Earlier this week on the Ducks Rising Podcast, former Oregon Ducks star Kenjon Barner said the quiet part out loud.
“We are absolutely, unequivocally blessed to have Dan Lanning at the head of this program. “I can’t thank (Mario) Cristobal enough for going on to Miami.”
It’s a statement that many Oregon fans wouldn’t have agreed with back in December of 2021, when the then-Oregon head coach announced that he would be leaving Eugene to take over the program for his alma mater, the Miami Hurricanes. Now, in 2025, it’s a sentiment that many Duck fans share, though.
And for Barner, there may be an opportunity to deliver that message to Cristobal in person at some point this year, as well.
Through the first six weeks of the season, both the Ducks and the Hurricanes are among the best teams in the nation. Miami has looked stellar so far, holding impressive wins over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, South Florida Bulls, Florida Gators, and Florida State Seminoles, with Carson Beck leading a strong offense, and the defense looking like one of the better units in the nation.
Meanwhile, Dan Lanning’s Ducks mean business. That was shown a week ago when they went on the road and beat the Penn State Nittany Lions in double overtime, taking the air out of a raucous white-out environment. Early in October, both of these teams look poised for a postseason run and a high seed in the College Football Playoff.
Does that mean that we could finally get the Dan Lanning vs. Mario Cristobal matchup that fans have desired for the last three-plus years?
According to College Sports Wire’s Matt Zemek, it will be something to watch over the coming months.
“What if Miami did play Oregon for the national championship in January? Mario Cristobal could go against his former team for all the marbles. Is this the best, most intriguing national championship game we could hope for?”
Regardless of whether that matchup eventually comes in the College Football Playoff or the eventual national championship game, it’s a game that would end up being among the most heated matchups in Oregon’s program history. After Cristobal left Eugene the way he did, using the school as a stepping stone to get to his dream job and jetting off after embarrassingly losing to the Utah Utes in the Pac-12 title game, Duck fans hold some very understandable ill will.
Of course, it all ended up as a blessing in disguise, paving the way for Lanning to land in Eugene and take the program to heights that Cristoba never sniffed.
We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, of course. A lot has to happen before we can even seriously consider a matchup between Oregon and Miami in the playoffs, but with two months left in the regular season, and both teams sitting pretty, it’s at least something to keep an eye on as we continue into the second half of the year.
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