Can the Oregon Ducks Make a Return to the College Football Playoff in 2022?

The Associated Press believes first-year head coach Dan Lanning has what it takes to get the Oregon Ducks back to the College Football Playoff.

The 2022 college football season is upon us, with the Week 0 slate starting on Saturday and headlined by an international matchup between Northwestern and Nebraska in Ireland. 

While Oregon won't start their season until next week against Georgia, there are more early predictions that continue to be released. On Thursday, AP writer Ralph Russo released some predictions of his own, including the four teams he believes will make the college football playoff.

AP College Football Writer @ralphDrussoAP makes a number of predictions for the upcoming season, including conference champions, the coaching carousel, New Year’s Six bowls, the Playoff and the National Championship.

See his picks: https://t.co/CmJ99JOEFZ pic.twitter.com/lXDiR5rvAO

— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) August 25, 2022

Russo believes that head coach Dan Lanning has what it takes to bring the Ducks back to the playoff for the first time since the format debuted during the 2014-2015 season. Lanning began his Oregon campaign after being hired in December and has done a tremendous job thus far, reviving the Ducks' 2022 recruiting class, having an explosive spring game and running a high-energy fall camp.  

READ MORE: Back at Full Health, Oregon Linebacker Justin Flowe Is Ready to Attack the 2022 Season

Before we get more into Russo's predictions, let's wind back the clock and take a look at how recent Oregon head coaches have faired in their first year on the job.

2009 Chip Kelly

Chip Kelly celebrates a Fiesta Bowl victory with defensive lineman DeForest Buckner (44) to close out the 2012 season / © Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports

The Ducks finished 10-3, which was first in conference play, but finished with a loss in the Rose Bowl against Ohio State in Kelly's first year as a head coach.

2013 Mark Helfrich

Mark Helfrich was named the Oregon head coach following Chip Kelly's departure after serving as his offensive coordinator.  / © Statesman Journal file

Took the Ducks to the Alamo Bowl defeating the Texas Longhorns, finished with a 11-2 record and ranked ninth in the country.

2017 Willie Taggart

Willie Taggart was named head coach of the Oregon Ducks after he spent time as the head coach at the University of South Florida / © Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

Taggart finished the season 7-6 with a Vegas bowl appearance.

2018 Mario Cristobal

During his tenure Cristobal showed that Oregon could win games against blue blood programs but the wheels fell off against Utah in 2021 / © Jeffrey Swinger-USA TODAY Sports

Cristobal Finished the 2018 season with a 9-4 record and had a Red Box bowl win over Michigan State.

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Russo believes the Ducks finish the season as the fourth-best team in the country behind Clemson (#3), Ohio State (#2) and Alabama (#1). This would hypothetically create a Peach Bowl matchup of Oregon vs. Alabama.

Following his predictions, Russo projects that Oregon loses to the Crimson Tide and Alabama will then play Ohio State for the national championship, a game he sees the Buckeyes winning.

Another noted prediction was that Oregon and USC would be playing in the Pac-12 championship, where the battle of the new head coaches will take place. With all the hype and excitement surrounding both coaches it would make for a very entertaining ball game.

First-year coaches making it to the postseason is not surprising for some. Gus Malzahn took his Auburn Tigers to the BCS championship in 2014, Larry Coker in 2001 took Miami to an undefeated season along with winning the national title and Ryan Day took the Ohio State Buckeyes to the playoffs in 2019.

Coming off winning a national championship last season with one of the most impressive defenses college football has seen, to now being a first-time head coach at a historic school like Oregon does build a lot of hype and expectation around it. 

The Ducks start the season in eight days at Mercedes-Benz stadium against Lanning’s former team. From there they will play two non-conference games against Eastern Washington and BYU, with both matchups coming at home. The Ducks will need to make it through the conference schedule practically unscathed if they want a shot at making it back to the playoff.

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