Greg McElroy: Oregon could be darkhorse national title contender

The Oregon Ducks are going into the 2025 season with high expectations. Still, for many, they’re just on the outside looking in at the preseason national championship race, making them an interesting darkhorse contender.

One person who is all in on Oregon as a darkhorse contender for the national title is Greg McElroy. On his show Always College Football, he defined a darkhorse team as starting the season ranked seventh or lower in the Preseason AP Poll. The Ducks currently sit seventh.

“I look at a team like Oregon,” Greg McElroy said. “Vegas has them seventh in the power ratings. AP has them seventh in the rankings. Here’s what I love about Oregon is that they can just weather the storm of the regular season. I don’t think the schedule is insurmountable. It’s tough. They go to Penn State and have a couple very difficult games, but the schedule, I think, was actually maybe a little tougher last year than it is this year.”

The major concern for McElroy about Oregon is their youth. This roster turned over a ton of talent from last year’s team. Now, they’re young and talented, but that can come with growing pains.

“If they can weather the storm, this is about as young of a roster as one can imagine. If this roster takes a collective step and gets better,” McElroy said. “Because what do we know about young players? They have a tendency to get a little bit better and a little bit better and a little bit better as the season goes along. Now, you might have some really high highs. You might have some really low lows. That’s what happens when you play young players, but if this team can somehow avoid the critical error that costs them a game that they should be able to win, they might be in great position going into the postseason, having jelled, having overextended in the regular season, and then their best football is actually right in front of them.”

Oregon is coming off a season where they went unbeaten in the regular season before winning the Big Ten Championship Game. That earned them the top seed and a first round bye in the College Football Playoff. However, they would drop that first game to eventual national champion Ohio State. Now, the Ducks want to correct that.

“So, you get Oregon into the postseason,” McElroy said. “That’s when they get very, very dangerous. So, if they make the 12-team Playoff, guess what? Whoever’s playing Oregon in the first round, second round, third round. From the first round to the third round, you’re probably gonna have a much better football team that you’re going to have to beat. So, I love the upside of this Oregon team. I think they can win a national championship and, yet, they’re ranked outside the top six of the AP Poll.”

Oregon is set to open the season on August 30th against Montana State. On September 13th, they’re set to open Big Ten play against Northwestern on the road.