Twenty-five years ago, Oregon bought a massive billboard outside of Madison Square Garden in New York City. Quarterback Joey Harrington towered over the city, introducing the world's greatest metropolis to an upstart college football brand and the Ducks' Heisman Trophy candidate. Since that moment, Oregon's growth has been nothing short of meteoric.
Prior to Mike Bellotti's tenure, the Ducks had only one postseason AP Top 25 finish. Harrington led the program to back-to-back top-10 finishes. Chip Kelly dragged them to the top five.
Both Kelly and Mark Helfrich led teams to national title games. With a dash of megabooster money from Nike's Phil Knight, Oregon has established itself as one of the preeminent brands in college athletics. The climb has been building to this -- the most complete roster in Oregon history.
And now, it's time for them to get over the top and capture an elusive national championship. The Ducks have been painfully close under coach Dan Lanning to reaching a championship. Oregon is an unbelievable 38-5 over the past three seasons, which narrowly edges out Ohio State for the most wins in college football in that period.
But Oregon has fallen short in the postseason, especially when facing the eventual national champions. Last season, the Ducks lost 56-22 against Indiana in a game that was 35-7 at halftime. The year prior was even worse, with a 34-0 halftime deficit against Ohio State leading to a 41-21 loss.
Even the year prior, Oregon missed the playoff after going down 20-3 in the Pac-12 title game against Washington. For a moment, look at the past three years of Big Ten national titles: 2025 Indiana, 2024 Ohio State and 2023 Michigan. Of course, there's been plenty of elite recruiting talent coming through the program.
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