When Mario Cristobal decided to return home to his alma mater with the Miami Hurricanes, that left an opening for Georgia’s Dan Lanning to take the reins in Eugene. The Oregon Ducks football team was loaded with talent thanks to Cristobal’s massive recruiting efforts during his tenure. The question was, no one knew what to expect from the now 37-year-old Lanning. The former Bulldogs defensive coordinator was also surrounded by talent, having been at Georgia for the previous four seasons. Was this young coach really up for the job at a high-profile place like Oregon already? It certainly didn’t seem that way when facing his former school; Lanning and the Ducks were beaten to a pulp by the Bulldogs, 41-3 in last year’s first game of the season. However, the Ducks football team recovered, winning their next eight games, and going 10-3 on the season. Can they repeat or do better in 2023? Let’s delve into some bold predictions.

4. Bo Nix isn’t a Heisman front-runner

There’s a lot of talk around Bo Nix entering the 2023 college football season, with most of the chatter focusing on the fifth-year senior being a Heisman front-runner after he announced to come back for his final season. Granted, there’s good reason for it, as the 23-year-old is coming off a career-best season last year, where he threw for almost 3,600 yards, 29 touchdowns, and seven interceptions in 13 games. That hype is coupled with the fact he’ll have running back Bucky Irving and wide receiver Troy Franklin to work with. However, Nix will also have yet another new offensive coordinator this season.

It was only last season that Nix got to collaborate with a familiar offensive coordinator in Kenny Dillingham, who was with him in 2019 at Auburn. Dillingham left for Arizona State at the end of last season, leaving Lanning to bring in UTSA offensive coordinator Will Stein, who helped guide the Roadrunners to the No. 9 nationally ranked best total offense last season.

It isn’t that I don’t believe Nix and Stein can create something good in what will be Nix’s final season as a collegiate quarterback. It’s that Nix has never had the same coordinator in consecutive seasons. That, coupled with the fact that the Ducks are having to replace two tackles on their offensive line, raises doubts. There’s no reason Nix can’t be good, if not great. The issue is that there’s at least one, if not two, other quarterbacks in the Pac-12 who will be better than him and could be in New York for the Heisman ceremony.

3. Dan Lanning leads Oregon football to 10 wins again

I think there’s still reason to be hesitant about the Dan Lanning era-led Ducks football team, and that’s for a couple of reasons. One, it’s only his second season with the Ducks as head coach and his second overall as a head coach, period. At only 37, there’s still a lot of room for growth for the Ducks’ head man. Secondly, this Ducks squad is still full of Cristobal’s recruits. However, with that being said, Lanning brought in the ninth-ranked overall class for the 2023 cycle. So, it’s not that the Ducks aren’t recruiting well and that Lanning hasn’t proven himself in that manner. It’s that there’s still a wait-and-see approach with what this team will become under his leadership.

With the talent they have coming back and the talent being brought in, this will be, excluding the pandemic season, the Ducks’ fourth consecutive 10-win or better season since 2019. They have all the parts to do it. Lanning just has to ensure he can live up to the expectations as the coach everybody thinks he is now.

2. Oregon football will lose to Washington again

The Washington Huskies football team feels like they don’t get the credit they deserve coming out of last season. When most people consider the Pac-12—only for a little bit longer that is—they usually mention Oregon and USC, maybe even UCLA or Utah these days. But why not the Huskies? The Huskies are coming off their best season since 2016, going 11-2, and they went 4-0 against the top 25, per Josh Pate of Late Kick. Both of their losses came by one score on the road. One against UCLA by eight; the other by Arizona State by seven in back-to-back games.

Oh yeah, they beat Oregon last year in Autzen Stadium in a close one, 37-34, to give them their second loss of the season after the Ducks had rebounded a bit from the Georgia loss. This year’s Huskies are bringing back their own Heisman hopeful in Michael Penix Jr., who helped lead Washington to the second-best ranked total offense in the country last season. With some uncertainties still present on the defensive side of the ball for Oregon due to youth, this could be another shootout, but this time in Washington.

1. Oregon football will still make it to the Pac-12 Championship

The Pac-12 has been a conference during the playoff era that has struggled to get out of its own way simply because the teams cannibalize each other. Every time you think there’s a dominating front-runner to take the conference, here comes an Oregon State or UCLA or other to upset things for everybody. Oregon will be among a mix of the top four teams: USC, Utah, and Washington, as favored to win the Pac-12. Oregon is currently tied with Washington for the second-best odds of winning the Pac-12 Championship at +325, according to FanDuel. I feel like most of these four teams have only gotten better, especially USC and Oregon. But as I said, with the way this conference beats up on each other, I believe Oregon can and will at least get to the title game, even with a loss to Washington.