The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Big Ten Conference.

[5] A naming contest in 1926 won by Oregonian sports editor L. H. Gregory made the Webfoots name official, and a subsequent student vote in 1932 affirmed the nickname, chosen over other suggested nicknames such as Pioneers, Trappers, Lumberjacks, Wolves, and Yellow Jackets.

Although Donald was not on that ballot, the University Archivist declared that the election made Ducks the school's official mascot, replacing Webfoots.

The Tall Firs achieved a 29-5 record, capped by a 46-33 victory over Ohio State University in the championship game.

In addition, Altman has taken Oregon to four straight NCAA men's basketball tournament for the first time in program history (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016), including a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2013 and the Elite 8 in 2016.

That same year, the Ducks made the first ever College Football Playoff and beat the defending champion Florida State Seminoles 59–20 in the 2015 Rose Bowl semi-final.

His talents were not limited to the track, as he also co-founded Nike, pressured the Amateur Athletic Union to improve its services, and brought the Olympic Trials and NCAA Championships to Hayward Field.

[23] Steve Prefontaine, who ran at Oregon in the early 1970s, was a legend in his own right, setting 13 American records in seven separate events and only lost three races at Hayward Field during the span of his career.

He won seven NCAA championships and today, the Prefontaine Classic is held every year at Hayward Field in his honor.

Oregon defeated #1 Penn State in the National Semi-Finals before losing to eventual champion Texas in the title match.

Since joining in 1997, the ducks have won 10 PNCLL Conference Championships and made an MCLA title game appearance in 2007.

[31] Below are four national team titles that are not bestowed by the NCAA: The Oregon Ducks football complex is located across the Willamette River to the north of the main campus.

[32] Much of the cost of the state-of-the-art facilities were paid for by the prominent university boosters Phil Knight, Ed Moshofsky, and Patrick Kilkenny.

[34] Hayward field also hosted the World Athletics Championships in 2022 marking the first time the event was ever held in the United States.

The rivalry, dubbed the Civil War, has been scored across ten different sports that the two universities share over the past nine years.

[38] The rivalry began to build steam in 1948, when the Ducks and the California Golden Bears tied for the conference win and the Huskies’ vote went to Cal which inked them in for a trip to the Rose Bowl.

Knight ran in the University of Oregon Track & Field program under Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman.

[33] Numerous University of Oregon graduates have also gone on to become executives, designers, and business partners of Nike such as Tinker Hatfield and Dan Wieden.

[43][44] Controversy surrounding Nike's labor practices precipitated protests in 2000 led by a group of students calling themselves the Human Rights Alliance.

Protests included a 10-day tent city occupation of the lawns in front of Johnson Hall, the main administration building, demanding the university join the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC).

[49] In a public statement, Phil Knight criticized the WRC for having unrealistic provisions and called it misguided while praising the FLA for being balanced in its approach.

[50] The students disagreed, saying the FLA has conflicting interests, but President Dave Frohnmayer along with several others agreed with Knight in that the WRC provides unbalanced representation.

[54] Since then, activity on the subject died down and Frohnmayer believed that the leaders of the protest lost their foothold since they did not represent the majority of students on campus.