Dan Lanning tells the Big Ten what they need to know about the Oregon Ducks

The college football season is approaching, and the Oregon Ducks’ first game of the 2024 season against Idaho is a little over a month away. With the anticipation building, the Big Ten is hosting media days for all 18 member schools, and on Thursday, it’s the Ducks’ turn.

Dan Lanning began the day for Oregon, providing updates on the Ducks’ summer progress and reminding everyone of Oregon’s ‘one-game-at-a-time’ mindset going into the season.

One of the biggest storylines surrounding Oregon for the last 12 months has been the Ducks’ impending move to the Big Ten, and now the shift is upon us. During his conference, Lanning broke things down for the other 17 teams in the Big Ten, letting them know what Oregon football is about.

“We’re mighty different in a lot of ways,” Lanning said. “We’re mighty different when it comes to the jerseys that we might wear or the facilities that we get to play in. We’re innovative. We’ve always been on the cutting edge of everything we do. ”

This summer has been an era of innovation for the Ducks, especially in the uniform department. In the spring, Oregon started to tease its new “Generation O” uniform set, and throughout the summer, more information and imagery about the Ducks’ new uniforms have been made public. Recently, two of the Ducks’ new uniform sets have been released: all-green jerseys referencing the ‘Gang Green’ era in the 1990s and a new set of all-black attire .

But jersey design isn’t where Oregon’s habit of innovation ends. The structure of college football has shifted so much in the last five years, and everyone is having to figure out how to function in the sport’s new landscape. But with — seemingly — unlimited NIL resources and a young coach in Lanning who is lighting the way forward, Oregon is setting the standard in the new form of college football.

The way forward doesn’t focus solely on the transfer portal, but it doesn’t shy away from transfers either. Lanning isn’t buying players, without regard for chemistry and character, he’s constructing a cohesive and immensely talented team, and he’s using NIL compensation to do it.  Five years down the road, this sport still may be engulfed in chaos like it is now, or the dust may have settled a bit. But wherever it is, count on Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks to be trying something new.

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