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EUGENE — Stopping power will be the story of Oregon’s 2026 football season. Calling it now: What decides Oregon’s 2026 national championship fate will come down to whether the Ducks can replace and improve last year’s tackling production.
Forget last winter’s brief QB1 debate.
Oregon’s loaded with four QB1s, and likely first-rounder Dante Moore is one of them. Add the Dylan Raiola transfer from Nebraska for QB continuity. The RB and WR rooms are absolutely stacked, and heavy on young talent. Oregon’s O-Line is reloading.
The bigger question is whether the defense can give this team enough margin against elite opponents. Nowhere on the team did April’s NFL Draft take a bigger bite of Oregon’s 2025 production than the second level of Oregon’s defense.
Coming into Year 5 of the Dan Lanning era, Oregon’s biggest concern can’t afford to be how to make the offense go. This season hinges on Oregon’s defense recovering from Draft attrition and still improving its ability to make stops.
More blunt: The Ducks have to tackle. Without last year’s top two defensive players, they’ll have to find playmakers to deliver stops in the red zone and on third down.
Here’s how Oregon can level-up its stopping power.
