Early Rankings Reveal Expectations for Oregon's Dan Lanning

It has only been a matter of weeks since the conclusion of the college football season, but that hasn’t stopped rankings for the 2026 season to already come out.

College football personality Josh Pate revealed on “Josh Pate’s College Football Show” his early top 25 rankings for the 2026 season. The Oregon Ducks were ranked No. 5.

Josh Pate Drops Early Top 25 Rankings for 2026 Season

Oregon Ducks Top 25 Rankings Dante Moore Dan Lanning Defensive Coordinator Offensive Coordinator College Football Playoff — Oregon quarterback Dante Moore walks the field after the Ducks’ loss as the Oregon Ducks face the Indiana Hoosiers in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 9, 2026, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Coming off an 11-1 2025 regular season that resulted in a run to the College Football Playoff semifinal, Josh Pate has Oregon as the No. 5-ranked team for 2026.

“I kind of think as we got down stretch of last year, I got the vibe more and more from them (Oregon)…they felt that group was kind of a year away,” Pate said on his Sunday night show. “(Quarterback Dante Moore) is back, and if I could just have that crew largely back, and then I could get better injury luck…Oregon’s a good team.”

In addition to being a younger team, Oregon also had brutal injury luck such as losing projected No. 1 wide receiver Evan Stewart before the 2025 season even started to a torn patellar tendon. He will be back in addition to Moore in 2026.

Three of the Ducks best offensive weapons in 2025 were freshmen: running back Jordon Davison, running back Dierre Hill Jr., and wide receiver Dakorien Moore. With all of them coming back with the same quarterback running the offense, putting points on the board should not be an issue. Meanwhile, freshman cornerback Brandon Finney Jr. was a standout on the other side of the ball.

Here were Pate’s complete early top 25 rankings:

1. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
2. Texas Longorns
3. Indiana Hoosiers
4. Ohio State Buckeyes
5. Oregon Ducks
6. Miami Hurricanes
7. Georgia Bulldogs
8. Texas A&M Aggies
9. Oklahoma Sooners
10. LSU Tigers
11. USC Trojans
12. Texas Tech Red Raiders
13. Alabama Crimson Tide
14. BYU Cougars
15. Penn State Nittany Lions
16. Ole Miss Rebels
17. Michigan Wolverines
18. Houston Cougars
19. Utah Utes
20. SMU Mustangs
21. Missouri Tigers
22. Iowa Hawkeyes
23. Vanderbilt Commodores
24. Louisville Cardinals
25. Washington Huskies

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New Coordinators For Dan Lanning, Oregon Ducks

A big factor that may determine just how high the ceiling is for this Ducks team is how their new offensive and defensive coordinators fare after getting promoted. Oregon lost offensive coordinator Will Stein, who accepted the head coaching job with the Kentucky Wildcats. They also lost defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi, who accepted the head coaching job with the California Golden Bears.

Both Stein and Lupoi had spent multiple seasons on Oregon coach Dan Lanning’s staff and they were successful. Lanning decided to promote within the program for each of their successors.

Oregon promoted tight ends coach Drew Mehringer to offensive coordinator. He has a familiarity with the program since he was hired in Lanning’s first season in 2022.

On the other side of the ball, safeties coach/co-defensive coordinator Chris Hampton was promoted to be the defensive coordinator. He has been on Lanning’s staff since 2023.