The Nov. 7 meeting between Oregon and Ohio State lost some of the shine it carried before the season, but the kickoff news still gives the Ducks a break. The Big Ten announced Monday that Oregon will not have to deal with a Big Noon Kickoff slot in Columbus, and it also avoids a prime-time night game against the Buckeyes.
That matters for a Ducks team that already had trouble with an early kickoff on the road. Oregon struggled at Oklahoma State in a game that effectively started at 9 a.m.
PT on the team’s body clocks, but this trip will not come with a 12 p.m. PT start.
Ohio State, meanwhile, still does not get the evening spotlight it may have wanted.
The matchup was supposed to carry a lot more weight back when both programs opened the year ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the AP Top 25 Poll. Plenty of fans had it marked as a potential showdown between two of the sport’s best quarterbacks, Julian Sayin for Ohio State and Dante Moore for Oregon.
That’s not the script anymore. Both quarterbacks have dealt with injuries, and Oregon’s season has gone sideways fast.
The Ducks are now unranked at 4-3 after losses to No. 7 UCLA, No.
24 Oklahoma State, and Illinois. Ohio State, by contrast, sits at No. 2 in the AP Top 25 Week 9 rankings.
For the Buckeyes, the bigger concern is still Sayin’s absence. The Ohio State quarterback is out indefinitely with a right shoulder injury he suffered in the Buckeyes’ 19-15 win over No.
4 Indiana on Oct. 17.
Before getting hurt, Sayin was second in the Big Ten in passing behind USC’s Jayden Maiava, with 2,007 passing yards, 19 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Now Ohio State is moving ahead with former three-star quarterback Luke Fahey, a Mission Viejo, California, native. Fahey is set to make his debut on Halloween night against USC at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Even with Sayin sidelined, Oregon’s defense will still have to deal with Jeremiah Smith, one of the biggest names in the sport right now. Smith is the betting favorite for the Heisman Trophy at +120, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, and his production has been outrageous. He ranks second in the country in receiving with 52 catches for 984 yards and 12 touchdowns.
Ohio State’s ground game is no small issue either. The Buckeyes have gotten 10 rushing touchdowns combined from Bo Jackson and Ja’Kobi Jackson.
Oregon’s offense has been part of the problem all season, but there may be some hope for a cleaner finish. The program fired offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer, and the Ducks will need more consistency if they want any chance of flipping the script. Health is part of that, too, with key wide receivers Evan Stewart, Jeremiah McClellan, Jalen Lott and Messiah Hampton all important to what Oregon wants to do.
There’s also a chance the Ducks lean more heavily on younger receivers down the stretch, including Gatlin Bair and Hudson Lewis.
After the rough loss to UCLA, quarterback Dylan Raiola showed better play against Nebraska and Illinois. On Saturday, he threw for 246 yards on 27 of 41 passing. With new play-calling in place, Oregon is left to wonder whether it can actually make things interesting against Ohio State.
The Ducks’ season may already be headed nowhere at 4-3, but back-to-back ranked wins over No. 20 Northwestern and No. 3 Ohio State would be one way to salvage some pride from a disappointing year.
In Other News...
Bo Nix And Bucky Irving Kept Oregons NFL Buzz Alive
Former Oregon standouts kept the Ducks pro pipeline in the spotlight over the weekend, with Bo Nix and Bucky Irving both turning in performances that will resonate back in Eugene. Nix sparked the Denver Broncos with a 62-yard touchdown run and finished with 222 passing yards and a touchdown, while Irving gave the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a jolt on the ground with 106 rushing yards and two scores.
Tez Johnson also found the end zone for Tampa Bay and added rushing yards, adding another layer to Oregons presence across the league. On the defensive side, Dillon Thieneman and Noah Sewell helped the Chicago Bears in their win over the New England Patriots, a reminder that the Ducks NFL footprint is stretching well beyond the usual spotlight names. [Read more 🡒]
Oregons Scoring Problem Just Put Dan Lanning Under Real Pressure
After a 21-10 loss to Illinois, Oregon made a change on the offensive side that had been building for weeks, parting ways with offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer in his first season on the job. For a program that came into the year expecting more from its attack, the move underscored how quickly patience can disappear when the offense stalls and the losses start to pile up.
Dan Lanning did not immediately name a replacement play-caller, leaving the Ducks with an obvious next question as they try to steady things before the season slips further. The timing makes the decision as much about urgency as accountability, and it puts the spotlight squarely on how Oregon plans to fix an offense that has struggled to find consistency. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Fans Have One Big Fear After This Road Collapse
Illinois took control after halftime and never let Oregon get back on track, turning a shaky afternoon at Gies Memorial Stadium into a 21-10 upset. The Ducks had enough early to stay in it, but the Illinis defense tightened after the break and the home team piled up 21 unanswered points, with true freshman quarterback Michael Clayton II delivering in his first career start and senior back Aidan Laughery breaking loose for 123 rushing yards and a 75-yard touchdown.
For Oregon, the concern is less about one bad result than the way it unraveled once the game turned. A second-half shutout is the kind of issue that sticks with a team trying to prove it can handle tough road environments, and it left Ducks fans with a familiar fear: that when the pressure rises, the offense can go quiet and the margin for error disappears fast. [Read more 🡒]