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LOS ANGELES — Oregon coach Dan Lanning earned his 50th career victory with an 84-0 slaughter of Portland State, but nobody’s throwing a parade for beating up a winless FCS program. Saturday’s Big Ten opener against undefeated, No. 12 USC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum brings these 2026 Ducks their first true test.
The time for talk is over. The days of celebrating conference wins are finished. Lanning has consistently stated his standard: The measure of success for Oregon football is a national title.
Forget coach-speak about Win The Day or casual-fan delusions about “plenty of season left.” Lanning himself set the championship standard. He’s had time, five years now, building the program specifically to conquer the College Football Playoff, signing elite recruiting classes and a coaching staff built with surgical precision.
Forget “one game at a time.” Heading into the Big Ten opener against USC, one-loss Oregon will essentially decide the fate of its 2026 season on Saturday at the LA Coliseum. Will this be another year of “Oregon never won a natty,” or will this team transform from the hot mess at Stillwater to deliver the championship-defense bill of goods Ducks Nation bought hook-line-and-sinker when Lanning was hired back in December, 2021.
More on reality checks awaiting Oregon in LA on Saturday:
