UCLA is set to enter its third season in the Big Ten, following a sophomore campaign in which the program captured three NCAA championships – the most of any Big Ten school. The conference as a whole earned 10 different national titles in the most recent cycle. Daily Bruin Sports has broken down the top programs of UCLA’s Big Ten rivals.

Football
2025 record: 13-2, 8-1 Big Ten, College Football Playoff semifinal loss
Coach: Dan Lanning
Player to watch: Koi Perich

Ducks enjoying the Eugene ponds of autumn are a peaceful sight for Oregonians, but problems seem to arise come winter when the ponds freeze.

Coach Dan Lanning has done nothing but continue in the footsteps of Chip Kelly and Mario Cristobal as a worthy leader of the Ducks flock since his appointment in 2021. Under his tenure, the team went 48-8 over four years with four top-15 finishes, two bowl game appearances, a College Football Playoff quarterfinals win and a Big Ten championship.

For other conference rivals, those numbers would be worthy of boasting across the entire college landscape. But for Oregon, the golden goose – finally winning its first national championship – has continued to elude the team in the most frustrating ways.

In 2023, two losses to Washington kept Oregon out of the playoffs. In 2024, Eugeners might not even have sat down to enjoy the game before eventual champion Ohio State threw them into the thorns at the Rose Bowl. And last year, the Ducks were once again dominated by eventual champion Indiana.

But in 2026, Lanning has arguably his most dangerous Duck squad so far.

For the first time in three years, Oregon – named the No. 2 team in the nation by the AP preseason poll – will get its signal caller back for another year, with Dante Moore returning after posting a 71.8% completion rate, 3,565 passing yards and 30 passing touchdowns in 2025.

While the Ducks lost one of Moore’s most consistent targets in Kenyon Sadiq, tight end Jamari Johnson looks to step into a bigger role after recording three touchdowns and 510 receiving yards last year.

Joining Johnson on the wings are returning wide receivers Dakorien Moore and Jeremiah McClellan, for whom newly promoted offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer has high expectations. Joining the two is UAB transfer Iverson Hooks, who caught seven touchdowns and nearly 1,000 yards last year.

While the Ducks can fly through their air attack, their ability to run the ball may be just as threatening.

The “thunder and lightning” duo of running backs Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill Jr. combined for 1,323 rushing yards as freshman backups last year, and they will return to an offense looking to excel beyond its No. 16 ranking in total offense and No. 11 ranking in scoring metrics from last year.

Although the offensive line lost three starters to the NFL, third team All-American center Iapani “Poncho” Laloulu and right guard Dave Iuli anchor a formidable unit able to both protect Moore in the pocket and stand tough against the physicality of Big Ten run defenses.

While former defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi headed south for the winter to become the head coach of former Pac-12 foe California, newly appointed defensive coordinator Chris Hampton takes over a defense that finished 12th in total defense and fourth against the pass in 2025.

The entire starting defensive front returns to Eugene after each of its draft-eligible stars opted to put the NFL on hold for another season, giving Hampton a defensive line that could be the best four-man front in the country.

Defensive tackles Bear Alexander and A’Mauri Washington provide ample size and physicality up the middle, while Matayo Uiagalelei and Teitum Tuioti bring pressure off the edges. Uiagalelei gives Oregon a proven game-wrecker after establishing himself as one of the country’s premier edge defenders.

Unlike some of Lanning’s previous defensive lines, the Ducks shouldn’t have to rely solely on their starters. Aydin Breland, Matthew Johnson and Nasir Wyatt give Hampton a talented second wave that should allow Oregon to rotate bodies without sacrificing much production.

The secondary underwent more turnover, but Lanning addressed those losses with a mixture of returning young talent and experienced portal additions.

Brandon Finney Jr. is poised to be one of the best young corners in the country, while former five-star Na’eem Offord could have a breakout season opposite him.

The biggest addition, however, comes from a familiar Big Ten opponent in safety Koi Perich. The Minnesota transfer arrives in Eugene as the presumed replacement for first-round NFL draft pick Dillon Thieneman and gives the Ducks a versatile playmaker on the back end who can impact the game both defensively and as a returner.

Baylor transfer Carl Williams IV adds another experienced piece at nickel, leaving Hampton with few glaring weaknesses for Big Ten passers to exploit.

With veteran stars returning at nearly every level and another loaded group of young talent waiting behind them, Oregon may have its most complete roster of the Lanning era. The question now is not whether these Ducks can fly with college football’s elite but whether they can finally avoid another winter freeze and bring Eugene its long-awaited first national championship.

Men’s basketball
2025-26 record: 12-20, 5-15 Big Ten, Big Ten tournament first-round loss
Coach: Dana Altman
Player to watch: Tajh Ariza

The house that Phil Knight built has been dressed by one of college basketball’s winningest coaches. Yet for a program that had made nine NCAA tournament appearances under the 16-year reign of coach Dana Altman, last season’s winter in Eugene felt particularly cold.

Under Altman, Oregon’s all-time coaching wins leader, the injury-plagued Ducks stumbled to a 12-20 record and just five conference victories in the 2025-26 season – their first losing record since 2008-09. Oregon averaged only 70.8 points per game while shooting 42.6% from the field and 32.1% from three before its season quietly ended with a 70-60 loss to Maryland in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament.

With the support and finances of the Oregon program – especially in an NIL-dominated men’s basketball era – Altman had the choice to invest in his squad and patch the holes in its foundation. Instead, he opted for a complete renovation. Only four players returned from last year’s roster, with the Ducks bringing in eight transfers and two true freshmen as part of one of the most dramatic roster reconstructions of Altman’s tenure.

At the center of that rebuild is Kentucky transfer Jasper Johnson. The former five-star recruit gives Oregon a dynamic combo guard to make up for the departure of guard Jackson Shelstad, who transferred to Louisville following a career-high 15.6 points per game.

USC transfer Jerry Easter II joins Johnson as another talented sophomore guard, while Tyrone Riley IV arrives from San Francisco and Fred Payne comes over from Boston College, averaging 12.2 and 15.8 points per game, respectively, last season.

Together, the four give Altman a completely new collection of ball handlers and scorers to experiment with – something that should allow the Ducks to play with considerably more pace and versatility than they did a season ago.

And while Johnson may be the name to watch immediately, five-star freshman Tajh Ariza may possess the highest ceiling on the entire roster.

The Los Angeles local arrives from Link Academy as one of the nation’s premier incoming wings, giving Oregon another long and athletic scoring option alongside former Arizona forward Dwayne Aristode.

Aristode showed flashes of his shooting ability as a freshman at Arizona, connecting on 46.2% of his 3-point attempts and tying the program’s freshman record with six triples in a game.

Three-star freshman Seven Spurlock out of Dallas gives Altman yet another young wing to develop as the Ducks try to find the right combination among an almost entirely new rotation.

Yet in a conference known for its formidable big men, the Ducks lack experience within their forward room. With little depth last year outside of now-NBA rookie Nate Bittle, Altman has placed himself in a position to get creative with his rotations.

Alabama transfer Taylor Bol Bowen brings length to the forward position, while San Diego State transfer Pharaoh Compton and Boise State transfer Andrew Meadow provide two more experienced options.

But the stabilizing presence could be senior Sean Stewart, one of the few Ducks who actually knows what it feels like to play in Eugene. The former Duke and Ohio State forward started Oregon’s final 17 games last season and averaged a career-high 6.5 points alongside 5.2 rebounds and a shooting percentage of 50.9 from the floor.

Whether a plethora of new faces in the Matthew Knight Arena will actually fit together is the question that will define Oregon’s season. Altman has built much of his success by molding transfers and unique pieces into cohesive teams that play to their ceiling, but rarely has he been asked to do so with this much turnover at once.

Women’s basketball
2025 record: 23-13, 8-10 Big Ten, NCAA tournament second-round loss
Coach: Kelly Graves
Player to watch: Katie Fiso

A decade removed from the Sabrina Ionescu-led Ducks that turned Eugene into one of the centers of the women’s college basketball world, Kelly Graves continues to search for the group capable of returning Oregon to the skies of success.

Last season offered another step in that direction. Oregon finished 23-13 and reached the NCAA tournament for a second consecutive season, beating Virginia Tech in the opening round before running directly into the buzzsaw of Final Four participant Texas in a 100-58 second-round defeat.

Unlike a year ago, when Graves was still piecing together one of the youngest rosters in the conference, Oregon enters its 2026-27 campaign with the confidence of a team that reached 20 wins for the ninth time under their experienced head coach.

Point guard Katie Fiso earned second team All-Big Ten honors after leading the Ducks with 15.5 points and 6.2 assists, shooting an efficient 49% clip from the floor – an increase of 11.1 points from her prior season. Her 222 assists were the fourth-most in a single season in program history, and her seven points-assists double-doubles were the most by a Duck since Ionescu in 2019-20.

If Fiso is the engine that makes the Ducks motor on to success, then Ehis Etute is aiming to provide the power on the frontcourt. The Luxembourg local exploded during the second half of her sophomore season, finishing second on the team with 12.5 points while averaging 9.0 rebounds and shooting 52.1% from the floor. Etute produced 12 double-doubles, including six straight to close the season, and became the program’s first-ever Big Ten Player of the Week after establishing herself as one of the conference’s most difficult matchups around the basket.

The Ducks also return plenty of experience around their two stars. Senior guards Sofia Bell and Ari Long are back in central Oregon after combining to start 72 games last season, while junior Avary Cain returns to a reserve role that could expand after appearing in all 36 games last year. Bell provides perimeter shooting and defense, while Long led Oregon with 67 steals last season and gives Graves another long, disruptive defender on the wing.

However, Oregon’s frontcourt may have received the biggest offseason boost. With the loss of forward Mia Jacobs, former Minnesota forward Mallory Heyer projects to have a bigger role after redshirting last season. The 6-foot-1 redshirt senior started all 102 games during her three seasons with the Golden Gophers, averaging 9.5 points and 8.0 rebounds across her career and recording 19 double-doubles.

Joining her is Belmont transfer Hilary Fuller, a 6-foot-2 Australian forward who averaged 14.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks last season while earning third team All-Missouri Valley Conference honors.

Although experience is the headline for this Duck team ready to make a bigger splash nationally, there’s youth for Oregon to be excited about as well. Four-star guard Brooklynn Haywood was ranked No. 26 in the country after averaging 32.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists as a high school senior in Washington, giving Oregon another potentially explosive perimeter scorer.

Four-star guard Kennedy Holman, four-star 6-foot-4 center Emilia Krstevski and three-star guard La’u Pele Falatea round out a freshman group that should give Graves options within her rotation at each position.

That depth will be crucial in a conference that offers few easy matchups, as the Ducks will likely face the likes of UCLA, USC and Iowa, among others, next season.

Baseball
2026 record: 43-18, 20-10 Big Ten, NCAA tournament Super Regionals loss
Coach: Mark Wasikowski
Player to watch: Tanner Bradley

Six straight trips to the NCAA tournament have transformed postseason baseball from a dreamy aspiration into an expectation at PK Park, but Mark Wasikowski and the Ducks are still chasing the trip to Omaha.

Wasikowski enters his eighth season leading the program, finishing 43-18 in 2026, going 20-10 in conference play and advancing all the way to the Big Ten tournament championship before being walked off in the 11th inning by UCLA.

That performance earned the squad the No. 11 national seed, helping them sweep through a Eugene Regional that included a 4-1 win over rival Oregon State, and advance to their third Super Regional in four seasons. However once again, the College World Series remained just out of reach, with Texas sweeping Oregon in Austin and ending the Ducks’ bid to reach Omaha for the first time since 1954.

In the offseason, Wasikowski was tasked with revamping a roster that sent a program-record seven players into the first 20 rounds of the 2026 MLB Draft. Infielder Ryan Cooney was the first Duck selected, going in the third round after hitting .331 with 22 doubles, while Drew Smith, Maddox Molony and Jack Brooks were all selected after playing significant roles in Oregon’s lineup. Pitchers Miles Gosztola, Cal Scolari and Devin Bell heard their names called as well, leaving holes throughout both the batting order and the pitching staff.

Offensively, Oregon will also be tasked with replacing significant production from a lineup that hit 105 home runs and scored 430 runs last season.

But talent remains abundant amongst the base paths of Eugene.

Catcher Brayden Jaksa immediately became one of the most intriguing bats to watch after an impressive freshman season in which he hit .318 with 10 home runs and 37 RBIs despite starting only 44 games.

Shortstop Jax Gimenez and utility-man Naulivou Lauaki Jr. round out a group of younger Ducks who are excited to build on the valuable experience gained during last season’s postseason push.

Replacing a strong 2026 pitching staff proves to be another difficult challenge for Wasikowski.

Duck pitchers held opponents to just a .218 batting average while striking out 676 hitters and posting a 1.24 WHIP as a team. Oregon was especially dominant during the Eugene Regional, when they held Washington State to two hits with 19 strikeouts before limiting Oregon State to one run in the regional final.

With several veteran arms now gone, the development of Oregon’s younger pitchers will be critical if Wasikowski wants to carry the same identity into another season.

If there is one returning arm capable of becoming the face of the Ducks, it is Tanner Bradley.

The right-hander emerged as one of the country’s most dominant relievers as a sophomore, finishing 5-1 with a 1.66 ERA and a program-record 0.82 WHIP across 31 appearances. Bradley struck out 84 batters in only 54.1 innings, held opponents to a .137 batting average and earned All-American honors from the NCBWA, Baseball America and Perfect Game, as well as being named an NCBWA Stopper of the Year finalist.

Whether Wasikowski continues using him as a high-leverage weapon or eventually expands his role, Bradley gives Oregon a proven ace to build its next pitching staff around.

Throughout Wasikowski’s tenure, it’s been established that roster turnover hasn’t stopped Oregon from finding its way back into June. And after three Super Regional appearances in four years, the question surrounding the Ducks is no longer whether they can reach Omaha’s doorstep but whether this will be the group that finally swings it open.