Dan Lanning is heading into his fifth season as the Oregon head coach.

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Oregon finished its 2025 campaign with a 9.64 BiteScore, ranking second in the nation. Even more impressive, the Ducks are 38-5 in the last three seasons, the best record in that span of any team in college football. However, against teams who made the National Championship, they are 1-5. Against everyone else, 37-0.

Fortunately, they may return the most production from 2025 of any Big Ten team. The biggest win for the Ducks this offseason was returning Dante Moore, who was expected to go right after Fernando Mendoza in the 2025 NFL draft. Sophomore backs Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill Jr. are back after combining for over 1,300 yards and 20 TDs, and receivers Dakorien Moore, Jeremiah McClellan and Evan Stewart return as well. 

Sprinkle in some blue-chip freshman like Kendre Harrison, Messiah Hampton, and Jalen Lott from the number 2 recruiting class in the nation, and Dante Moore should be surrounded with enough talent to make the Ducks’ offense a formidable force.

They did lose Emmanuel Pregnon and Isaiah World to the NFL from their offensive line, but they brought back two All-Big Ten linemen in center Iapani Laloulu and guard Dave Luli. Most likely, they will rely on some new faces like sophomore Fox Crader or Yale transfer Michael Bennett III to fill in the holes left by the NFL departures.

On defense, they return several important pieces from last year as well. Linebackers Teitum Tuioti and Matayo Uiagelelei, and tackles A’mauri Washington and Bear Alexander returned to give the defensive front lots of experience and continuity. They also brought in tackle transfers Jerome Simmons from Louisiana-Monroe and D’Antre Robinson from North Carolina to further beef up the front.

In the secondary, corners Brandon Finney Jr. and Ify Obidegwu, as well as safety Aaron Flowers are back. In addition, Transfers like safeties Koi Perich from Minnesota and Carl Williams IV from Baylor make an already talented Ducks’ secondary even better.

The biggest hurdle this year will be dealing with the losses of OC Will Stein and DC Josh Lupoi, each of whom took power conference jobs, and were present for every game of that 38-5 span. Head coach Dan Lanning stayed in house, promoting Drew Mehringer to coordinate the offense, and Chris Hampton to coordinate the defense, but the Ducks could experience some turbulence as the coaches get acclimated.

They’ll be tested week four when they travel to USC, and their week 10 matchup with the Buckeyes will be one of the most anticipated matchups of the season. Other than that, their schedule is manageable as they look to finally get over the hump and win the first Natty in program history.

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