College Football Rankings: Way-too-early Top 25 projections for 2024

4. Oregon (12-2)

There may not be a bigger Dan Lanning believer than me right now. The third-year head coach has done a fantastic job of taking over for Mario Cristobal and making Duck fans forget that he even left the program high-and-dry for Miami.

Long story short, Oregon won that pre-2022 coaching carousel.

Lanning is coming off another impressive season with the Ducks, going 12-2 with a 45-6 Fiesta Bowl win over Liberty. Oregon showed no mercy to pretty much everyone on the schedule and its only losses were to rival Washington which had to drive Duck fans crazy but, hey, they should own the Huskies now with Kalen DeBoer gone.

Speaking of gone, Bo Nix has finally exhausted his eligibility after an incredible career turnaround in Eugene and he'll be replaced by the combination of Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore. You really can't go wrong with a quarterback room with two highly-coveted passers, including a former five-star who is entering just his second year.

On top of that, the Ducks return plenty of key players, bring in the No. 5 recruiting class, and they have the No. 5 transfer class in the country as well.

A 12-win team may have just gotten better.