Dan Lanning put under championship radar by CFB analyst

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Head coach Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks had a tremendous 2024 season. After two strong seasons under Lanning in 2022 and 2023, the Ducks finally broke through in 2024, winning the Big Ten Championship. For most of the season, the Ducks were viewed as one of the national championship favorites, winning 13 games in a row.

However, the Ducks eventually lost to Ohio State in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff. Despite the loss, the Ducks and Lanning look poised to contend for the national championship again in 2025.

On Wednesday, CFB analyst Adam Breneman posted a video on YouTube on his channel. In the video, Breneman was asked who the next head coach will be to win their first national championship. He brought up two names, Penn State's James Franklin and Oregon's Dan Lanning:

"My mind goes to two guys. I go to Dan Lanning and then I go to James Franklin at Penn State. You can call me a homer for that pick three years ago. I think now they are so close.

"In 2025 with Drew Allar coming back, the fact that they retained both of their running backs. The fact that they're making some moves in the portal, I think they still need to make more. Penn State's just been so close the past couple years."

While Breneman likes Franklin, he admitted that he has more faith in Dan Lanning and the Ducks winning a title next season:

"I think Dan Lanning's got an argument to be a top-two coach in the game right now, top three. He's as good as they come. The way that they're building that program, the way they're recruiting, Oregon football's different. They have some swagger under Dan Lanning. I think Oregon gets the job done."

Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks have a manageable schedule in 2025

Another thing that gives Oregon an edge in the 2025 season is its schedule. Although the Ducks do not have the easiest schedule in the world, it is certainly manageable. They have the 19th most challenging schedule in 2025, according to College Football News. This gives them an easier schedule than Big Ten rivals like USC, UCLA and Wisconsin.

The most challenging matchup for Oregon next season is likely to be against Penn State on Sept. 27. The Ducks do not have a matchup scheduled against Ohio State.

About the author

Alexander O'Reilly is a journalist at Sportskeeda from Kingston, Ontario with over seven years in the field at companies including SenShot, RVBlogger, Monarch Media, WordAgents, GSeC LLC, and IGC.

His favorite college team is Duke, and his favorite sporting memory was Duke winning March Madness in 2010. JJ Redick was Alex's favorite college player when he was young but more recently, Caleb Williams gets the nod. As the Chicago Bears are Alex's favorite NFL team, this was a perfect match.

Alex's proudest moment came when he was interviewed by a radio station in Ottawa on his opinion on recent moves by the Ottawa Senators, which gave him a confidence boost and the knowledge that he could succeed as a writer.

Aside from sports, Alex likes to spend his time playing games. He is also very passionate about running and strives to improve at the half and full marathon distances.

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Edited by Rajdeep Barman