Who Do YOU Believe the Oregon Ducks Are?

There is no doubt College Football’s newly expanded Playoffs have changed the definition of success, as a handful of teams consider themselves annual title contenders. They expect to reach the Championship Game every single year. And so do we as fans. Ever since Bo Nix’s stellar emergence in an Oregon uniform, the Ducks have been considered a lethal threat on the national scene.

Nothing has more defined Oregon’s ascent nationally than Nix’s epic battles with Michael Penix during Penix’s victorious streak against Nix in what basically represented football’s most symbolic version of the epic three-fight battle between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Even Mr. FishDuck paused from his gaming fun at MelBet (Arabic: تحميل) to marvel at those games with me.

BUT IS OREGON REALLY CONSIDERED A TITLE CONTENDER?

What has really defined Dan Lanning’s Oregon Ducks? I believe Kalen Deboer’s bolt to Alabama silenced the likely emergence of the West Coast’s version of Bama vs Auburn, Ohio State vs Michigan, and Texas vs Oklahoma. Michael Penix’s “rabbit out of a hat” plays amazed the national media. Nix, never one to disappear, strode into the sunlight with many dazzling plays himself.

Then DeBoer left, and those dreaded Fuskies disappeared from the national scene like Houdini’s storied magic tricks. Lanning, however, simply raised the bar as he uncannily found ways to snap up victory after victory the following two years.

Last season, Indiana exposed Oregon’s flaws. Many experts dismissed any notion our Ducks were title worthy. yet Joel Klatt and On3’s J.D. Pickell believed Lanning’s offense would eventually explode. Others noted Oregon’s struggles with “physical” defenses-including Penn State’s uncharacteristically maligned “juggernaut”. Unsurprisingly, Oregon’s stunning upset of Penn State flipped to “Is Oregon truly elite or are they just a mirage: imitating dominant teams known for their ability to dispatch any opponent?”. Many ask, “Is Oregon a predator or a pretender?”

WILL THE REAL OREGON FOOTBALL PROGRAM PLEASE STAND UP?

The college football world witnessed Mike Bellotti’s storied 2007 run (which LSU eventually “stole” as the Ducks withered without the prowess of QB Dennis Dixon following his ill-timed knee injury). 2007’s Offensive Coordinator turned Head Coach Chip Kelly then turned the football world upside down with his introduction of the Blur Offense, only to be (in my opinion) robbed of his Curt Cignetti moment in 2010.

So many opportunities such as in 2014…(Photo by John Giustina)

Ill equipped as a Head Coach, Mark Helfrich took the ebbing remnants of Kelly’s era and catapulted his prized diamond in the rough, Marcus Mariota, to a Heisman Trophy, and a stunning lopsided loss to Ohio State four years later. The only narrative that sticks to our Mighty Ducks is “They Can’t Win the Big One”.

But is it true? Is Dan Lanning the 70s version of Minnesota’s Bud Grant, and the 90s version of Buffalo’s Marv Levy? Is Lanning the next Kirby Smart, Ryan Day or Dabo Sweeney? Or is he perhaps a mirror of none other than Deboer’s performance in Alabama? The 2026 football season is looming, and Oregon’s reputation will surely be front and center as those “flash in the pan uniform guys”.

My question is…are we looking at Dan Lanning as Luke Skywalker gliding into the second Death Star poised to smack down Darth Vader (representing all the Blue Bloods and Darth Sidious himself)?

IS IT MERELY A ROLL OF THE DICE?

I am reminded of how difficult it is to really win a National Championship. Ohio State rode a tremendous blowout of Wisconsin to secure a playoff berth they would not have earned the year before, and that snatched a possible crown for Mark Helfrich. Cam Newton absolutely dropped the ball on the sack-fumble-TD that turned out to be a 7-point swing against the Ducks. Not to mention another 7-point swing on a controversial no interception call that resulted in a TD the very next play for Auburn. We won’t even mention the “Dyer-was-Down” call.

I was a fan of X-Files, but am even a bigger fan of Dan Lanning, and I want to believe.

But it gets even more precarious than that. Curt Cignetti’s magical and completely astronomically unlikely surge to his title hung in the balance on three things this January: Indiana didn’t secure a TD before handing Miami a final drive to decide the game; second, they committed a personal foul that gifted the Hurricanes 15 additional yards on that game deciding drive, and third, Carson Beck misread Indiana’s secondary and ultimately underthrew a sure TD pass that ended Miami’s comeback bid. Those three simple events nearly turned a Championship for the Ages into a bitter disappointment.

You better believe a team needs some luck to win a National Championship in the modern era. That’s why I believe Lanning deserves less friction to call games as he sees it-because he’s earned our need to trust him. So, as you ponder this offseason about who we are as a program, think about all the components necessary to win a National Title?

Ask yourself this: how do I really feel about Oregon’s chances in 2026? As always, I look forward to your responses in the only “forum-with-decorum,” the Our Beloved Ducks forum available to all at no cost.

Michael West
Las Vegas, Nevada
Top Photo by Tom Corno

Mike West

Mike West was born in Southern California and moved to Eugene in 1976. He attended his first Oregon Football game and watched USC maul the Ducks 63-0. Despite the disappointment he became an avid fan after watching the Rich Brooks show every Sunday in the Fall. After graduating from the University of Oregon, he returned to Los Angeles and enjoyed a career in Customer Service for two decades. Thrilled at the ascent of Oregon Football, he attended both Rose Bowls, living just five miles from the stadium. He now lives in Las Vegas.