Dan Lanning isn’t rushing to pin Oregon’s 21-10 loss to Illinois on one shaky leg, even after Gage Hurych had the worst day of his season.
The Ducks kicker, who had been perfect before the trip to Champaign, Illinois, missed three field goals from distance and dropped to 76.9 percent on the year. The attempts came from 52 yards, 53 yards and 47 yards, all of them longer than the kicks he had taken in earlier games.
Lanning’s read was simple: those were difficult tries in difficult conditions.
"I think the reality is those are those are long kicks. Some of those are really tough.
You know, the wind's a little bit different in this stadium. I think we put them in a position that wasn't the easiest to operate," Lanning said.
"We've been really fortunate this year. You look at those three.
If they go in, it's a little bit different ball game in a situation. It's not engaged, right?
It's a lot easier to kick from the 20."
The weather wasn’t exactly friendly, either. AccuWeather’s pregame report for Champaign called for seven miles per hour wind from the Southeast, along with occasional gusts of 13 miles per hour.
Even with the three misses, Lanning sounded more inclined to view the performance as a bad night than a warning sign. He also pointed to Oregon’s own role in putting Hurych in those spots, rather than suggesting the kicker was suddenly in a spiral.
That’s in line with what has happened elsewhere this season. Former kicker Atticus Sappington went 0-1 on field goals against Oklahoma State and Indiana at the Peach Bowl, and both of those tries came from 50 yards or more. Still, Lanning wasn’t interested in making the result about a single player.
"He wasn't doing that today, so you know that he'll be critical of himself. I know he will, but on the same note, that it's never one play that leads to a game. It's a culmination."
The bigger question for Oregon, after the loss, is how the group responds from here. Lanning acknowledged that directly when asked whether the team might drift after the defeat.
"Yeah, I think that's a great question," Lanning said when asked if the team would dissipate during the rest of the season after the loss. "We got to evaluate exactly who we are, right? Each person's got to look in their heart and respond and say exactly what they want to go attack and what they can improve and get better, and that's really where the focus has to be on one step at a time, one day at a time, looking for that opportunity for improvement."
For now, Hurych’s rough outing looks more like an isolated stumble than a season-changing pattern. But after three misses in one game, Oregon’s special teams has some cleaning up to do.
In Other News...
Illinois Just Showed Why This Offense Might Finally Change
Saturday in Champaign offered a glimpse of what Illinois can look like when it plays to its personnel instead of forcing something else. The Illini beat Oregon 21-10 for their first win over the Ducks in 56 years, and the formula was familiar in the best possible way: a sturdier defense, a commitment to the run, and enough balance to keep the game on Illinois terms. Aidan Laughery helped carry the load, freshman Javari Barnett added meaningful production, and the offense looked far more comfortable leaning into what was working.
The more intriguing part may have been the way sophomore quarterback Carson Boyd was used. Illinois did not treat him as a one-dimensional option, mixing him in as both a runner and a passer in a way that hints at something broader for the offense moving forward. Whether that becomes a true two-quarterback setup or just another wrinkle, it is the kind of flexibility that could matter as the season goes on, especially if the Illini want this win to be more than a one-game outlier. [Read more 🡒]
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Illinois Just Turned Oregons Season Into Something Much Bigger
The 21-10 loss to Illinois left Oregon at 4-3 overall and 2-2 in conference play, and it also forced an immediate change on the Ducks staff. What looked like a midseason stumble quickly became something more consequential, with the offensive issues from that afternoon drawing a response that went beyond the scoreboard.
Drew Mehringer is no longer Oregons offensive coordinator, a move that underscores how sharply the Ducks season has shifted after the trip to Champaign. For Illinois, the win carries the kind of weight that extends beyond one result, because it helped push a Big Ten opponent into a deeper examination of everything from scheme to position-group performance. [Read more 🡒]