Oregon dives into Big Ten play this week and the No. 4 Ducks show no signs of slowing down as they head to Illinois to face Northwestern in Evanston.
Oregon cashed a 69-3 rout of Oklahoma State in Eugene, Ore., after Cowboys coach Mike Gundy fired up the Ducks with comments suggesting they are “buying” wins with a robust NIL budget.
On Saturday, they’ll need to be up early to tame the Wildcats and adjust to an 11 a.m. local time kickoff, which is 9 a.m. Pacific time.
“We’re a morning practice team,” Ducks head coach Dan Lanning said. “Our bodies are used to it. It’s something that we can do that’s a little bit different.”
The Ducks are bringing a punch-first offense into their Big Ten opener and first road game of the season. Their numerous new parts fit together quite nicely after Oregon, which won the Big Ten regular season and conference championship game in 2024, replaced Heisman finalist quarterback Dillon Gabriel and defensive anchor Derrick Harmon — both NFL draft picks — from that playoff team.
So far, so good.
Oregon drilled Montana State and Oklahoma State and the Ducks’ 128 points rank third in the FBS.
Quarterback Dante Moore appears comfortable behind the wheel of Oregon’s offense with six touchdown passes and zero interceptions. The Ducks have more than 1,100 yards total offense. After his second three-TD game this season, Moore said part of his motivation last Saturday was to show the team had the back of Lanning after Gundy’s comments.
“There was a lot of fire behind this one. Coach Lanning said we were going to keep our foot on their neck and make sure we score these points and try to break the scoreboard,” Moore said.
Now Moore, a UCLA transfer who originally committed to Arizona State, gets to prove it away from the comfort of home without prodding motivation from an opponent.
“We’re focused on us,” Lanning said of his message this week. “Don’t pay attention to the outside noise.”
Oregon is making plenty of noise to start the season.
The Ducks are the only FBS team in the top 10 for both scoring offense and scoring defense (tied for 10th ) at 8.0 points allowed per game. Oregon has yet to surrender a sack, allowing just three tackles for loss through two games, and has scored 50-plus points in back-to-back games for the first time since 2018. Oregon is one of just two schools (Florida State) to have at least 310 yards passing and rushing in a game in 2025.
This is the first ever conference meeting between the defending Big Ten champion Ducks and Wildcats, and the first meeting between the two programs since 1974, when Northwestern won 14-10.
A win for the Ducks would make Oregon 10-0 all-time in Big Ten play, and would be the Ducks’ 33rd in a row against unranked opponents.
Northwestern is playing in a temporary facility along the shores of Lake Michigan. Capacity is just over 12,000, which will make for a far different atmosphere for the Ducks compared to their madhouse of a home field, Autzen Stadium.
The Wildcats opened the season with a loss at Tulane, then defeated Western Illinois at home last week. In the win, they lost starting running back Cam Porter to a right leg injury. Porter will miss the rest of the season.
Wildcats head coach David Braun said the Wildcats’ leading rusher (137 yards this season) is a major loss.
“All of us are crushed for Cam,” Braun said Monday. “There’s no one that’s worked harder, there’s no one that’s more invested in this program than Cam Porter.”
Porter, a team captain, is in his fifth season in the Northwestern program and has rushed for more than 1,900 career yards.
“One thing that I’ve learned about Cam is, he understands that his purpose is bigger than football,” Braun said.
In his stead, running back Caleb Komolafe is expected to see a bigger share of the snaps. Komolafe rushed for 63 yards on 11 carries last Friday against Western Illinois.
Oregon returns home next week for the Civil War game against neighbor Oregon State before a Sept. 27 matchup in primetime at No. 2 Penn State. The Ducks beat Penn State in the Big Ten championship game last December, 45-37.
