Editor’s note: Part of a continuing series examining the Power 5 and top Group of 5 teams for the 2019 college football season.



EUGENE, Ore. — The biggest positive for Oregon’s 2019 season happened before 2018 even ended.



“The University of Oregon has been a special place to me as long as I can remember,” three-year starter Justin Herbert wrote in a news release. “Words will never be able to express my feelings of gratitude toward the people that have built and maintain our program. What I have come to realize, though, is that nothing could pull me away from the opportunities that we have in front of us.”



With that, 2019 became the year the Oregon Ducks decided to go all in. The chaos that has filled a lot of this decade felt long gone. The myriad coaching changes, the flailing defenses, all of the losing that felt so foreign to this program — it seemed to give way to hope once again.



Then the Ducks...