It may not matter as much as it has in the past, but make no mistake — every coach in the conference wants to win the Big Ten Championship.

In year two in the conference, with a gesture to Las Vegas at Big Ten Media Day, Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said the team’s theme for 2025 is “double down.”

That, of course, is much easier said than done. However, The Daily Emerald has compiled a list, highlighting what Oregon will have to do to win the Big Ten yet again.

Have a legitimate threat at quarterback 

Whether it’s Dante Moore or Austin Novosad, Oregon will have to have a genuine all-conference team level quarterback if it has any hopes of repeating as champions. Although the Big Ten is known as a defense-first conference historically, past Big Ten Champions have had NFL-caliber quarterbacks over the past decade. 

Perhaps the most important stat in 2025 for Moore will be his turnover ratio, a category that Oregon quarterbacks have mostly dominated over the past couple of years. Last time he saw consistent game time as a true freshman at UCLA, Moore threw as many interceptions as both Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel combined in their senior years at Oregon. 

Breakthrough wide receivers

There’s been better optics for a wide receiver group entering the season than Evan Stewart — an NFL-bound wide receiver — going down with a serious injury. Still, Oregon will need new faces to step into his role. There are virtually no locks in the pass-catching department, with even the shiniest players in Kenyon Sadiq and Dakorien Moore unproven on a large scale. However, Oregon has made a habit of producing top-tier wide receiver talent, and the same should be expected entering 2025. 

“There’ve been some great wideouts (who) played (at) Oregon,” Lanning said at Oregon media day. “I don’t think that’s something that Oregon’s ever necessarily been known for. And you look over the last few years, as some of the guys have been performing for us, whether it’s going back, like Troy Franklin, or what Tez (Johnson) has done more recently.” 

Consistency on defense

Although having a top-rated defense was without a doubt beneficial in the Ducks’ run last year, defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi’s group struggled late in the season against higher-ranked teams. With the departure of Jordan Burch and Derrick Harmon, among other high draft picks, perhaps Oregon’s group won’t have the ceiling that last year’s did. Still, it’s a sacrifice Lanning would surely make if it meant more consistency against the best teams in the country.

“No focus is going to be on the poisonous pill of success of what we accomplished last season and beating the national champions, and Michigan, and Penn State, and all the cool stuff and the Big Ten championship,” Lupoi said on July 31 to GoDucks. “At the same time, we’re not bringing up the pill of depression either. (Focusing) on, hey, what’s our growth from the last game that didn’t end up the way we wanted to be, and how do we build from this?”

Avoid the trap game

Every team preaches it, but with Oregon only having one real marquee matchup — a week five bout with Penn State — on its regular season schedule, it will be imperative for the Ducks to avoid an upset in 2025. Compounded by cross-country flights, midseason games against Iowa and Rutgers seem like the most likely potential slip-ups. 

Beat USC and Washington

College football is all about when you lose. For Oregon to return to the Big Ten Championship, key rivalry week wins against the Trojans and Huskies will be pivotal. Although neither opponent is currently ranked or expected to seriously contend, things are always intensified in rivalry matchups.