All about the Oregon Ducks: How does Oregon compare to the Big Ten Conference?

The Oregon Ducks bring plenty to the table as they transition to the Big Ten Conference: one of the winningest football programs of the past two decades, a raucous atmosphere at Autzen Stadium, strong foundations in several other sports, institutional backing from Nike and its co-founder Phil Knight, and a nationally recognized brand that has steadily become a household name.

Dan Lanning and company have the No. 1 recruiting class for 2024 among Big Ten schools. Dana Altman and Kelly Graves have both taken teams to the Final Four. And the clacking cleats of iconic track stars — from Steve Prefontaine to Ashton Eaton — echo through decades of history at Hayward Field.

As the Ducks prepare for a move to the Big Ten in 2024, The Oregonian/OregonLive took an in-depth look at all of their newest conference rivals. Oregon enters a conference that will include 17 other schools across the country with rich and varied histories of their own, both on and off the field.

Let’s see how the Ducks compare.

UNIVERSITY OF OREGON

Nickname: Ducks

Location: Eugene, Oregon

School founded: 1876 (Third newest in Big Ten)

Joining Big Ten: 2024 (Among four newest arrivals)

Type: Public

Enrollment: 23,202 (17th in Big Ten)

Endowment: $1.4 billion (17th in Big Ten)

Athletic department revenue (2021-22): $153.5 million (7th in Big Ten)

Football revenue (2021-22): $80.9 million (9th in Big Ten)

Athletic department spending (2021-22): $140.6 million (9th in Big Ten)

Football spending (2021-22): $40.1 million (10th in Big Ten)

Football stadium: Autzen Stadium

Capacity: 54,000 (13th in Big Ten)

Varsity sports: 20 (8 men’s, 12 women’s)

Mascot: The Oregon Duck

Fight song: “Mighty Oregon”

Notable alumni: Suzanne Bonamici, Dillon Brooks, Ty Burrell, Ann Curry, Ashton Eaton, Neil Everett, Tinker Hatfield, Justin Herbert, Sabrina Ionescu, Phil Knight, Marcus Mariota, Steve Prefontaine, Payton Pritchard, Ahmad Rashad, Chael Sonnen, Ron Wyden

Famous coaches: Mike Bellotti, Chip Kelly and Dan Lanning (football); Ernie Kent and Dana Altman (men’s basketball); Kelly Graves (women’s basketball); Mike White (softball); Bill Hayward, Bill Bowerman, Bill Dellinger, Tom Heinonen and Vin Lananna (track and field)

Biggest rivals: Oregon State, Washington

Essential movies: Animal House (1978), Without Limits (1998)

Team national titles: Men’s basketball (1), men’s cross-country (6), women’s cross-country (4), men’s golf (1), men’s indoor track and field (5), women’s indoor track and field (7), men’s outdoor track and field (7), women’s outdoor track and field (3)

Did you know? The Oregon Duck that fans know and love is a fuzzy, wacky, friendly character who likes to do pushups and shake its belly. But for a brief period in the early 2000s, Oregon had a secondary mascot: Mandrake. A muscular, terrifying, human- and robot- and duck-like creature who hatched out of a giant egg at a football game in 2002. The new mascot was widely unpopular — with fans preferring the good old-fashioned Duck — and Mandrake ended up making his final appearance at a men’s basketball game in 2003, disappearing into a tunnel never to be seen again.

GET TO KNOW THE REST OF THE B1G (excluding Washington, USC and UCLA)

University of Illinois

Michigan State Spartans

Minnesota Golden Gophers

Nebraska Cornhuskers

Northwestern Wildcats

Ohio State Buckeyes

Penn State Nittany Lions