Make no doubt about it, the Oregon Ducks are aiming high in 2026.
After back-to-back seasons ended with blowout losses to conference foes in the College Football Playoffs, Dan Lanning's team is hungry to get back to where they've been before and advance further toward their ultimate goal of hoisting a national championship trophy. The pressure and expectation are there for this unit — a roster with at least eight players who could be in NFL training camp right now, had they wished — to do what's never been done in Eugene before.
But you can't accomplish a January goal without August coming first.
"It's hard to worry about the national championship when I have to focus on Wednesday's practice," Oregon cornerback Brandon Finney admitted at Monday's
media day.
Wednesday's practice will kick off yet another fall camp for the Ducks, and another season full of expectations and hope. While the goal of winning it all remains the same, Lanning has implemented a telescope and microscope philosophy to approaching the season.
January is in the telescope. On Wednesday, this new Ducks roster goes under the microscope.
"For us it's about improvement, right?" Lanning said on Monday. "Where guys step in, are guys making the same mistakes twice? Do they understand the concepts that we're trying to institute? Do our coaches really get comfortable in the roles that they're wearing?"
After the past few years, the answers to those questions have largely been affirmative. The Ducks have won 38 games since December 1, 2023, and lost just three — all to teams that went on to win the national championship. Of course, Oregon aims to be one of those eventual champions, so going into a new season, that's the mentality they hold.
If they're going to do it, one of the most important factors is going to be health. That's something that Oregon struggled with near the end of last season, with major depletions both at the wide receiver and running back spots throughout November, December, and January.
So while improvement and hard work are expectations throughout the next few weeks in Eugene, the underlying goal is preservation.
"You'd love to leave fall camp healthy," Lanning said. "That's something you want to be able to accomplish and make sure you can go into the season, you know, with a full clip."
With the start of Wednesday's practice, the clock on Lanning's fifth year with the team started running. When it ends, whether on January 25 or before then, we'll see if this team needs to go back to the microscope, or if they're on the other end of things up near the stars.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: With championship aspirations, Dan Lanning's Ducks zero in on camp
