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EUGENE — Good for Indiana, making history on Saturday with the Hoosiers’ first-ever road win against a top-5 team:
Then-No. 7 Indiana 30, No. 3 Oregon 20.
Indiana redirected the narrative on a couple of other fronts, even more painful for the Ducks:
The Hoosiers’ win ended Oregon’s 18-game home win streak.
The loss was Oregon’s first regular-season Big Ten defeat since joining the conference last season.
And most painful, for one Ducks player in particular, Saturday at Autzen was more than I’ve seen an Oregon QB on the ground in any game of the Dan Lanning era. Dante Moore took contact on nearly every throw of the second half.
For the better part of three quarters, Indiana at Oregon felt like another instant classic brewing, shades of Oregon’s win at Penn State in Game 5.
But by the time Indiana walked off of Rich Brooks field with a 30–20 win, it felt like the Hoosiers had claimed the identity Lanning and Oregon are working toward: Smash-mouth defense. A swarming front-7 that forcibly dictated the outcome of the game.
It was the Hoosiers imposing their will on Moore and Oregon’s offense, with six sacks and two INTs.
To his credit, Moore’s numbers were respectable, and his composure was unbreakable. Moore finished with 186 pass yards and a TD on a day that tested his confidence and his patience. But neither wavered, even as Indiana ran the clock down to 0:32 with a 10-point lead on its final possession.
Moore to prove
This regular-season defeat wasn’t the only experience new to most of Oregon’s roster. After taking one sack through five games, Moore was under pressure most of the afternoon, increasingly so in the second half.
That in itself tells a story: One of the best QBs in the nation pummeled, his protection exposed, his confidence tested. Indiana’s pass rush just wasn’t allowing Moore the time to create much of anything, let alone any late comeback magic.
Through the final 2:06 after Indiana’s late field goal to cap the scoring, you could see the weight on Moore. Even before his second INT of the day, down two scores with no timeouts, you could read in Moore’s body language that he understood Oregon would’ve needed a miracle or three to regain the lead in those final minutes.
But that wasn’t in the cards for Oregon on Saturday. These 2025 Ducks have more to build and more to prove.
Lanning walked into his postgame press availability, looking tired but composed. He praised Indiana as a “really well-coached team,” and took responsibility for Oregon not having a better plan to beat the increasingly potent Hoosiers program.
With this Indiana loss, Moore’s learning curve will have to get steeper in order for Oregon to remain in the top 10. Many believe he’s built for it.
Moore is barely 20 years old, and he’s processing Big Ten defenses as well as anybody in the conference. The improvement is staggering this year from his five starts for UCLA as a true freshman.
Each mistake is accelerating his QB maturity, not defining it. That resilience is what championship QBs are made of.
For Oregon and its QB1, there’s absolutely more potential and “Moore to prove.”
The program’s mantra for the next stretch writes itself: Accountability, growth, grit. Expect some version of those values to echo through practice and into the Rutgers game this week.
What we learned
Indiana coach Curt Cignetti has built something formidable in Bloomington. He crafted a solid plan for Oregon, and his halftime adjustments put the Hoosiers in exactly the late-game situation they wanted.
His players executed with discipline. They blitzed Moore. They dictated Oregon’s post-snap timing. They forced turnovers.
Cignetti’s Indiana squad, in particular the defense, created the opportunities it needed to secure the win in the fourth quarter.
Oregon fans, let’s take our medicine:
This was a statement game. It could’ve been Oregon’s reinforcement of the point made by the win at Penn State. But on Saturday, Indiana was the team making the statement that Oregon has worked toward making throughout the Lanning era.
The Hoosiers’ defense outplayed Oregon’s protection, challenged every throw in the second half, and capitalized on every misstep.
Oregon’s defense applied some pressure too, but lost the turnover battle 2:1 and made one sack to Indiana’s six.
Worse, it was the Hoosiers with the clutch offense Oregon would’ve needed to win the fourth quarter. Even under fire, it was Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza connecting with Elijah Sarratt for the go-ahead 8-yard touchdown pass with 6:23 left.
It was Indiana who did what Oregon needed to do Saturday. What Oregon has been trying to do since the start of the Lanning era, what Oregon has been hoping to do for decades.
But the story here isn’t just Indiana’s somewhat improbable rise since the Cignetti hire. For Oregon fans, the story is about QB1 Moore and these 2025 Ducks responding to adversity.
I saw your faces on Saturday, trying to make sense of how this Lanning team, so loaded with talent, could be pushed into mistakes. There was near silence when the final interception sank Oregon’s hope for a Saturday miracle.
But somewhere there’s resilience, too. Big boy football in the Big Ten, you don’t give up. You get back up and keep fighting.
The path forward
I’ve seen the coaching life, for high school and NCAA-D3 football. I’m not a gambling man, but I’d wager that since Saturday’s final whistle, Lanning and Oregon OC Will Stein have worked more hours than you’ve been awake.
There’s recruiting to reestablish with a one-loss narrative.
Finding ways to keep the Oregon offense clicking when defenses crowd the box.
The logic puzzles of how to keep Moore upright when the O-Line is overmatched.
From a scheme standpoint, the Ducks need answers. They can’t let defenses keep stuffing the run gaps and collapsing pass protection. Moore needs more time and a cleaner pocket against legitimately good teams.
And Lanning’s calling-card defense must find more consistency in third-down stops, in the red zone, in late-game stands against top-tier opponents.
Postseason implications
Oregon drops to 2–1 in conference (5–1 overall), while Indiana vaults to 3–0 Big Ten, 6–0 overall.
The odd twist of the 12-team playoff expansion is that one loss hurts a top 10 team more in the conference race than in the playoff conversation.
For the playoffs, it’s a seeding difference. For the Big Ten race, even one loss can mean missing the cut for the conference championship game.
Oregon’s fighting uphill, but the season isn’t over, not by a mile. The Ducks are favored by two TDs this week at Rutgers, and Oregon needs a get-right game.
Wisconsin in Game 8 is a Big Ten bruiser in the same mold as Indiana, though with less firepower. As we saw in Oregon’s 16-13 escape at Madison last year, Wisconsin is more than capable of dragging the Ducks away from their strengths and into trench warfare.
These final two weeks of October are moments when Moore and the Ducks need to reestablish momentum and identity. With Indiana in the rearview, the loss to the Hoosiers becomes a test of how Oregon will respond after the fall.
The bottom line
I’m far from the only one since Saturday saying that Oregon’s loss to Indiana can be a reset. This 2025 Ducks lineup starts a lot of young talent, players who’ve only lost one or two college games and not many more than that in high school.
Young players realizing now how hard the college game can be against great coaching and a top 10 opponent, this can be a moment of growth.
It can be. But only if Oregon responds the right way and chooses to emerge stronger.
We need only look as far as Game 5 opponent, Penn State, falling off an absolute cliff as a program in the two weeks after losing to Oregon.
A growth moment isn’t automatic after a loss. It only happens if Oregon heals the physical and emotional bruises quickly. And only if every player from Moore to the O-Line, from the DBs to the backups, makes this a turning point, not a collapse.
Ducks fans, I know the heartbreak is real. That flush of optimism you had coming into the Indiana game feels crushed. But you’ve seen this Oregon program rise before. And just last season, you saw a two-loss Ohio State team decide in December to start playing like champions in the one last shot they had at that national title they’re defending now.
The next two games are absolutely critical. In part, because of the opponents on the other side. Maybe even more so in defiance of a mindset of defeat. Oregon has to come back ready to crush these remaining weeks of October. Moore has to bounce back, confident but careful. Every player traveling to Rutgers for Game 7 must take the field humbled but unbroken.
With one loss and half the season left, Oregon’s still in the heart of the fight for as long as the Ducks can keep the fight in their hearts.
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