The Oregon Ducks' Secret Army Of Football Nerds

THERE ARE PLENTY OF PLAINLY obvious reasons for why the University of Oregon had the best team in college football this year.

- JARED DIAMOND

Quarterback Dillon Gabriel has excelled since transferring from Oklahoma. The offensive and defensive lines have both been stellar. Only one other program, Texas, ranks in the top 15 nationally in both total offense and defense.

But behind the scenes, there’s another, more subtle explanation for the Ducks’ undefeated regular season: a group of mostly unknown, lowly paid football obsessives working in anonymity to transform Oregon into a powerhouse.

Dan Lanning, the Ducks’ unconventional, 38-year-old head coach, has populated his staff with a collection of oddball coaches and analysts who largely built their reputations in the wonkiest corners of social media and obscure coaching clinics.

Their résumés don’t suggest they belong at a college football power like Oregon. Defensive analyst Dante Bartee was the defensive coordinator at Ottawa University, a small Baptist institution located not in Canada, but in Kansas. His colleague, Kyle Cogan, coached the defensive backs at somewhere called Benedictine College, which has roughly 2,000 students. Neither of them played football at a high level.