McLaughlin: “List Season” Leaves Off One Notable Duck at ESPN
By SPENCER McLAUGHLIN
Contributor, 750 The Game.com
I love list season.
The tried and true media tactic to engage and prepare fans for a sports season continues to create thoughts and often outrage as the season looms. Oregon will open against Boise State on September 5th at Autzen Stadium.
ESPN released its preseason top 100 list, putting together what its writers believe are the best players in the sport. Dan Lanning’s roster is properly represented, with 8 players on the list being more than anyone else in the country. Texas and Indiana were hot on the Ducks’ heels with 7 players each.
The most notable omission from the list was senior DE/OLB Matayo Uiagalelei. The 4th-year Duck is widely expected to be an early round NFL Draft pick once he declares, something he chose not to do after last season to come back and help Oregon win its first national championship. The southern California native led the Big 10 in sacks in 2024 with 10.5, anchoring a defense that saw the Ducks win the Big 10 Championship and earn the #1 seed in the Playoff.
Imagine after that season if I had written an article or issued a podcast segment arguing that he won’t be inside ESPN’s top 100 players entering his senior season. CLICK BAIT ALERT!!
To be clear, I did not expect to be able to write the sentence I’m about to put in this article: ESPN is right to leave him off the list.
The upward trajectory for Uiagalelei looked like one of NASA’s rockets over the years. I discussed the idea of him pushing for Oregon’s single season all-time sack record in 2025. I did so because leading the Big 10 in sacks as a true sophomore is not a feat easily accomplished.
The result? Uiagalelei registered 4 fewer sacks last season than he did the year before. I’ll get specific and say that number was actually 3 because he wasn’t credited for a sack against Minnesota on a play where he immediately beat the left tackle and the QB dropped down in submission.
The point remains the same.
Oregon’s sack output wasn’t where it should have been last season. Part of that was definitely the gameplan from teams who wanted to get the ball out of their quarterback’s hands quickly to avoid having to deal with Oregon’s defensive line. That theme permeated throughout seemingly every matchup, but does not account for the fundamental issue that I’m getting at here.
Teitum Tuioti led Oregon in sacks last season with 9.5, a number bigger than his fellow junior last season in large part because he was more proficient at getting quarterbacks on the ground. If Oregon’s defense wants to play at a championship level this season, both guys have to drop opposing quarterbacks. They’re both excellent run defenders, an area that Uiagalelei wanted to work on last season. His progression on that front seems to have come at the expense of his sack numbers. Should he put it all together, a 1st round selection could be in his future.
This also isn’t me saying that Matayo Uiaglalelei was a weakness last year–he was not. Rather I’m noting for the 4th year Duck what exists for basically every member of this team, including the unit as a whole: being good isn’t good enough.
Uiagalelei was a good player last year, one that almost every team in college football would have benefited from having on their roster. The statistical regression likely contributed (or was the entire reason) that he was left off of ESPN’s top 100 players list heading into the 2026 campaign. Could it serve as fuel for one of the biggest recruiting wins early in the Dan Lanning era? That would be welcome news for the Ducks, who were 5-0 when he recorded a sack last year. The biggest such moments came against USC and Texas Tech, which were among the biggest victories for Oregon in 2025.
Oh, he had one against Penn State, too. A motivated Matayo Uiagalelei could catapult Oregon’s defense to the level it’s trying to reach.
Spencer McLaughlin is an Oregon Ducks football contributor to 750 The Game. He also hosts the “Locked On Oregon Ducks” and “Locked On College Football” podcasts and has work featured throughout the season here.