Josh Pate Gives Oregon's Chances of Winning the Title a 'Bold' Ranking

In late May, there's a lot of guesswork going around the college football world.

If readers looked at last year's predictions around this time, they'd see that Penn State and Clemson might have been expected to matchup in the College Football Playoff semifinal with Drew Allar and Cade Klubnik fighting for positioning in the first round of the draft. 

Preseason polls are a futile effort, and arguably they do more harm than good. 

With that being said, from the looks of it, Oregon should be in the national championship conversation this fall. With quarterback Dante Moore returning, the Ducks have a player at the most important position who would have been a top 5 pick in this year's NFL draft. 

The Ducks are loaded in the backfield, at receiver, and all over the defense.

On his show Sunday, Josh Pate rated a fan's bold prediction that Oregon would win its first national championship. Pate thinks the Ducks have a good chance, giving the prediction an 8.75 on the "boldness scale."

“It's going to get an 8.75 for me on the boldness scale, because I think Oregon is one of the best teams in the country this year," Pate said. "Now, you are trying to predict the exact team that wins the national title. So even if I think Oregon is going to be really good, they are one team against the field in this scenario.

"They do have the fifth best odds to win the national title. They've been a playoff mainstay, obviously, well, obviously, to me, it's obvious that this year is their best shot that they've had under (head coach) Dan Lanning, quarterback, really, really good, defense, especially the depth along the defensive line, wide receiver is going to be good here."

The Ducks will have their challenges. Lanning is replacing his coordinators, which could cause for some bumps early in the season. Pate notes the schedule and the offensive line could be a problem.

"Their schedule is a question, their offensive line is a question, and if the offensive line especially doesn't hinder them too much, and they can peak at the right time, that's a really, really important point there," Pate said. "Oregon could win at all, it wouldn't shock me at all. For all I know, I'm going to pick them to win the national title."

The Ducks have almost everything they could ask for at this point in the season. If they remain healthy, they should make the CFP.  Of course, Lanning will have to prove he can coach in big games, as Oregon has suffered blowout losses in the CFP the last two seasons.