/KhYZHp1pH7
— Ted Leroux (@TedontheDucks) August 5, 2025

Going further down the list in this top 25 there is a certain team that will stand out to most Ducks fans. That would be the No. 12 ranked Idaho Vandals.

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Can Montana State Give Oregon a Scare Like Idaho?

Oregon kicked off last season with a home game against the FCS Idaho Vandals. This was supposed to be a stress free win for the preseason ranked No. 3 Ducks. According to DraftKings Sportsbook, Oregon was a 49.5 point favorite against the Vandals.

Idaho hung around for four and a half quarters, giving the Ducks all they could handle. The Vandals cut the Ducks lead down to just three points at 17-14 in the fourth quarter before Oregon got a touchdown on their following drive to get some breathing room. The final score was Oregon 24, Idaho 14.

Idaho had a good season in the FCS, finishing with a record of 10-4. They were eliminated in the FCS quarterfinals in a blow out to Montana State by a final score of 52-19.

Just because the spread of the game may be large and it’s an FCS team doesn’t guarantee anything. Dan Lanning’s bunch knows that after their close call a season ago. They should be ready to come out firing vs. Montana State.

Ducks Coming Off Undefeated Regular Season

The Oregon Ducks had their best season under Coach Dan Lanning in 2024. Oregon went undefeated in the regular season for the first time since 2010. They capped it off with a victory over the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Big Ten championship game.

However, this season ended on a sour note. In their first game of the College Football Playoff, the Ducks got dominated by the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl. Before the first half was even over, Ohio State had a 34-0 lead. This left the Ducks stunned. They will try to use that loss as fuel in 2025.

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