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Dan Lanning studying NFL tape to help Oregon overcome rematch curseIn 2023, Oregon came up short against Washington twice, including in the Pac-12 Championship game rematch with a spot in the College Football Playoff on the line. The following season, the Ducks took down Ohio State in a thriller at Autzen Stadium, but fell flat in the Rose Bowl to end the season. Last season was a familiar story. The Ducks played hard against the Hoosiers in Eugene, but fell apart from the first snap of the Peach Bowl in another blowout loss to end the season. So, how do the Ducks do something different to hurdle the last obstacle in their path to a championship? Lanning has spent the offseason working to find a solution, and he's turned to the NFL for answers. “It's most common in the NFL," Lanning told reporters on Monday. "You know, so just more so conversations with approach and what that might look like. You know, it's a little bit different. I won't hop into great detail on it, but there's certainly some things that I think we've learned from and can use." https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/08/04/oregon-football-dan-lanning-rematch-nfl-2026/91169065007/

Fall camp will be 'huge' for O-Line competition, 'still nothing is determined', says Lanning https://247sports.com/college/oregon/article/fall-camp-will-be-huge-for-o-line-competition-still-nothing-is-determined-says-lanning-288705653/

Next Week's PO Poohbahs Meeting in Chicago could see a PO expansion breakthrough. https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-playoff-expansion-16-24-team-formats/

Remember, this is the year the SEC starts playing nine conference games. Instead of playing New Mexico State, UAB, or Chattanooga, you just won a trip to Texas A&M or a home visit from Georgia. There are going to be a lot more 3, 4, and 5 loss SEC teams that will drop out of the rankings. This is the year, SEC finally starts looking like the B1G, old-PAC12, and Big12. Last year, the SEC had seven teams with 2 or less losses. I estimate that number drops to 4-5 teams with 2 losses or fewer. Another interesting side note: last year, the SEC had only 2 teams win their last game of the season. ACC (7), BIG12 (6), and B1G (8) all fared much better in the postseason.

On this episode of the Autzen Audibles podcast, DuckTerritory's Matt Prehm and Erik Skopil discuss the placement of the Ducks in the debut Coaches Poll before diving into Monday's Oregon Media Day event. That event saw 35 Duck football players and head coach Dan Lanning address the media to kick off the 2026 fall camp. The Ducks begin practice on Wednesday.

What do the schedules say? Will 2 losses mean a PO bid? https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2026/08/04/cfp-bracket-prediction-college-football-playoff-rankings-top-25-preseason/91068181007/?utm_source=usat-path-to-playoff-nletter76&utm_medium=email&utm_campaig

Five teams that could have been ranked include two 2026 opponents, Boise State and Illinois. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2026/08/04/college-football-rankings-preseason-poll-top-25-snubs-2026/91067815007/?utm_source=usat-path-to-playoff-nletter76&utm_medium=email&utm_ca

Always felt like USC was actively trying to avoid a regular slate of games with Oregon the last 15 years or so. They just didn't want to be embarrassed repeatedly. Seems like a great time to pull up this goodie again: https://youtu.be/HrihcyuPurk?si=pEqCN1NFLDCd9IM5

The Hoosiers Were Hosed! And the SEC is Overrated. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2026/08/04/college-football-rankings-coaches-poll-top-25-indiana-notre-dame-hot-takes/91062358007/

Overrated! https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2026/08/04/college-football-rankings-top-25-poll-most-overrated-teams-2026/91067845007/

USA Today's thoughts on the top 25 - https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2026/08/04/college-football-rankings-top-25-coaches-poll-preseason/91067938007/?utm_source=usat-path-to-playoff-nletter76&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=sportsgr

Agreed, LH. When the current scheduling format concludes in 2028, I hope that B1G HQ will have the four West Coast teams playing every season. If this means one more season to play every Big Ten opponent twice, so be it. One fewer trip to the Central or Eastern time zone for the 'Pac-4' and one fewer B1G team having to trip West.

Reviewing the Bidding - 9 SEC teams, 6 in the top 12. 8 Big Ten Teams, 3 in the top 12. 4 B12 teams, and 3 ACC teams, and No. 5 Notre Dame. No.7 Miami would be the ACC's sole PO participant (sorry, Coach Narduzzi😁), with Notre Dame the PO 5th seed. Think this would Just Mean More to Greg Sankey? No. 12 Texas Tech, the only B12 participant, would knock No. 11 Alabama out of the 12-team field. 12-seed G6 No. 35 Boise State would also add to Bama's misery and help to keep 13 LSU out of the PO. Please, football gods, let this happen! 😇 With eight teams ranked, the Big Ten is only one off the SEC's nine teams ranked. But here's the rub: five SEC teams are ranked between No. 6 Indiana and No. 14 USC. On the field, over the last two seasons in particular, the middle of the SEC has not been superior to the middle of the Big Ten. The coaches don't get this. And based on two seasons of PO committee rankings, neither do the members of the committee. SEC-centric ranking is the main reason Tony Petitti and the Big Ten insist on a 24-team PO field. The B1G will not budge from this number of PO participants. Especially when Petitti's format no longer includes automatic qualifiers. The ACC, B12, and Notre Dame back the Big Ten PO format; the SEC, carrying ESPN's exclusive broadcast bucket of water, wants a 16-team field, and why not? In 2025, a 16-team PO field would have included 7 SEC and 3 Big Ten teams. No. 16 USC would have been knocked out by G5 Tulane. Overrated IMO: No. 8 Texas A&M, no 2025 wins over an SEC team that won more than six games and a PO home loss. No. 9 Oklahoma. Shut down by 3-loss Texas, and also shut down in a 1st-round PO game loss to a 3-loss Bama team. No. 11 Alabama. One starting player returns on offense, and the starting QB will have no experience as a starter. No. 18 Tennessee. Why are the Vols, whose QB will have no starts, ranked ahead of a UW team with an experienced returning QB? No. 25 Missouri. Thrown into the top 25 for lack of a better idea? In 2025, these Tigers did not defeat a team with a winning record. Others Receiving Votes of interest to Oregon: 29 Illinois, 35 Boise State, 36 Oklahoma State, and 41 Nebraska. If CFB, like CBB, used a Quad System to value wins and losses, there would be 34 teams in Quad 1, and Oregon would play these Quad 1 opponents: No. 1 Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio; 14 USC in LA; 16 Michigan; 19 Washington; and 29 Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. The home opener vs 35 Boise State is a game against the highest-ranked G6 team and what would be the top-ranked Quad 2 team. With the game being played on the road in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the game vs 36 Oklahoma State would be a CBB Quad 1 game. The Coaches Preseason Poll Playoff. 1. Ohio State vs 9. Oklahoma at 8. Texas A&M 4. Texas vs 12. Boise State at 5. Notre Dame 2. Oregon vs 11. Texas Tech at 6. Indiana 3. Georgia vs 10. Mississippi at 7. Miami I do not want to hear the same stuff we heard in 2025 from SEC-centric (expletive deleted 🤬) Dixiecrats. A two-loss Oregon will not be on the bubble but will be a PO team. Beat Boise!

Notre Dame is opening a new $100 million dollar football facility. USC officially opens their new gazillion facility August 5. The Oregon facility opened in 2018, as I recall. Would USC spent that much, for that elaborate a facility, if Oregon hadn't been making recruiting in-roads in So. Cal?

Perfect. Respected, but still an underdog. May these rankings remain until we meet in Columbus!

Hopefully the B1G will recognize the opportunity here. To be true rival requires an annual match-up imo. It's hard to get the juices flowing playing every third year. I have a ton of hate for Trojan. Especially after they tried to stick it to Oregon in the reshuffle. Cowards! This fued is ripe to be a full blown "kick'em when they are down" rivalry. Hopefully the B1G powers will recognize this and schedule yearly. I would love to stomp Trojan into the ground every November for sure.

They became a rival as soon as we both joined the B1G imo.

OREGON’S PLAYERS TAKE GREATER OWNERSHIP ENTERING 2026 FALL CAMPDan Lanning called this the most player-led team he has coached, and Ducks across the roster described how that leadership has taken shape during the offseason.Oregon opened fall camp this week with championship expectations surrounding a roster filled with returning experience. Dan Lanning believes the Ducks will rely heavily on that experience as they prepare for the success, adversity and attention that could come throughout the 2026 season. Asked about describing this as the most player-led group he has coached, Lanning said Oregon’s players assumed a larger role during the summer and will continue carrying that responsibility into the season. “I think it’s important,” Lanning said. “I think you’ve got to paint pictures for our players on things that you know are going to happen. There’s going to be moments of adversity throughout the year. There’s going to be moments of success. There’s going to be high praise. There’s going to be low praise.” Oregon’s players take greater ownership entering 2026 fal...Oregon Ducks football, Dan Lanning, Oregon recruiting, college football, NIL, Big Ten, Pac-12, Scott Reed, Duck Sports Central, recruiting news

O - O 😍 Ohio State is No.1 and OBD 2nd! On3College Football Rankings: USA Today reveals Preseason Co....

O-O - The Preseason Coaches Poll is Out - Ohio State No. 1 and Oregon 2nd. On3College Football Rankings: USA Today reveals Preseason Co....

SC is the biggest brand on the West Coast, and whether it's correct or not, SC is The West Coast football Blueblood and the only team other than Oregon in the Pacific and Mountain time zones with a Blue Chip Roster. Now that SC has upped its recruiting game and portal-picking prowess, SC is Oregon's top West Coast competitor for talent, especially SoCal talent. Outside of the Eastern time zone, SC is Oregon's B1Ggest challenger for a spot in the PO. 9/26/26 in LA is a program-defining game for SC and a game Dan Lanning knows he needs to win to continue Oregon's West Coast supremacy. The number of eyeballs on the SC game will dwarf those for all other 2026 games, except the 11/7/26 game against Ohio State in Columbus, with a good chance that GameDay and Big Noon will be in town. I think the game will kick off at 7:30 Eastern. The biggest SEC game on 9/26/26 is Texas at Tennessee, scheduled to be broadcast at Noon Eastern. Current Odds - Oregon -5.5 - Over/Under 58.5 Great topic, thanks.

My first piece from yesterday https://www.ducksportscentral.com/2026/08/oregons-players-take-greater-ownership.html

While my observation makes us uncomfortable, it may very well apply. When Washington was beating us year after year for decades, we looked at them as a rival, but they did not regard us as such. Only now do both sides view each other with intense rivalry. USC fans are viewing Oregon the same way that Oregon viewed Washington during those frustrating years; they look up to us as a rival, we did not view them as a West Coast rival until they start beating us on a regular basis. But their fans and their coaches sure make it fun to beat them!

Photos of Oregon Ducks players at 2026 football media day https://duckswire.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/08/04/oregon-football-media-day-gallery-2026/91163542007/

Emptying the notebook from Oregon football's Media Day interviewsOregon football's annual media day has come and gone, and Wednesday officially marks the first day of fall practice. In total, 35 Duck football players were made available over a two-hour period of time. Many of these interviews will be turned into full content items (some already have been), but Erik Skopil and Matt Prehm have also decided to unload the notebook, giving little glimpses into the interviews that may not become stories but were fun anecdotes regardless. https://247sports.com/college/oregon/longformarticle/emptying-the-notebook-from-oregon-footballs-media-day-interviews-288689423/