The Oregon Ducks enter the 2026 season with two big goals sitting right in front of them: a first national championship in program history and a second Big Ten title in three years.
That conference chase starts with the betting board, where FanDuel Sportsbook lists Oregon at +270 to win the Big Ten. Only Ohio State sits ahead of the Ducks at +190, and the Buckeyes are still hunting their first conference crown since 2020 after Indiana knocked them off 13-10 in last season’s Big Ten championship game.
Oregon’s path to the top of the league still runs through Columbus. The Ducks and Buckeyes are set to meet Nov. 7 in what could easily be the game of the year, and it may not be the last time these two powers cross paths. Depending on how the season unfolds, Ohio State and Oregon could see each other again in the Big Ten title game and even in the College Football Playoff.
The Ducks know what it looks like to finish the job in this league. In their first Big Ten season in 2024, they rolled through the regular season at 13-0 and capped it with a 45-37 win over Penn State in the championship game. But Ohio State got the last word that year, avenging an earlier loss at Autzen Stadium with a 41-21 win over Oregon in the CFP quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl.
Indiana also looms as a serious factor again. The Hoosiers, the defending national champions, lost Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza this offseason but reloaded with TCU transfer quarterback Josh Hoover and Michigan State wide receiver Nick Marsh. Oregon’s only two losses last season came against Indiana, and the Ducks would get no regular-season rematch with the Hoosiers before a possible meeting in the Big Ten championship game.
Another important date for Oregon comes much earlier. The Ducks will visit USC at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Sept. 26, and that matchup should be one of the biggest games of the opening month. Dan Lanning is 2-0 against Lincoln Riley, and Oregon will try to push its winning streak against the Trojans to five straight.
In Other News...
Oregons Running Back Room Just Earned A Massive National Ranking
Oregons backfield is already drawing national attention after CBS Sports slotted the Ducks running back room third in the country, a nod to how much production is returning and how much depth is piling up behind it. The group is headlined by sophomores Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill Jr., who gave Oregon a steady one-two punch last season and now give the offense a proven foundation to build around again.
Davison and Hill combined for more than 1,500 scrimmage yards and 21 total touchdowns in 2025, and the Ducks are not stopping there. Colorado transfer Simeon Price has joined the mix, while freshmen Brandon Smith and Tradarian Ball are also in the room, giving Oregon a crowded competition for the next snaps and a depth chart that still has some sorting out to do. [Read more 🡒]
Dana Altman Suddenly Has Oregon Back In A Familiar Conversation
After a rough 2025-26 season that left Oregon at 12-20 overall and 5-15 in Big Ten play, the Ducks are suddenly back in a conversation they badly needed. CBS Sports insider Jon Rothstein has pointed to Oregon as a potential sleeper in the league for 2026-27, and the reason is simple enough: the roster has been turned over almost completely through the transfer portal, giving Dana Altman a fresh group to work with in his 17th season.
Oregon lost eight players and brought in eight transfers, a makeover that gives Altman a chance to reset the program quickly rather than spend another year patching holes. Rothsteins view is that the Ducks could be one of the most improved teams in the Big Ten and have a path back to the NCAA Tournament, which is exactly the kind of expectation shift that can change the mood around a program before the season even starts. [Read more 🡒]
Dan Lannings Rare Oregon Portal Misses Still Sting For Ducks Fans
Oregons transfer-portal haul has usually been a point of pride under Dan Lanning, but not every addition has delivered the instant boost fans expected. Makhi Hughes, Isaiah World and Caleb Chapman all arrived with real buzz and the sense that they could help shape the Ducks season, yet each one ran into a different kind of roadblock once the games started.
Hughes never found a consistent role in the backfield, World had stretches where his play did not match the lofty projections attached to him, and Chapmans time in Eugene was derailed by injuries before he could build momentum. For a program that leans on the portal to patch holes and raise the ceiling, those misses still stand out because they show how quickly a promising fit can turn into a quiet footnote. [Read more 🡒]