Ducks tied for 2nd with 14, 1 behind sc. "Starter" isn't defined.

College football returning production 2026: Starters back for every FBS team - CBS Sports

19 hours ago, Steven A said:

Ducks tied for 2nd with 14, 1 behind sc. "Starter" isn't defined.

College football returning production 2026: Starters back for every FBS team - CBS Sports

Thanks, Steven.

In previous releases of returning starters, the threshold was starting six or more games the prior season.

Among the leaders in returning players in 2025 were Clemson and Penn State. One of the reasons both were ranked in the AP preseason top 5. Ooops!

In today's CFB world of largely unregulated free agency and NIL deals, how a team picks the portal and how the portal-picked players assimilate with the coaches and the returning players is often as significant as the guys coming back.

Using The Sporting News 2026 Top 25 Composite rankings, how many players return, and where is the program ranked in the 247 Sports portal rankings?

TSN No.1. Ohio State - T No. 5 - 11 Returning/ Portal ranking - No. 5

4. Indiana - T No. 6. - 10/ No. 8

5. OREGON - T No. 2 - 14/ No. 25

13. USC - No. 1 - 11/ No. 26

14. Michigan - T No. 6 - 10/ No. 16

20. Penn State T No. 12 - 4/ No. 6

21. Iowa - T No. 10 - 6/ No. 64

22. Washington - T No. 6 - 10/ No. 47

30. Illinois - T No. 9 - 7/ No. 59

On OBD's 2026 Schedule - Boise State - T No. 3 - 13 - Portal No. 93/

Oklahoma State - Portal No. 7 - 81 players on the Cowboys roster are transfers/ UCLA - T No. 10 - 6 - Portal No. 33 - 41 new players on the Bruins roster/ Nebraska - T No. 4 - 12 - Portal No. 37/ Northwestern - T No. 7 - 9 - Portal No. 43/ Michigan State - T No. 11 - 5 - Portal No. 55

Can anything be gleaned from the above? No. 1 Ohio State and No. 4 Indiana have quality players returning, and they finished in the top 10 in portal rankings.

No. 5 OBD has 14 quality starters back and finished, barely, in the portal top 25.

Roster-wise, No. 13 USC and No. 14 Michigan seem to be correctly ranked. Do No. 21 Iowa and No. 22 UW have the rosters to finish in the top 25?

No. 20 Penn State is bringing in 40 players from the portal. 24 players followed new coach Matt Campbell from Iowa State, including experienced QB Rocco Becht.

The Nittany Lions have a cupcake OOC schedule and among the easiest in-conference schedules. Penn State does play Michigan in Ann Arbor, but does not play Ohio State, Oregon, Indiana, Illinois, or Iowa, and plays Minnesota, USC, and UW in Beaver Stadium.

Penn State plays Wisconsin, Purdue, and Rutgers at home, and road games at Maryland and Northwestern.

If the Iowa State transfers are Big Ten worthy, Penn State should finish no worse than 10-2 and be in the 2026 PO discussion.

If OBD had PSU's schedule, I'd bet on the Ducks finishing 12-0.

Forgive me the minutiae, but it's a looooong off-season. 🤬