Oregon Ducks Too Low In Recent Top-25 Rankings? Behind Ohio State, Penn State

The six teams ranked ahead of Oregon from No. 1 through No. 6 are the Ohio State Buckeyes, Alabama Crimson Tide, Penn State Nittany Lions, Georgia Bulldogs, Texas Longhorns, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

What Goes Into The SP+ Rankings?

Connelly goes more into depth about how he calculates these rankings with the different factors, starting with the returning production. 

“The returning production numbers are based on rosters I have updated as much as humanly possible to account for transfers and attrition,” Connelly said. “The combination of last year’s SP+ ratings and adjustments based on returning production makes up about two-thirds of the projections formula.”

Next, Connelly dissects the factor of recent recruiting. Oregon has consistently been towards the top of the recruiting rankings in the Dan Lanning era.  

“This piece informs us of the caliber of a team’s potential replacements in the lineup. It is determined by the past few years of recruiting rankings in diminishing order,” Connelly said. “This is also impacted by the recruiting rankings of incoming transfers, an acknowledgement that the art of roster management is now heavily dictated by the transfer portal.” 

The third factor is the recent history of the program. Since Lanning took over in 2022, Oregon has upped their win total from 10 to 12 and then 13 last season. 

“Using a sliver of information from the previous four seasons or so gives us a good measure of overall program health,” Connelly said. 

Can Oregon Replace Talent From 2024?

The Ducks will be losing a lot of talent from their 2024 team. Oregon had a program record 10 players get selected in the 2025 NFL Draft: defensive lineman Derrick Harmon, offensive lineman Josh Conerly Jr., tight end Terrance Ferguson, defensive end Jordan Burch, defensive tackle Jamaree Caldwell, quarterback Dillon Gabriel, offensive lineman Ajax Cornelius, running back Jordan James, linebacker Jeffrey Bassa, and wide receiver Tez Johnson. 

Luckily for coach Dan Lanning, the Ducks will be replenishing these losses with top notch talent in both the transfer portal and in recruiting. 

According to 247Sports Composite, the Ducks have the No. 5 ranked 2025 recruiting and the No. 5 ranked 2025 incoming transfer class. The top ranked recruit is five-star wide receiver Dakorien Moore. Even though he will just be a freshman, there is reason to believe that Moore can become an instant impact player. Look no further than Ohio State Buckeyes freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith from a season ago, who was an immediate star. 

In the transfer portal, Oregon landed the top available offensive lineman in Isaiah World.