Sports

Oregon Emerges As Clear Favorite To Win National Championship According To ‘College Football 25′

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Overhead view of Oregon Ducks football field

Getty Image / Kirby Lee


The Oregon Ducks could be poised to do something they’ve never done before and join elite company and win the College Football National Championship in 2025, that is if you’re willing to believe in the predictive power of computers.

In the Oregon Ducks‘ 20 appearances in the AP Poll, they have finished ranked 2nd three times at the end of the season (2001, 2012, 2014) and finished the year ranked in the top 5 on six occasions. But only 33 different schools have won a College Football National Championship in the past 155 years and Oregon is not one of them.

Oregon Ducks Are Favorites To Win National Championship According To College Football 25

That said, a recent simulation ran by Max Olson of the NYT’s Athletic found the Oregon Ducks to be the clear favorite to win the 2025 National Championship. In 25 simulations ran, the Ducks won 9 of the 25 possible titles, which suggests the Ducks have a greater than 1/3 chance of winning the title based on EA Sports’ College Football 25 predictive power.

Now that Oregon is in the Big 10, the results are heavily skewed according to these 25 simulations ran. Big 10 Schools that were predicted to win a National Championship at least once were Oregon (9), Michigan (3), and Ohio State (3). That’s 15 of 25 possible titles going to the Big 10.

Looking at those same numbers for the SEC, Georgia was predicted to win 3 of the 25 simulations, Texas A&M wins 1, Alabama wins 1, and that’s it. No other SEC team was predicted to win a title. For the ACC, only Clemson was predicted to win a title and that only happened in 1 out of 25 simulations.

Are we talking about a video game here? Yes. Does that seem crazy? Kind of. But the predictive power of EA Sports in the past but be respected with the countless Madden simulations ran over the years that came to fruition.

Looking at preseason polls, 247Sports has the Oregon Ducks ranked 4th, SI’s fannation predicts Oregon will also be ranked 4th, ESPN’s Greg McElroy has Oregon at #3, and ESPN’s FPI has the Ducks at #2.

The expectations are HIGH but Oregon will need to do something that has literally never been done in the history of the program in order for the hype to be realized. Oregon is currently +800 behind Ohio State +400 and Georgia +300 to win it all in 2025, for anyone out there who is thinking about backing the team that’s never done it before.