Analyst Breaks Down Why Oregon Ducks Might Surprise Everyone

College football analyst David Pollack revealed his top five teams for the 2026 season shortly after the Indiana Hoosiers defeated the Miami Hurricanes in the national championship.

Pollack stated his case for the Oregon Ducks.

Oregon Ranked in Pollack’s Early Top Five for 2026

Oregon Ducks College Football Rankings Top Five David Pollack Indiana Hoosiers Dante Moore National Championship Playoff — Jan 1, 2026; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning reacts after getting a gatorade bath from his players following the 2025 Orange Bowl and quarterfinal game of the College Football Playoff against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Hard Rock Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Pollack has Oregon as a top five team for the 2026 season. He revealed his top five on his show, “See Ball Get Ball.”

Before Pollack even got into these rankings, he acknowledged that doing these rankings now is “way too early” but dropped his anyways.

“It’s time to do the top five for next year, ‘cause why not? It’s way too early to do a top five,” Pollack said jokingly. “Makes no sense to do a top five for next year, but really quickly we’ll do a top five.”

The teams Pollack has in his top five are the Texas Longhorns, Oregon Ducks, Ohio State Buckeyes, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, and Georgia Bulldogs. It's shocking to not see either team that played in the national title; Indiana or Miami in here.

This was Pollack's reasoning for why Oregon will be a top five team in 2026.

“Dante Moore coming back. All the young weapons. The way that they’ve hit the transfer portal. Absolutely love the Ducks,” Pollack said. “I would have the Ducks in the top five, 100 percent…The way they ran the ball this year. The way Dante Moore grew throughout the season. I think he’s only going to get better.”

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The Case for Oregon

Oregon finished the 2025 season with a record of 13-2. Their only two losses came to the eventual national champion Indiana Hoosiers, who went undefeated on their way to their first title in program history.

For the second straight year, Oregon made the College Football Playoff. In 2025, they got to the semifinal where they fell to Indiana. The Ducks were dealing with a lot of stuff going into this game. Such as both offensive coordinator Will Stein and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi recently being hired as head coaches in the lead up. Stein is off to the Kentucky Wildcats while Lupoi is heading to the California Golden Bears.

Additionally, Oregon's running back room was decimated by the transfer portal and injuries. Jayden Limar entered the portal days before the game while Jordan Davison was ruled out due to injury.

This wasn’t the reason why Oregon ended up losing, as Indiana dominated 56-22, but it was unfortunate situation to have all of this happening right before the biggest game of the season. On the bright side for Oregon, they still have the pieces to get back next season. The biggest being at the quarterback position.

Quarterback Dante Moore will be in Eugene for one more year as he decided not to declare for the 2026 NFL Draft. Moore was projected by ESPN and CBS Sports to be the No. 2 overall pick, but opted to improve his craft in college and chase a national championship.

This is a huge boost for Coach Dan Lanning and the Ducks as they won’t have to worry about the most important position at all this offseason. Moore will also have one of his favorite targets back; wide receiver Dakorien Moore and others.