College football experts pick Oregon Ducks as 2026 national champions

The Oregon Ducks have accomplished just about everything possible for a college football team in the last few seasons. They’ve had an undefeated regular season, notched back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances and won a ton of bowl games.

The Ducks have been transformed into a perennial contender, and the only thing still on their agenda is the elusive national championship victory. They’ve gotten closer to reaching that goal in each of Dan Lanning’s first four seasons as head coach, so it feels like just a matter of time.

The college football staff of The Athletic were polled on a wide range of predictions about next season, and the most eye-popping result was next season’s national championship game winner, with Oregon receiving the most votes. Nine people out of 28 votes for them, which may not seem too convincing, but the next closest team was the Notre Dame Fighting Irish with five votes.

The Ducks had their season ended by the Indiana Hoosiers, who went on to win the national championship. However, star quarterback Fernando Mendoza declared for the NFL Draft after the historic victory, so that could be enough to put Oregon in the driver’s seat.

Their own quarterback, Dante Moore, will be back in Eugene next year with another season of experience and a full arsenal of weapons around him to make another run at glory. It feels like this team will always be in contention under Lanning, but this year will be one of the best chances they ever have to finally bring home the national title.

Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.