Oregon Lands on Unsurprising College Football List During Offseason

Oregon Lands on Unsurprising College Football List During Offseason originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The college football season is nearing. Hot take season is coming to a close. Media days are underway.

For the Oregon Ducks, the goal is to build on an incredible season, despite losing their starting quarterback. Dillon Gabriel is now representing the Cleveland Browns at the NFL level, and Oregon will turn to redshirt sophomore Dante Moore as the new starting quarterback.

Dan Lanning's squad went 12-0 in the regular season last year before winning the Big Ten championship. Unfortunately, they ran into the national champion Ohio State Buckeyes in the College Football Playoff.

In the second year of the 12-team playoff format, the Ducks are ready to make some noise. There are plenty of questions, though.

As it pertains to the offseason and roster-building metrics, Oregon still coughs up some of the most money in the nation, which isn't surprising. The only thing that matters is that the on-field production matches the dollars spent.

Oregon makes unsurprising college football list during offseason

On3's Pete Nakos ran a survey to figure out which programs were the biggest spenders this season, with Oregon ranking No. 4 behind Texas, Texas Tech and Ohio State. There's a new wrinkle this time around. Revenue sharing is now tied in with NIL in terms of how much a program is spending on its roster.

"Similar to some of the other stalwarts of the NIL Era, Oregon has not had any problems spending top dollar on players. That has been backed by Nike co-founder Phil Knight, who started the Ducks’ NIL collective and has committed to seeing his alma mater win a national title. Oregon restructured its offensive line with Nevada’s Isaiah World and USC’s Emmanuel Pregnon, both highly valued players," Nakos writes.

Lanning has done a brilliant job in Eugene, and having more money than others to spend on building a roster certainly helps.

When shifting from an NFL-caliber signal-caller to an unproven underclassman, being able to reload the offensive line to ensure strong blocking for Moore is a superb luxury.

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 16, 2025, where it first appeared.