Big Ten Powerhouse Remains College Football Playoff Contender Despite Major Changes

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning looks on during the Oregon Ducks annual spring game. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Oregon Ducks feel like a team that is so very close to breaking through and winning a national championship.

The issue is they've felt this way for a little more than a decade, but have yet to finally get over that hump. This shows just how hard it is to win a national championship, not just in the College Football Playoff era, but dating back to even the BCS era.

Dan Lanning took over in Eugene before the 2022 season. In his four years, he's led the Ducks to double-digit wins every single year and has made the last two College Football Playoff appearances. In 2024, Oregon entered the playoffs ranked No. 1, and in 2025, it was ranked No. 5. But in both years, the Ducks didn't make it past the semifinals.

Oregon Ducks quarterback Dante Moore (5) stands in the pocket against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The hope is that 2026 will be different, and this is the year Oregon will get over the hump. The issue is that it will have to do that while replacing both coordinators.

Defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi left to be the head coach of the California Golden Bears, and offensive coordinator Will Stein left to be the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats.

Lanning decided to promote co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Chris Hampton to defensive coordinator and promoted co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Drew Mehringer to offensive coordinator.

Despite that, On3's J.D. PicKell has Oregon ranked No. 3 in his post-Spring rankings behind the Georgia Bulldogs and the Ohio State Buckeyes.

"To me, this is just like preparation meets opportunity," PicKell said. "Dan Lanning has stacked top-five recruiting classes each of the last three years... they're number 11 returning production from a team that got to the doorstep of a national championship a year ago. And like just on paper, there's not a lot to really question with Oregon... the preparation, the recruiting classes, the opportunity is now you got a quarterback that can maybe elevate you past where you've gotten to in the college football play."

While Ducks fans may feel that ranking is low, it seems exactly where they should be. The teams above them have proven it. Georgia and Ohio State have won national championships in the College Football Playoff era. The Ducks have not.

But Oregon is extremely talented. It has arguably the best quarterback in the country in Dante Moore. He threw for 3,565 yards, 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, while completing 71.8% of his passes last year.

His biggest issue was turnovers in big games. He threw six interceptions in the Ducks' four biggest games, the three playoff games and against Indiana in the regular season.

If he can figure out his drop in production in big games, then this could finally be the year Oregon cracks the code and ends the year as national champions.