Dan Lanning looks back on Oregon's first year in the Big Ten

The 2024 season was the first for Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks in the Big Ten. They’d end up being a key piece of that season for the conference, which had one of its best seasons as a whole.

Now, looking to build on that success in 2025, Lanning appeared on Always College Football. There, he looked back on what made the Ducks, and the conference as a whole, successful last year, emphasizing that they played winning and physical football.

“I think it’s a great conference,” Lanning said. “I’ve always talked about what winning football looks like. In my time, regardless of where you’re at, winning football has to show up. This conference has a lot of winning football in it. Yeah, you want to be athletic, you want to play the game with a certain level of speed, but it takes a physicality. I think that’s a piece that our team established here. You’ve got to go bang heads at times to be able to play at the highest level.”

The 2024 season was the first for the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. The Big Ten would make a statement in it, too, getting four teams or a third of the field into the CFP. Ohio State would even go on to win the national championship.

Oregon was, of course, one of the four teams that made it to the Playoff. That came on the back of an unbeaten regular season and a conference championship. Certainly, the Ducks’ loss in the Rose Bowl came as a disappointment, but given that it was against Ohio State, the loss wasn’t a major blow to the conference as a whole.

Greg McElroy loves Oregon for the 2025 national championship

The Oregon Ducks are going into the 2025 season, once again, among the favorites to win it all. Certainly, Greg McElroy loves their odds.

“Love it. I think that last year’s team learned a lot. It was somewhat circumstantial. They beat the inevitable national champions in the regular season, they run into a bit of a buzz-saw off the bye week,” McElroy said. “And it just didn’t work out there in the Rose Bowl. They get off to a slow start. They never climbed their way out of that hill. But if you look at what’s needed now to win a national championship — you have to have, I think, an elite coaching staff. I believe they have that.”

There are some questions that Dan Lanning needs to answer. Importantly, the Ducks need to find their next quarterback. However, as McElroy would go on to explain, he remains confident in them.

“They check every possible box that you could possibly ask for when potentially considering possibilities for national championship run,” McElroy said. “I think playing to the Big Ten is going to prepare them. I think their schedule is, for the most part, relatively favorable. It’s not easy, but it’s favorable. They avoid Ohio State, they avoid Michigan. They do have to go to Penn State, which will be a great test for them. But I love the Ducks heading into this year. But then again, every year with what Dan Lanning’s created, I think I’m always going to love the Ducks.”