How highly should our Oregon football program be ranked entering the 2026 season? Tons of outlets around the sport have started mocking up their way-too-early rankings, and there’s a fair bit of discourse on where our Ducks should be placed in the top 10 after a semifinal College Football Playoff finish in 2025. Oregon’s Average Ranking: 3rd Overall ON3 and ...

Oregon Football: Early 2026 Projections

Alex, thanks for the article. Really appreciate you listing the key returning players on both sides of the ball.

That is a loaded and talented list. Are they hungry?

As for the way to early ranking? Top 5 seems right. However, as all the Forum members know the games are played one game at a time.

The talent is there for 11-1 and a 3rd place finish in the BIG. I expect Indiana and tOSU to play for the BIG Crown.

GO DUCKS..

5 hours ago, HappyToBeADuck said:

Alex, thanks for the article. Really appreciate you listing the key returning players on both sides of the ball.

That is a loaded and talented list. Are they hungry?

As for the way to early ranking? Top 5 seems right. However, as all the Forum members know the games are played one game at a time.

The talent is there for 11-1 and a 3rd place finish in the BIG. I expect Indiana and tOSU to play for the BIG Crown.

GO DUCKS..

Thanks, Happy.

One of Ohio State and Indiana will finish no better than 11-1. The Buckeyes visit Bloomington on 10/17. Indiana wins, and OBD defeats Ohio State a month later on 11/7, and Oregon will be in the B1G title mix.

I will be surprised if Oregon is favored to win the game in Columbus. However, TOSU is losing a lot of studs on the D side of the ball. The week before the game in Columbus, Ohio State plays USC in LA, and OBD plays Northwestern at home.

I hope the Ohio State at USC game will be the prime-time game with a 7:30 PM Eastern kickoff and the Buckeyes returning to Columbus in the wee hours of Sunday.

Future odds have Ohio State +2.5 at Texas. Ohio State and Indiana are co-favorites to win the 2026-27 title, followed closely by Texas and Notre Dame, then Oregon. Ohio State has a more difficult schedule than Indiana and Oregon.

OBD does not play the Hoosiers in the regular season.

I'm happy to see you predicting 11-1 for Oregon. Considering the opposition and where and when the games will be played, 11-1 would be a sterling record in 2026 and cover the 2026 10.5 win total.

11-1, no conference champ game, No. 5 seed? Book it, Danno.😁

We are ranked high enough. We'll have to see how our offensive line is same as every year, and see if there are any freshman surprises like last year to help us along.

I think the 2025 season was peak depth for this team. It's all downhill from here as the expanding playoff and NIL continue to redistribute talent to a broader number of teams. So injuries will have greater impact to our team as well.

Interesting to see that both Oregon and Indiana each have 6 returning starting players on defense and offense.

Good article. First, I don't buy into the hype about Arch Manning. He is a guy who "needs to get it going" his entire college career. At some point, that is who he is - a player trying to find a rhythm, getting there briefly, and then doing a whole lot of trying to get back there again.

Second, what matters is talent of the field, not talent that already went to the NFL. (Indiana, Ohio St, Michigan, Penn St)

Third, this is the interesting one. Sometimes players improve with another year of playing and sometimes they kind of stay of the same, and once in a while, they slip a little.

Dante Moore: He already has the perfect arm, so I can't see any improvement there. I do expect improvement in how he reacts to pressure since that is really the only part of his game that he needs to work on.

Matayo U: He seemed to have moved down a notch last year from his first year. As his body grows and matures, I think he will go up a couple of notches and turn it on this season.

The skills players on O and D should be some of the best in the country.

Are the linebackers going to improve as a group? They should be more athletic and the subs who have been hanging around should be ready to contribute, but this is a question mark. I feel the same way about the edge players.

The D line: Key subs have left via the portal. Seems like the Ducks have traded backups for backups thru the portal and went down a little talent wise. Can the newer players step in and bring some juice? Again, a question mark.

The O line: A whole bunch who have been patiently developing in the system. Will they be any good? Another question mark.

Overall, the Ducks have some great position groups and some not too sure - only time will position groups.

It really come down to the O line and the linebackers playing up the standards of the rest of the team. There is no big bunch of experienced transfers to save them. We will see how well the staff can develop these players and get them ready for the big time. I would expect to see some "growing pains" from time to time, but then for them to form into solid units by November. At least, that is the hope.