Bill Oram: Oregon Ducks are ready for Big Ten success, while…

Oregon has lost its last three games against Washington, and the Huskies are coming off a win in the college football national championship game.

However, the Ducks are definitely winning the rivalry at the moment.

The coaching drama’s swinging pendulum will do that.

Dan Lanning is smoking a cigarette in Eugene. Kalen DeBoer is browsing real estate in Tuscaloosa and getting ready to go for a walk in Nick Saban’s gigantic loafers.

Lanning’s choice to turn down Alabama, prompting the Crimson Tide to hire DeBoer, is an amusing twist in the history of this Northwest rivalry. It makes for wonderful social media fodder. But there is a larger point here as well.

And it’s because Oregon is primed for a far smoother transition to the Big Ten than its competitor.

They’re joining forces, but not as equals.

And I’m wondering whether DeBoer didn’t realize it when he left UW after only two seasons. Even with Mississippi State transfer Will Rogers on campus to replace Michael Penix Jr., the Huskies were already set to lose the majority of the playmakers from their explosive offense, which was second only to Oregon in passing.

It wasn’t going to be easy to replicate.

To be honest, I have more faith in Oregon’s ability to rebuild its offense, not only because of the returning players — running back Jordan James and a bunch of receivers led by Tez Johnson — but also because that is what Oregon does. For more than 15 years, their brand has been explosive playmakers.

In short, Lanning’s achievement at Oregon appeared to be more sustainable than DeBoer’s at Washington.

One coach sold quickly. The other is still looking up.

Speaking of meteoric rises, who has had a more meteoric climb than DeBoer? He was the offensive coordinator at Indiana five years ago after coaching at the NAIA University of Sioux Falls.

His teams have gone 104-12 in his nine seasons as a head coach.

However, he takes all of that enthusiasm with him and leaves a void at Husky Stadium.

The Ducks have not just the benefit of consistency with Lanning and his coaching staff entering next year, but they also boast the No. 6 recruiting class, according to 247Sports, joining a roster that includes significant returners at running back, receiver, edge rusher, and linebacker. Oklahoma transfer Dillon Gabriel is slated to take over at quarterback for Bo Nix.

The Huskies simply have more questions and a more difficult road ahead of them. And DeBoer was well aware of it.

DeBoer, however, did not quit Washington for any old job.He didn’t attend, say, — pick a name at random — Michigan State. This is Alabama at its most Alabama-like.

And, although I agree that replacing Saban, possibly the greatest coach in sports history, is fraught with danger, I also believe it’s premature to dismiss DeBoer’s prospects based on the failures of the coaches who tried to win at Alabama before Saban.

Between Bear Bryant’s retirement and Saban’s arrival, the Alabama football team went through seven coaches.

In 1993, Gene Stallings won a national championship. By the early 2000s, however, ‘Bama just wasn’t ‘Bama anymore.

Saban brought it back to life.

So DeBoer will be in a lot better position than Mike DuBose, Dennis Franchione, and Mike Shula, not to mention Mike Price. The cupboard is stocked, and Alabama is the nation’s top program — OK, maybe neck and neck with Georgia.

The difference for DeBoer is that he is constantly one loss away from being fired. He will be scrutinized in ways that he was never questioned at Sioux Falls, Fresno State, or UDub.

Lanning knows this from his time in Tuscaloosa as a graduate assistant on Saban’s staff and as Georgia’s defensive coordinator. The SEC goes to Oregon’s coach. He exudes SEC characteristics far more than DeBoer, who has never coached in the league. And Lanning chose to remain silent.

Although Oregon has smaller expectations than Alabama, that doesn’t mean they aren’t sky-high. The Ducks face Ohio State at home next season and must go to Michigan, but Lanning and the Ducks have a legitimate shot at a Big Ten crown in Year 1.

There has been a lot of discussion surrounding Jonathan Smith and his position with the Huskies. If only he had waited…

This is why I was startled when he bolted for that Michigan State opportunity the morning after losing to Oregon.

Was it a decent chance? Sure. Is Oregon State a more stable program? Certainly. Without a doubt, the Beavers are in peril. They are at a competitive disadvantage in comparison to programs at peer universities in the American West.

Recruiting is becoming more difficult. Winning as well.

But it seemed to me that if Smith had waited, a more reasonable chance would have presented itself, and he has never coached further east than Missoula.

Smith spent four seasons as the offensive coordinator at Washington before returning to Corvallis. He would undoubtedly be the frontrunner to succeed DeBoer.

I just don’t think he can ask his family to pack up and relocate again. Aidan Chiles, for example, is still unpacking.

If Washington can get Smith out of East Lansing before he ever coaches a game for the Spartans, it will definitely reveal the madness of college football.

I’m still shocked Smith didn’t wait longer before departing Corvallis. I’m not certain that if he had stayed another year at OSU, the Beavers would have gone into such a tailspin that he would no longer be considered for top jobs throughout the country.

Of course, he couldn’t have expected DeBoer’s departure, and he obviously believed that things were bad enough in Corvallis for him to flee to safety, wherever that was.