3. Oregon Ducks
Let me be up-front here: I think Oregon is worthy of being a top 25 team. However, I don’t see the Ducks as the No. 11 team in the country, especially how last season panned out and the fact that they’re fielding a new head coach in Dan Lanning.
Oregon has plenty of talent and the loss of Mario Cristobal may not be a bad thing in the long run, but the changes that the program has experienced essentially everywhere (coaching staff, quarterback, running back) will affect the Ducks in year one. I think Lanning will have Oregon in the top 25 by the end of the season with an 8-9 win campaign, but I don’t see this team being fringe top 10.
I was actually incredibly shocked to see the Ducks get as much hype in the preseason AP Poll as they did, but apparently people think Bo Nix is going to have a massive turnaround — I don’t believe that either.
Stock should be bought in the Ducks’ defense and they will probably be the third-best team in the conference behind USC and Utah but I see them missing out on the Pac-12 title game.