Why It Will Be Tough For Oregon Ducks To Repeat A Ten-Win Season In The Pac-12 Conference

EUGENE, OR – SEPTEMBER 10: Bo Nix #10 of the Oregon Ducks passes the ball during the first half of the game against the Eastern Washington Eagles at Autzen Stadium on September 10, 2022 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Tom Hauck/Getty Images)

By 750 The Game Staff

The preseason media poll for the Pac-12 Conference will be revealed at conference media days on Fri. July 21st. John Canzano will broadcast live from Resorts World Las Vegas to bring the best, exclusive interviews with the biggest names in the conference.

Oregon will get a handful of first-place votes to win the conference, although USC figures to be the favorite and Washington will also be high on voters’ radar.

Dan Lanning guided the Ducks to a 10-3 overall mark in his first season in Eugene, replacing Mario Cristobal who left for the Miami job at the end of the 2021 season.

Lanning’s Ducks suffered a 49-3 thumping to eventual back-to-back national champion Georgia to open the season, but then won eight consecutive games. They were ranked as high as No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings.

But a pair of late-season losses to rivals Washington and Oregon State ripped away Oregon’s hopes of getting back to the conference championship game.

ESPN senior college football writer Adam Rittenberg joined John Canzano on 750 The Game and said he is looking forward to watching Lanning’s second season in Eugene.

“Really excited to see the follow-up at Oregon,” Rittenberg said. “They probably were the most talented team in the conference last year, and couldn’t get it done at some big moments to advance to the Pac-12 Championship game and try to win another Pac-12 title.”

Fifth-year quarterback Bo Nix returns for Oregon but will have a new play caller in Will Stein, hired from UTSA as offensive coordinator to replace now-Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham.

The Ducks have a tough road non-conference tilt week two at Texas Tech, and their trip through nine conference games begins Sept. 24th vs Coach Prime and Colorado.

A bye week precedes the rivalry game with Washington Oct. 14th in Seattle. Oct. 28th brings a road trip to reigning conference champions Utah, and the reigning Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams invades Autzen Stadium Nov. 12th as USC makes its final Eugene visit as a Pac-12 Conference member.

The rivalry game with Oregon State comes in the regular season finale, Black Friday, Nov. 24th at Autzen Stadium.

Rittenberg says the conference is as deep as it’s been in a long time, making another ten-win season a difficult but not impossible challenge for these Ducks.

“USC should be really good, Washington should be really good, Utah’s obviously won the league over the last couple of years,” Rittenberg said. “So getting to ten wins is going to be a little harder this year than it was last year because of the depth of the conference.”

Check out Rittenberg’s full segment with Canzano below where he also discusses Northwestern’s controversy and firing of Pat Fitzgerald, the NCAA fines on Tennessee, and what he expects from Oregon State this fall.

John Canzano delivers the Bald Faced Truth afternoons 3-6 p.m. exclusively in Portland on 750 The Game.