Urban Meyer Reveals Surprising Prediction For Oregon Ducks, Penn State Matchup

College football analysts and fans have been giving their picks for the hyped-up matchup between the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions and the No. 6 Oregon Ducks.

Many predict the higher-ranked team and host of the White Out, Penn State, will win the game. However, former Ohio State coach and current FOX analyst Urban Meyer picked the Oregon Ducks to win on the road.

Legendary Coach Makes His Pick

oregon ducks dan lanning penn state nittany lions urban meyer big ten recruiting transfer portal nil college football — Former Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Urban Meyer salutes the fans chanting his name during the College Football Playoff quarterfinal against the Oregon Ducks at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. on Jan. 1, 2025. Ohio State won 41-21. | Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Meyer hasn’t been short on compliments when it comes to the Ducks this season. He went on The Triple Option podcast ahead of the game to give his thoughts on who would emerge victorious.

“Yeah, on tape it’s Oregon,” Meyer said. “Oregon’s going to win the game.”

He acknowledged the Ducks’ weak non-conference schedule as part of their dominant scores so far, but added that it hasn’t been a much different story for the Nittany Lions.

“Oregon had a schedule where Oklahoma State is normally a challenge. They’re awful. Northwestern’s not good. And Oregon State, that usually is a great test, Oregon State’s bad. I mean, real bad when I watched it,” Meyer said. “Penn State has probably played the worst nonconference schedule that I can remember.”

Penn State leads the all-time series 3-2, but Oregon won the last meeting in the 2024 Big Ten Conference Championship. The final score of that game was 45-37. Meyer thinks it could be an even closer final result this time.

“I don’t know, other than the respect I have for that damn White Out,” he said. “You know, that’s a seven-pointer, man. I’m gonna say Oregon’s gonna win the game, but it’s gonna be a walk-off. It’s gonna be a field goal or a missed field goal by Penn State. I think it’s gonna be one of the great games of the year in the most difficult environment in college football.”

He finished by saying that whichever team had the best Tuesday practice will win the game.

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Meyer Continues His Oregon Praise

The former coach has seemingly been high on the Ducks all season. Before Oregon played the Northwestern Wildcats in week 3, Meyer called it the toughest offense in the nation.

“Oregon, right now is by far, in my opinion, the number one most difficult offense to defend,” Meyer said on FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff. “Why? Number one, great players down the field. Number two, schematically, they're great. Number three, they do something more than I can remember in recent history. They run something called deceptives, more trick plays. A deceptive is you show something, and you do something much different.”

Prior to the start of the 2025 season, Meyer also ranked coach Dan Lanning as one of the top coaches in the country and even gave Oregon blue-blood status in the modern era.

“I think nationally, Oregon is a different Duck,” Meyer said. “Everybody looks at Oregon now. The uniforms, the stadium, the success they've had, and I think I actually consider them a blue blood right now, even though they have not won a national championship.”

A victory over the No. 3 team in the nation in front of one of college football's most hostile environments would put the Ducks one step closer to a spot in the College Football Playoff and winning a national title.