Two views of Oregon indicate how 2026 might be a special year

Oregon's upside can be summarized in three words: offense, defense and improvement. The growth mindset is at the heart of everything they do, including the intensity with which the Ducks attack offseason training.

Two recent social media posts capture how high the ceiling is for this Oregon squad. It's a year to be bold about intentions. The goal this year is to win the National Championship. Why else would Dante Moore, Matayo Uiagalelei, Iapani Laloulu and A'Mauri Washington come back to school? All of them could have made a pile of money in the NFL.

Expectations are sky-high for the Oregon defense

Some analysts think Dan Lanning and new defensive coordinator Chris Hampton could have the best defense in college football next season. The Ducks return four seniors on the defensive line in Uiagalelei, Washington, Bear Alexander and Teitum Tuioti. Explosive edge rusher Nasir Wyatt moves into his sophomore year after recording three sacks and 11 tackles in spot duty a season ago.

The secondary, led by sensational sophomore Brandon Finney and Minnesota Gopher transfer Koi Perich, will vie to be a lockdown unit. The 2025 version limited opponents to 53.3 percent completions while intercepting 15 passes.

It won't take the naysayers more than a minute to point out "but they gave up 56 points to Indiana" but that's bunk: Errors by the Oregon offense accounted for 28 of those points, a collapse in a big game that Lanning is determined not to repeat.

At the National Signing Day event he said, "You've got a group of guys who are coming back who are hungry. We've all got a little sour taste in our mouth, which is awesome when the only success is measured by what can we do and how does this look at the end of the season."

A great program and a future national champion coach don't run from their failures. They use them as fuel. It's important to remember that Curt Cignetti, the current king of college football, won his first national championship this year at 64, in his 40th year in coaching. Dan Lanning turns 40 in April, in his fifth year as a head coach.

The Oregon offense could be the most explosive in the country

Last season Oregon led the nation with 100 plays of 20 yards or more on offense. The 2026 version returns a cadre of its most explosive players in quarterback Dante Moore, who threw for 30 touchdowns in his first full season as a starter, twin terrors at tailback in Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill, a frightening receiver room led by Evan Stewart, Dakorien Moore, Jeremiah McClellan and five-star newcomer Jalen Lott from Texas, big-play tight end Jamari Johnson and a solid offensive line to spring them.

That doesn't even account for 10.15 sprinter Gatlin Bair, or Simeon Price, the Colorado transfer who averaged 6.81 yards a carry last season in the Buffalo mire.

"The Three Tech Pod" thinks the Ducks will have the second-most dangerous offense in the country. They only missed by one.

The key to realizing this potential rests in the hands of the Ducks' two new coordinators. Chris Hampton and Drew Mehringer not only have to replace Will Stein and Tosh Lupoi; they have to exceed them in game planning, play calling and scheming against top opponents. Frankly, that won't be hard to do.

On the On3 podcast hosted by Ari Wasserman and Andy Staples, new Kentucky coach Stein admitted point-blank how far below the line the scheme was in the two losses to the Hoosiers. "I was a part of two games where they whooped my ass, just to be frank," he said. "They played better than everybody that they played against. So it's a credit to them and their staff, their players, their buy-in from their administration, their fans,"

The standard has to be higher for Hampton and Mehringer. Oregon's talent matches up with anyone; now their readiness and execution have to meet that potential in December and January. After getting out schemed and outcoached in the 2025 Rose Bowl and the 2026 Peach Bowl, the Ducks brain trust has to find a way to win the coaching chess match.

Lanning believes that they can. At the signing day event he said,
"Everybody wants an opportunity to advance, and we don't hand them out. It's the work that you see every day. I've seen coach Mehringer gameplan for four years here. I've seen coach Hampton and the impact he's made on our team in the last three years."

The Southeast Missouri native is staking his reputation (and the fate of his best, most talented squad) on their readiness. He told the crowd of boosters and ardent fans, "You never want to put anybody in a position where they're not ready for the opportunity, but I'd say both these guys have prepared their entire careers and certainly prepared here in their time here at Oregon to be ready for this opportunity when it came their way. It made it really easy to say this guy is a perfect fit."

Lanning believes Hampton and Mehringer are ready to handle the complex coaching calculus of playoff football and Top Ten matchups, an assignment that will require them to elevate their performance in a new role. That makes this season a bold, fascinating experiment.