I really thought a change of scenery might do him good; especially dropping down a few levels in competition. But it's pretty clear now why Brock Thomas made the leap over him last year!

https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/08/31/oregon-football-austin-novosad-named-backup-bowling-green/91541274007/

Ouch, hurts almost as much as Ty Thompson failing at Tulane.

1 hour ago, DuckFan93 said:

Ouch, hurts almost as much as Ty Thompson failing at Tulane.

Might be worse! Novosad seemed like he was actually in a very favorable QB system at Dripping Springs. Will Stein clearly had followed him before coming to Oregon as OC too!

I had read, at least in this case, the QB battle was pretty close but Kastantin was given the edge due to being a better rushing threat (100 carries for 530 yards and 5 TDs last year).

Novosad had 56 carries for -18 yards over 33 career high school games (I can't find any career rushing attempts in his 7 Oregon games).

I believe Bowling Green (under Eddie George) has been known mostly as a run-heavy RPO based offense (favoring mobile dual-threat QBs). I also read Bowling Green will have five new starting OL (four graduating and one transfer), so that might have played a bit into the choice as well.

I guess Novosad is expected to play unless Kastantin (perhaps literally) runs away with the job; but, Bowling Green is looking more and more like an odd choice for Novosad. Maybe it was his best available choice I guess?

Edited 56 minutes ago56 min by AnotherOD