Oregon's Playoff Path Receives Interesting Ohio State Comparison

The No. 6 Oregon Ducks are in their bye week during week 10 of the college football season. Still, it comes after a lackluster 21-7 win at home over the Wisconsin Badgers in nasty rain and heavy wind that led to a sluggish offensive performance.

Wind hit speeds of nearly 40 mph in Eugene, leading to an outright battle in the trenches as both sides tried to establish a run game. At first, Oregon struggled and finished the first quarter with 16 negative yards rushing. But ended the matchup with a total of 203 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

On Oct. 27, Fox Sports analyst Joe Klatt took to his show "A College Football Podcast" and compared Oregon's mid-season loss and process of growth, similar to that of the reigning national champions, the No. 1 Ohio State Buckeyes.

Oregon Ducks Indiana Hoosiers Iowa Hawkeyes Noah WhittingtonJordon Davison Dante Moore College Football Dan Lanning College — Oregon head coach Dan Lanning takes the field as the Oregon Ducks host the Indiana Hoosiers Oct. 11, 2025, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Oregon. | Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Ducks Struggled To Score Against Badgers

"Kind of an ugly win against Wisconsin. The offense wasn't quite what I thought they would be," Klatt said. "Although Wisconsin does have a decent defense, but couldn't do anything on offense. So the game was never in doubt."

Oregon had a tough time getting the ball moving through the air and had to turn to running backs Noah Whittington and Jordon Davison to move the chains.

Davison led the ground game with 102 yards and two touchdowns, and Whittington was right behind him, accounting for 97 yards on the ground. Marking yet another dominant performance running ball by the Ducks, who now lead the Big Ten with 1,051 yards on the ground in conference play.

Oregon's struggle against the Badgers was alarming for analysts like Klatt, who have propped the Ducks on a pedal stool all season long, but the Ducks are still trying to find their groove offensively after losing to Indiana.

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Oregon Can Play Its Cards Right

The Ducks have one loss on the season, but it's against the No. 2 team in the country. In the loss to Indiana, Oregon was only able to find the end zone twice on offense.

Oregon was a bit exposed in its weaknesses offensively, especially on the line of scrimmage, as the offensive line allowed quarterback Dante Moore to be sacked a game-high six times.

While the Ducks may have been exposed against the Hoosiers, it creates an opportunity for growth within the program, ranging from the coaching staff to the players.

"There's this part of me that thinks about Oregon, and I think about the way Ohio State grew from their midseason loss a year ago," Klatt continued. "I think about the urgency in which Dan Lanning coaches, and this guy is what I would call a stone turner... He will turn over every stone to figure out what's going wrong. What's going right? How can we get better?"

Lanning's persistence to grow while getting the best out of players and the coaching staff is instrumental in creating a championship culture at Oregon.

As it stands, the Ducks would not make the Big Ten Championship Game as Ohio State and Indiana are still undefeated in conference play. If the Ducks continue to win out of regular-season play, the program will have a great chance at landing an at-large bid from the College Football Playoff Committee, much like Ohio State did in its path to winning the 2024 CFP Title.

After Oregon's bye week, the program will hit the road during week 11 and face the Iowa Hawkeyes on Nov. 8 at Kinnick Stadium.