Another impressive season for Dan Lanning’s Oregon program came to a screeching halt at the hands of one of the Ducks’ Big Ten foes. Last year it was an Ohio State program, which Oregon beat during the regular season, that blasted the Ducks in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl en route to a national championship. Indiana got the best of Oregon at Autzen Stadium during the regular season, and then manhandled the Ducks in Friday night’s CFP semifinal at the Peach Bowl, 56–22.
Under Lanning, the Ducks are once again in the national championship conversation, winning the Big Ten in 2024 and earning the No. 1 seed in the CFP that year, before clinching the No. 5 seed in 2025. And yet, Oregon was not particularly competitive in either elimination game, a growing concern for what is otherwise one of the nation’s most consistent programs.
