The Oregon Ducks will enter the 2025 season with high expectations. Although they’ve endured numerous departures for the NFL Draft, the Ducks did what they’ve done so well in recent years: reload and replenish.
We’ll take a look at what the 2025 season might hold for the Ducks.
Oregon Ducks 2025 Season Prediction
Despite how it ended, Oregon had a tremendous 2024 season. They were ranked No. 1 nationally for the final six weeks of the regular season on their way to claiming a Big Ten title in their first year in the conference. They were awarded the No. 1 seed and a bye in the College Football Playoff, resulting in an immediate advancement to the quarterfinals.
That’s where their season ended. A 41-21 defeat at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes — who the Ducks had beat earlier in the season — put a close to a once-promising season with national championship aspirations.
Now, all eyes are on how Oregon can go further in the CFP and claim the program’s first national championship.
The Ducks will have a strong core on both sides of the ball in 2025.
Former five-star Dante Moore will quarterback the offense. He drew rave reviews from his teammates during the season as the understudy to quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
Next to him in the backfield will be new arrival Makhi Hughes, who was the starting running back for the Tulane Green Waves. In two seasons, he produced 2,779 rushing yards and 24 total touchdowns.
Junior wide receiver Evan Stewart shunned the NFL Draft and chose to return to Eugene for his senior season. He’s expected to be the top target for Moore on the outside.
Defensively, linebacker Bryce Boettcher is coming back as well. He led the team in tackles in 2024 with 94 total takedowns. Five-star outside linebacker Elijah Rushing redshirted last season but will be expected to have a huge impact rushing the passer in 2025.
The back end of the defense will be a question mark, as nearly the entire starting secondary won’t return.
KEEP READING: Oregon Ducks QB Dante Moore Listed as Breakout Candidate
As far as 2025 goes, Oregon should begin the season 4-0. The Montana State Bobcats, whom the Ducks face in the season opener, may be their strongest competition in the first month of the season. The Bobcats are fresh off an FCS national title game appearance.
Week 5 will hands-down be the toughest game on the schedule. Oregon will travel cross-country to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions, a rematch of the 2024 Big Ten championship game.
The Nittany Lions return their trio of quarterback Drew Allar and running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, with each decided to return for their senior seasons to chase a national championship.
Moore’s resiliency will be tested against Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles’ vaunted defense.
The 2024 edition of the Ducks went undefeated in regular-season play, but I don’t expect that to continue. Facing Penn State is hard enough, and facing them on the road in Happy Valley may be too much to ask for Oregon. They’ll suffer their first, and potentially only, loss of the regular season in Week 5.
The highly-anticipated matchup will be followed by a bye week and then a meeting at home with the Indiana Hoosiers, who claimed the No. 10 seed in the 2024 CFP. Hoosiers head coach Curt Cignetti is a proven winner — just Google him! — but the Ducks should be too much to handle for his squad.
From then on, the season should be a breeze.
Schedule-wise, none of the Ducks’ final six opponents recorded more than eight wins last season. Surely, it won’t be as easy as it looks. Teams come out of nowhere each season and become formidable contenders in the conference, much like the 2024 Hoosiers.
But one thing is for sure: Oregon dodged a bullet by missing both Ohio State and the Michigan Wolverines on their 2025 schedule.
Due to that, an 11-1 and potentially 12-0 regular season is extremely viable. If they suffer a loss to Penn State, it will be up to tiebreakers to determine whether or not the Ducks make the Big Ten Championship.
For now, we’ll predict that they won’t. The lone loss will leave them in a tie for second place, but due to Oregon’s weak conference schedule, they’ll miss out on the big game.
However, they’ll earn a spot in the CFP, likely in the No. 6-9 range. My expectation is that the Ducks will reach the second round — and face the same fate as they did in 2024.
Moore is a largely inexperienced quarterback. Both starters in the title game earlier this year were seniors. In the era of the 12-team Playoff, the veterans rise to the top across potentially four playoff games.
While they’ll be dynamic offensively and defensively in the regular season and advance to the quarterfinals of the CFP, Oregon will ultimately fall short two rounds of their goal of winning a national title in 2025.
2025 Oregon Football Schedule
- Week 1 vs. Montana State Bobcats
- Aug. 31, Kickoff Time TBD
- Week 2 vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys
- Sept. 6, Kickoff Time TBD
- Week 3 @ Northwestern Wildcats
- Sept. 13, Kickoff Time TBD
- Week 4 vs. Oregon State Beavers
- Sept. 20, Kickoff Time TBD
- Week 5 @ Penn State Nittany Lions
- Sept. 27, Kickoff Time TBD
- Week 6 – Bye Week
- Week 7 vs. Indiana Hoosiers
- Oct. 11, Kickoff Time TBD
- Week 8 @ Rutgers Scarlett Knights
- Oct. 18, Kickoff Time TBD
- Week 9 vs. Wisconsin Badgers
- Oct. 25, Kickoff Time TBD
- Week 10 – Bye Week
- Week 11 @ Iowa Hawkeyes
- Nov. 8, Kickoff Time TBD
- Week 12 vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers
- Nov. 15, Kickoff Time TBD
- Week 13 vs. USC Trojans
- Nov. 22, Kickoff Time TBD
- Week 14 @ Washington Huskies
- Nov. 29, Kickoff Time TBD
Expert Picks for Oregon’s 2025 Season
- No. 3 in College Sports Networks’ James Fragoza’s Way-Too-Early Top 25
- “If Dante Moore lives up to the hype placed on his shoulders, the Oregon Ducks could finish the regular season as the No. 1 team once again,” Fragoza claimed.
- No. 6 in ESPN’s Top 25 ahead of the 2025 season
- Season-defining game listed as matchup with the Penn State Nittany Lions
- No. 5 in Fox Sport’s Joel Klatt’s Way-Too-Early Top 10
- No. 5 best-rated roster in college football, according to Athlon Sports
READ MORE: Dan Lanning Makes Oregon History, Takes Home Prestigious Award
- Cody Nagel of 247 Sports listed “Recruiting Success Under Dan Lanning” as a thing he loves about the Oregon Ducks heading into the 2025 season
- “The blue-chip ratio at Oregon continues to climb, with the Ducks securing the top recruiting class in 2025, pound-for-pound,” wrote Nagel.
- FanDuel has Oregon’s win total set at 10.5 for the 2025 regular-season
- Pete Fiutak of College Football News lists the best-case scenario for the Ducks as finishing 12-0; as for the worst-case scenario: “There’s a slip at home against either Indiana or Wisconsin before a bad day at Iowa – or at home against Minnesota or USC – to get knocked out of the Big Ten and CFP chances before the regular season finale at Washington.”
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