How Penn State's Upset Loss Impacts Oregon Ducks' Résumé

The No. 2 Oregon Ducks handed the No. 7 Penn State Nittany Lions their first loss of the season in week 5. Just a week later, a winless UCLA Bruins team gave the 7 Nittany Lions more trouble.

While it was a bye week for the Ducks, Penn State’s week 6 loss could shake up where Oregon falls in the rankings.

How It Impacts The Ducks

oregon ducks dan lanning big ten penn state nittany lions ucla bruins college football transfer portal recruiting nil — Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning as the Oregon Ducks host the Oregon State Beavers Sept. 20, 2025, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Bruins went into the matchup against the Nittany Lions without any wins on their record. UCLA was also the only FBS school entering the weekend that hadn’t led for a single second in any game this season.

The Bruins took an early lead in the first quarter of the week 6 game and never looked back. In comparison, the Ducks went to double overtime to beat Penn State 30-24.

Oregon remains one of the last undefeated in the Big Ten, but the UCLA win brings up questions surrounding the nation’s second-ranked team. Does the win over Penn State leave the Ducks with a less impressive resume after the UCLA loss?

Neither Oregon nor Penn State had a particularly challenging non-conference schedule with both teams experiencing dominant victories. The win against the Nittany Lions was the Ducks’ most notable game on their resume at this stage in the season.

Even though Oregon plays a top-10 Indiana Hoosiers team in week 7, it doesn’t face Big Ten teams like Ohio State, Illinois, and Michigan in the regular season. That makes the victory at Penn State even more important to the Ducks case to be a top seed in the College Football Playoff.

Coach Dan Lanning’s squad still showed how they handle adversity by securing the double overtime win. Additionally, playing in front of over 110,000 opposing fans in a White Out game isn’t easy, and Oregon got the win.

If the Ducks win out, what Penn State does in its other games shouldn’t impact Oregon’s ranking. If the Ducks do drop a game, however, all eyes will be on their strength of schedule, which will be heavily influenced by the Nittany Lions.

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What Oregon Can Learn From Penn State

The Ducks received their bye week between two top-10 outings. That provides them with the opportunity to recover from the Penn State game, while also having ample time to turn the page to Indiana.

“In a lot of ways, it fell in the right spot for us,” Lanning said. “I felt like we just played one of our most physical games. So, the recovery piece, I think, is really huge for us.”

If there’s anything Oregon can take away from the Nittany Lions’ week 6 game, it’s that every game matters. Penn State’s hopes of making the postseason continue to dwindle. There isn’t any room for error in its final stretch of the regular season if it wants to play past November.

The Nittany Lions hadn’t lost to an unranked opponent since 2021. The Ducks similarly have an impressive track record against unranked opponents. Experiencing defeat to any unranked opponent can be detrimental to a program’s playoff hopes, meaning no opponent can be overlooked.