Despite the Oregon Ducks coming off of a historic season in which they finished the regular season as the No. 1 team in the country, defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions to capture the Big Ten title in their first season as a part of the conference, and were selected as the National Champions by two major selectors, the team has been wildly underrated ahead of the 2025 season.
Over the month and a half since the Ducks' season came to an end, many professionals and analysts in the industry have projected that Oregon will once again make the College Football Playoffs but they have also predicted that the Ducks will get knocked out of the CFPs after a game or two.
However, on Thursday, On3's J.D. Pickell released his bracket projection and named who he thought would be the 2026 National Champions. His prediction? That the Oregon Ducks would finally capture the long-sought-after national title.
NEW: 2026 College Football Playoff Projection via @jdpickell🏆
— On3 (@On3sports) February 13, 2025
Do you agree? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/o8xeLSsLy3
Pickell's coworkers Ari Wasserman and Andy Staples both have the Ducks making it to the semifinals but they also both have Oregon losing its semifinal matchup. Both Wasserman and Staples predicted that the Texas Longhorns would win the national title.
Wasserman predicted that the Ducks would get the No. 5 seed, with the Ohio State Buckeyes winning the Big Ten title, and would defeat Boise State and Arizona State before losing to Texas. Staples gave the Ducks the bye with a consecutive Big Ten Championship win but had them losing to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the semis.
Head coach Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks will kick off their 2025 campaign at home against the Montana State Bobcats on Aug. 31 as they search to repeat, and hopefully improve upon, their wildly successful 2024 season.