The Washington Commanders’ season has gone off a cliff since Jayden Daniels went down. They’ve slid to 3–8 with a six-game losing streak and a -60 point differential on the year, getting outscored 296–236 as the defense and offense keep taking turns letting them down. Despite Marcus Mariota’s efforts to steady the ship, the hope-boat continues to sink.

Oregon Football and College Game Day’s official Instagram accounts collectively announced Marcus Mariota as the College Game Day guest picker. “How’s it going, gameday? Welcome back to Eugene! Excited for the awesome game this weekend,” he said, in a video message shared along with the infographic announcement.

College Game Day is heading back to Eugene for a massive Week 13 Big Ten showdown between Oregon and USC at Autzen Stadium.

Marcus Mariota is all set to make a surprise appearance on College GameDay this weekend. With the Commanders on a bye week, he’s free to fly back to his old college home and sit on the set as the guest picker. The network picked him not just for the nostalgia factor, but because he’s basically royalty in Eugene, the guy who turned Oregon into a weekly must-see TV event long before this season’s Big Ten drama.

Mariota achieved several major milestones during his college career at the Oregon Ducks (2012-2014). He was the first Oregon player and the first Hawaii-born athlete to win the Heisman Trophy in 2014. Across three seasons as a starter, Mariota went 36–5 and accounted for 135 total touchdowns, cementing himself as the face of Oregon’s rise into a national powerhouse. The 32-year-old also set school career records in passing yards (10,796), total offense (13,089), and passing touchdowns (105).

He guided Oregon to a 12-1 record in 2012 and helped them reach the first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship game in 2015 (playing the 2014 season leading into it).

Insider drops fresh update on Jayden Daniels’ expected return date

The Washington Commanders currently find themselves in a concerning situation. Earlier in the skid, Washington lost four straight games by at least 21 points, while the defense sank near the bottom of the league in yards and points allowed.

While one of the core reasons behind this downfall turned out to be their QB Jayden Daniels’ dislocated elbow, an insider stepped forward to share what he knows of the 24-year-old’s return. Washington is allowing around 387 yards per game, with only one team giving up more, ranks bottom five against both the pass and the run, and has forced just six turnovers all season.

“From what I’ve been told, the plan in Washington is still that Daniels will return to the starting lineup once doctors clear him from his elbow injury,” Dan Graziano of ESPN said, as reported by Riggo’s Rag.

Fellow ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler has added that while Daniels could, in theory, be back as quickly as three weeks after the injury, which lines up with a possible Week 13 return against Denver, the Commanders have quietly braced for a five-to-six-week absence in case his recovery slows.

Daniels suffered a dislocated left elbow in a game against the Seattle Seahawks on November 2. He was sacked late in the fourth quarter, forced to plant his arm to brace the fall, and the awkward motion caused his elbow to bend out of place. It was already his third significant setback of the year, after a sprained knee and a hamstring strain had cost him earlier games.

Initial replays had fans fearing the worst, but scans later revealed no ligament damage and no need for surgery, and Washington chose not to put him on injured reserve — a sign that the team still expects him back sometime soon after the bye.