Brett McMurphy of On3 put out his Preseason Top-25 and he listed the No. 1 team in the nation as....

1. Oregon

Since 2023, Oregon is 38-0 against teams that did not reach the national title game. Unfortunately, they’re 0-5 against title game participants, losing to 2023 runner-up Washington (twice), 2024 champ Ohio State and 2025 Indiana (twice). Those 38 wins are the nation’s most in the past three years....

When Lanning loses a rare game...it is not to chumps.

Bear Alexander blocks a third down pass!

40-0 against teams that have won less than 10 games and 8-8 against 10 or more win teams, his first four years as HC. For comparison, Smart in his first 4 years was 36-6 and 8-6 and Day was 34-0 and 8-6, both two years away from their first NC.

Dan's losses so far have been to teams finishing AP number #1, #1 #1,#1, #2, #2, #8, and #17. Those two close losses to number #8 and #17 were that first season after Nix took a shot to his leg late in game 10 that left him hobbled the rest of the season. Leaving out the Georgia disaster in the opener, Oregon's offense had averaged 46.6 points and 551.6 yards in 9 pre-Nix injury games, post-Nix injury it fell to 27.3 and 408.7 the final 3 games (and quite possibly no:

Downs

4 plays, 8 yards, 1:41

Field Goal

4 plays, 8 yards, 0:35

on 11/12/2022).

Dan Lanning just turned 40 like 3 months ago. When Cignetti turned 40 he was joining Chuck Amato's staff at NC State and going to work with a young Philip Rivers. When Saban turned 40 he was in the NFL and about 4 years away from taking his first major college HC job with Michigan State.

Dabo was starting his first full year as HC at Clemson, 8 years away from his first NC, and Day in his first year as HC at tOSU, 6 years away from his first NC. In the history of college football, I only found 4 coaches that won a NC before 40, and only one in the last 50 years (Danny Ford Clemson in 1981). All four are in the College football Hall-of-Fame (Danny Ford, Bud Wilkinson, Knute Rockne, and Barry Switzer). Those 4 coaches had a career record of 529-129-18 (0.80%), and 10 National Championships. No NC yet for Dan, but 48-8 is (0.86%). He seems right on schedule.**

** Bob Stoops almost blows my little thing here about winning NC before 40 up, winning his first NC at Oklahoma at age 40 in 2000 and in his second season as head coach, but not quite 🙂

** Don't quote me on all this I'm not 100% and got kinda tired of looking it all up, but am sort of confident in it 🙂

Thank you, AnotherOD, for a deeper dive into Dan's record. Much appreciated.

Dan is 15-8 against AP Top 25 opponents. 5-4 vs Top 10, 1-3 vs Top 5.

Ryan Day is 27-11 against Top 25 opponents. 16-10 vs Top 10. 8-7 vs Top 5.

In seven seasons as the HC at Ohio State, Day has played more Top 25 opponents than Dan did in his two seasons in the Pac-12.

Dan's three Top-5 losses: Champion Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and twice in 2025 to champion Indiana. The one win was against Ohio State in Autzen.

James Franklin is 4-21 against Top 10 opponents. Matt Campbell is 4-7. Matt Rhule is 0-11. Kirk Ferentz is 31-60.

The reason Nick Saban is the GOAT: Seven National Championships.

HC at Toledo, Michigan State, LSU, and Alabama: 48-25 vs Top 10 (.667) and 30-16 vs the Top 5 (.652).

It's not easy, but to be the best, you have to beat the best. And today, no program can stack talent like Saint Nick did at Bama.

Thanks again!