The facts speak for themselves, which doesn't mean Duck fans are going to shut up

Over the last five years, Oregon is the winningest program in the West by a significant margin:

Home records in the West, via SuperWest Sports:

94.3—Oregon (33-2)
80.7—Utah (25-6)
80.0—BYU (24-6)
79.4—Washington (27-7)
78.8—Boise St (26-7)
76.7—Fresno St (23-7)
70.6—USC (24-10)
68.8—Ore St (22-10)
68.8—WSU (22-10)
67.7—SJSU (21-10)
64.7—SDSU (22-12)
63.3—Air Force (19-11)
62.9—Hawai'i (22-13)
61.8—ASU (21-13)
61.3—UNLV (19-12)
60.0—Utah St (18-12)
59.4—Cal (19-13)
58.1—Wyoming (18-13)
54.6—Arizona (18-15)
54.6—UCLA (18-15)
48.4—Colorado (15-16)
48.3—New Mexico (14-15)
46.9—CSU (15-17)
44.8—UTEP (13-16)
35.5—Nevada (11-20)
29.0—Stanford (9-22)

Oregon is 33-2 at home over that time, and no other program in the region has fewer than six home losses. The Trojans have ten.

The Ducks also claim the longest active road winning streak in college football, which sits at 12 games. (Although they've lost badly in three neutral-site games, 56-22 to Indiana, 41-21 to Ohio State at the Rose Bowl, 49-3 to Georgia to start the 2022 season.)

That's a lot of winning, home and away. They've been so successful for two reasons. One, because of their talent. No coach in college football has sent more transfer players to the NFL than Dan Lanning over the last four years, and the Ducks have averaged a Top Five class in high school recruiting.

It's as though opponents say, 'Our wins count; yours don't'

The second reason for the sustained success is that Lanning and the Ducks win the games they're supposed to win. Lanning is 15-8 versus the Top 25, 33-0 against unranked teams. They use their talent advantage effectively, and the coach prepares them thoroughly, particularly in terms of the mental game and hostile environments.

Where Lanning and the Ducks have done less well is in so-called big games. Six of his losses have come against teams that either won or played in the national championship game.

What makes that problematic is that the definition of a big game shifts depending on how much the definer dislikes your team. When Oregon shut out No. 4 Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl quarterfinal, that was a big game until they lost the next time out.

Beating Iowa, Minnesota, USC and Washington in November with a playoff berth on the line seemed like big wins to most Oregon fans, but the Hawkeyes, Gophers, Trojan and Huskies now say no.

They would have been big games if Oregon lost them, and opponents would have remembered them that way. The "Dan Lanning can't win big games" argument is pretty much shifting sand. Suddenly, playoff games, conference titles and Top Five seasons don't matter, because those jealous opponents aren't achieving them.

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