Previously, we looked at FanDuel’s odds for teams to make the 2025-26 College Football (CFB) Playoffs (PO) and whether a team’s strength of schedule (SOS) matched the odds. Several teams favored to make the Playoff had minus odds. For instance, Clemson at -128 means you would have to wager $128 to win $100 plus the return of your bet. All ...

Read More

Interesting RP hasn't been adjusted to the portal era? Not exactly sure how it is adjusted; but, if you look at RP for the Duck OL you see 1 player with 15 career starts

However, the projected unit has 138 FBS starts and a collective 21 years inside college football programs. Over 100 career starts and an average of over 4 years of experience per starter are both very positive numbers.

Hughes has 523 carries and 2,779 yards the last two years at Tulane. Jordan James finished his career at Oregon with 386 carries. Dillon Theineman had 210 tackles and 6 ints his last 2 years at Purdue. Theran Johnson 25 starts at NW. Oregon is going to be running a lot of young guy out there but an RP of 5 seems wildly off, even if technically accurate.

Another OD...you beat me to it, and Jon wanted that addition added to his article, and I figured we would cover it in the comments.

Oregon is listed with just five returning players, but when you look at portal transfers who were tremendous starters at other schools...that number changes. When you consider Theran Johnson, the incredible corner from Northwestern, Dillon Thieneman Jr. from Purdue at safety, and Bear Alexander from USC, we see three starters on defense from portal transfers.

On offense, we see Isiah World from Nevada, Emmanuel Pregnon from USC, Matthew Bedford from Indiana, and Alex Harkey from Texas State on the offensive line alone. Add Dante Moore at QB, (UCLA) and Makhi Hughes from Tulane, and Oregon's "rebuilding" year looks very different.

That number of "5" now moves up to "14 with the portal transfers, which is why, with the schedule, Our Beloved Ducks look to do a lot of winning this year!

Makhi Hughes

Thank you, Charles, for another superb and much-needed editing job.

And thank you, and Another OD, for raising the Portal Transfer impact on today's college football rosters. In an era of largely unregulated 'free agency,' roster management is critical to a team's success. Players must be recruited from high school and the portal, and often need to be re-recruited to prevent them from moving on to another program, one that is likely offering more NIL money.

Ohio State, with an experienced deep blue Blue Chip Roster, likely would not have won last season's title (Sigh) without Will Howard transferring in from Kansas State to start at QB, and starting Center Seth McLaughlin, and Safety Caleb Downs, transferring in from Alabama. It's another feather in Dan Lanning's and his assistant coaches' hats that Oregon has yet to lose a starting player with remaining eligibility to the portal.

2025 could well be referred to as 'The Season of Roster Turnover.' So many quality teams, Texas, Ohio State, Oregon, Georgia, and others, have to replace players who contributed to their team's success in 2024. What coaching group does the best at slotting in new starters who were on the 2024 roster and arrive as recruits from high school or the portal in 2025 will go a long way toward determining this season's champion.

This season presents a new challenge to Coach Lanning and his staff. For the first time in Lanning's four seasons as OBD's head coach, a player with limited starting experience will start at quarterback. Since Dan's hire in 2021 and his first year coaching in 2022, Oregon has led the nation in average points scored on offense. But Heisman-contending finalists Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel, who joined OBD with a wealth of starting experience, have moved on to the NFL.

Charles' terrific comment details the pieces added to Oregon's roster from the portal. Fortunately, the 2025 schedule provides four games, one-third of the season, for Oregon to gel on offense, defense, and special teams before being the guest at a Penn State White Out. Penn State, like Oregon, has a Blue Chip roster, but unlike Oregon, returns many players from 2024 when the Nittany Lions won a record 13 games, and has added players at positions of need, especially at wide receiver, from the portal.

This season will test this Oregon coaching staff's acumen like no other in head coach Dan Lanning's time leading the Ducks. Buckle up! 2025 should be a very interesting ride for Oregon and its fans.

---

One point in the article that did not age well. At the time I wrote the article, the B1G and the SEC were in agreement that an expanded playoff field in 2026-27 and thereafter, with 14 or 16 teams, should have four automatic qualifiers from the B1G and four from the SEC.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, duplicitously in my opinion, pulled the new playoff format rug out from under B1G commissioner Tony Petitti. The field will probably stay at 12 teams in 2026-27 and thereafter, unless the SEC agrees to play nine regular-season conference games.

No big deal for the B1G that leads all conferences in revenue and net earnings, and will continue to do so with or without the playoff field expanding.