Oregon walked into Big Ten media day carrying a familiar burden and a fresh edge.
The Ducks are once again being talked about like a team that belongs near the top of the sport. Media members who cover the conference picked Oregon to finish second in the Big Ten behind Ohio State in 2026, and the Ducks are also being viewed as a College Football Playoff championship contender. That kind of attention comes with the territory now, and Dan Lanning made it clear he isn’t shying away from it.
“Nobody's going to have higher expectations for our team than us,” Lanning said. “We're the guys in the building doing the work every single day.
Certainly really proud of the team and the work they've put in. We have high expectations.
We've got a lot that we want to accomplish.”
Lanning, along with Dante Moore, Teitum Tuioti and Jamari Johnson, was at the Hilton Chicago on July 29 for the conference’s football kickoff event. Fall camp starts next week, and for Oregon, the transition from offseason buildup to actual football is finally here.
“We are about to hop right into the middle of football season,” Lanning beamed July 29 during the Big Ten Football Media Days in Chicago. “I can't wait for it.”
One of the biggest themes coming out of Oregon’s appearance was experience. Lanning said this team feels different from last year’s group, which was loaded with talent but also leaned on a lot of younger players. That mattered in a 13-2 season that ended with a CFP semifinal berth, and it should matter again now that many of those contributors are back with a year under their belts.
That’s especially true on offense. Receivers Dakorien Moore and Jeremiah McClellan, running backs Jordon Davision and Dierre Hill Jr., tight end Johnson and quarterback Moore were all in their first season of significant playing time as Ducks in 2025. Lanning believes that collective growth changes the feel of the roster.
“Walking in this year, what's different from last year, obviously we have some great returning players that have been big contributors to our program,” Lanning said. “One thing I recognize is last year I felt like we had a team that had a ton of talent.
This year we have a team that has a lot of experience returning. A lot of those young guys that played are guys that have great experience.
I am excited to see what that looks like.”
Moore is at the center of all of it. His decision to pass on the NFL and return to Oregon has been one of the defining stories of the offseason, and it’s easy to see why.
He threw for 3,565 yards, 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season, completing 72% of his passes, 296 of 412. He enters this year as a Heisman Trophy contender, and his return gives Oregon its best shot at a national title.
Lanning didn’t get into the specifics of Moore’s offseason work, but he had plenty to say about the quarterback’s development since January. The coach pointed to growth not just in Moore’s game, but in the way he carries himself.
“There's very few quarterbacks, especially in our system, that in their second year they're not a better version of themselves out there on the field,” Lanning said. "...
(Moore's) improved, but his maturity, his leadership, is really taking a step. I think his emotional maturity and his self awareness is really high.
Everybody in that locker room would follow that guy, and I think that speaks volumes.”
The Ducks have also spent the offseason building in their own way. The team climbed to the top of Spencer Butte together, held beach workouts on the Oregon coast and even had a small group of players travel to Tokyo to run a coaching clinic and youth camp.
Still, the biggest challenge remains the same one that has followed Oregon to the finish line in recent years. The Ducks have come close, but they haven’t gotten all the way through.
Last season ended with a blowout loss to eventual champion Indiana in the Peach Bowl CFP semifinal. The year before that, Oregon was routed by eventual champion Ohio State in the Rose Bowl CFP quarterfinal despite being the No. 1 seed.
“Every time we've gotten close, we've always fallen short,” Moore said. “But those are just learning moments and I feel like coach Lanning always goes back to the drawing board and will find us a way to get over the hump. This year our goal is to chase history.”
Tuioti said the key is staying locked in on the day-to-day work.
“We gotta enjoy the process this year,” he said. “Obviously there's a lot of talk.
There's a lot of things going on, but we got a team that's excited to play for each other. As long as we take those step-by-step processes and go day by day, we're going to get the outcome we want.”
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