Dan Lanning joked on the in-house radio show this week that his phone will be on, but he and his assistants won’t be in their office this weekend. The Oregon staff is taking a much-deserved break.

Only for a couple of days, though. There’s work to be done. Lanning said their offseason process will remain the same despite the move to the Big Ten; up next is a rigorous self-scout to evaluate last year’s team. After that, Lanning is looking to meet with other coaches to see what they can add to their operation. Then it’s a deep dive on their upcoming schedule.

Players are working. Lanning and his staff will be back at that soon.

For a title team, your work in the offseason is just as important as your work on 12 fall Saturdays.

And Lanning could very well have a title team in 2024.

“I think you know, we gotta go play games and see how we play as a team, but we have a lot of talent on this roster,” Lanning said on the Ducks’ national signing day show this week. “It is the most talented roster I’ve had since we’ve been here.”

Oregon signed the country’s third-ranked transfer class and the third-ranked high school class, per the industry-generated 247 Composite. There are freshmen with instant-impact potential, players like Elijah Rushing and Aydin Breland. The transfer class is stuffed with significant additions that will come in and fill immediate roles, from quarterback Dillon Gabriel to defensive backs Jabbar Muhammad and Kobe Savage.

Overall, it’s a historic class — the program’s first top-five haul in the internet recruiting rankings era.

There are significant pieces to replace from the team that went 12-2 last season, but the Ducks are by and large viewed as a contender for next year’s Big Ten title. And with the College Football Playoff expanding, if Oregon is in contention for a spot in the Big Ten title game, it’ll also be in contention for one of those 12 Playoff spots.

Oregon currently has the fourth-best odds at FanDuel to win the national championship next season.

“I think we’ve got a lot of work between now and then. Right? But I do think that we have the pieces to the puzzle that are gonna allow us to have a really good team,” Lanning said. “What that looks like you know, time will tell. It’s gonna be about our offseason work. You know, you don’t win a game on paper. You’ve got to go practice. You’ve got to become a team, and that’s the process over the next few months for us, is building a team.”