Some college football fans are wondering if Dan Lanning can get over the hump at Oregon after losing to Indiana in the College Football Playoff semifinal.
Oregon took significant steps under Dan Lanning in 2025.
The Ducks won two College Football Playoff games, including a 23-0 shutout of No. 4 Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl.
However, the Ducks will ultimately be remembered by most for their performance against No. 1 Indiana in the CFP semifinal at the Peach Bowl. The Hoosiers outplayed Oregon in every facet of the game, earning a 56-22 win and the right to play No. 10 Miami for the national championship.
Lanning is 48-8 after four seasons in Eugene. Oregon won the Big Ten championship in 2024.
Still, that's enough for some fans hoping to see Oregon win its first outright national title.
A college football fan asked Josh Pate what the difference was between Lanning and former Penn State head coach James Franklin. The new Virginia Tech head coach was criticized for being unable to win big games during his tenure with the Nittany Lions.
Pate didn't hold back on the question, arguing Lanning has better credentials than Franklin.
“I'll tell you what one of the key differences is," the host said on "Josh Pate's College Football Show" on Sunday night. "The fact that Lanning beat James Franklin twice in the past year. One in a conference championship game, the other in James Franklin's own building, which led to his firing earlier this year.”
Pate didn't think Franklin deserved to be fired after starting the season 3-3. Months earlier, Franklin brought PSU to the CFP semifinal before losing 27-24 to Notre Dame.
Pate compared Lanning to Nick Saban, who won his first national title with LSU in 2003 when he was 52, 13 years older than Lanning is now. Pate thinks Lanning still has plenty of time to fine-tune his craft and lead the Ducks to a national championship.
“Lanning's 39. Lanning is over a decade younger right now than Saban was when he won his first of seven or eight or however many rings he ended up winning," Pate said. "So, I would just humbly suggest to you, there could be a world where Dan Lanning is still figuring it out.
"Dan Lanning didn't have two or three other head coaching jobs before Oregon, by the way. This was his first one."
Lanning was certainly outcoached by Indiana's Curt Cignetti on Friday night.
The Ducks will hope that game serves as a learning point for Lanning before his sixth season and for a young Oregon roster that could be even better in 2026.