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EUGENE — Big Ten? Big boy football? Saturday brings Oregon a chance to put any lingering doubts to rest.
No. 7 Indiana heads west to face the Ducks at Autzen Stadium. The Ducks’ second prove-it game in a row marks the halfway point for Oregon’s regular season.
Already this season, these 2025 Ducks have talked with their pads on both coasts and let scoreboards and a 5-0 record speak for themselves.
Throughout September, Oregon looked composed under pressure and performed like a clear contender to factor in October’s Big Ten race and November’s playoff conversation.
In October, the grind will start to filter out the herd from the teams that have elite levels of quality depth. Take Oklahoma, for example: The Sooners’ QB1 was out for thumb surgery. His backup played like a decent backup, and Oklahoma has enough horses to win with either QB. The majority of teams in college football couldn’t pull that off, even for a couple of weeks.
Even healthy, Oregon’s 2025 depth has been impressive. Through five games:
Five Ducks have rushing TDs.
Seven Ducks have TD receptions.
Four QBs have completed passes.
Two defenders have TDs.
True freshman RB Jordan Davison leads the team in scoring with 7 TDs.
Oregon’s schedule for October will demand even more of its talent and depth:
Oct. 11: Indiana (5-0) comes in as a top 10 team.
Oct. 18: Rutgers (0-2 Big Ten) is struggling, but will have a solid home field advantage with Oregon traveling through four time zones for the second time in three games.
Oct. 25: Wisconsin (0-2 Big Ten) famously took the Ducks to the wire in Madison last year with classic Big Ten clock-grinding, smash-mouth football.
The kind of program Oregon is striving to be year-in/year-out is one of those perennial powerhouse teams that proves its worth in the second half of the season and then takes it to the bank in the postseason.
Oregon’s Sept. foundation
Through five games now, Oregon has proved it’s one of college football’s best teams again this year. The Ducks have blended physicality with poise and precision. And profound balance, run vs. pass; young talent vs. experienced players; those early blowouts vs. grinding out a clutch win in the Big Ten trenches of Penn State’s Game 5 whiteout.
QB1 Dante Moore kept that trademark Oregon horsepower in the offense, putting the Duck through his weekly pushups.
The defense has matured, the depth looks real, and that Dan Lanning culture feels established and increasingly effective.
Previously-winless UCLA’s triumphant Week-6 upset of Penn State at the Rose Bowl took the shine right off Oregon’s Game 5 whiteout win, fueling the ever-present lazy talking point: “They haven’t played anyone good yet.”
All the click-bait narratives and hot takes aside, October brings a chance for Oregon to hit 6-0 and start looking at some of the bigger prizes down the stretch. The potential is clearly there for a special season.
October proving ground
As the calendar flips to October, injuries and conference records start to separate September’s promising upstarts from the championship-caliber programs built for January.
Oregon’s October path:
Oct. 11 vs. Indiana
Oct. 18 at Rutgers
Oct. 25 vs. Wisconsin
The second half of the season is a proving ground for deep playoff potential.
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Oct. 11: Indiana at Oregon, 330pm ET/230pm CT/1230pm Pacific | CBS
Keys vs. Indiana
ESPN’s College GameDay is heading to Eugene for this one, putting the eyes of the country squarely on Autzen. The Ducks, on the other hand, need a singular focus on what it’ll take to beat Indiana:
Spread the field. Indiana’s offense is built to run and RPO. The Hoosiers’ defense is likely getting back star CB D’Angelo Ponds for the Oregon game, a lockdown presence in the secondary. If Oregon’s passing game stalls, this becomes a dogfight. The Ducks are rotating six-deep at RB and have absolute studs on the O-Line, but you’d rather build a lead on some explosive plays than chip away at field position in a one-dimensional 1920s style ground-pound.
Strain Indiana’s depth on defense. Oregon fans will likely force communication errors for visitors, as usual. The more Oregon’s offense can keep the tempo high, the more upper hand they’ll have for those 3rd-and-short conversions.
Make a program statement. I, for one, have a ton of respect for how well-coached Indiana has been during Oregon’s two seasons in the Big Ten. But it’s been said that the Hoosiers just aren’t one of the teams recruiting a level of depth to contend with championship-caliber programs. Oregon has a chance to win consecutive ranked games and make a statement about just how much dominance they’re built for.
Keys vs. Rutgers
Rutgers is several years removed from national prominence, and that’s one of the dangers in this one. Classic setup for a trap game coming off the ranked showdown with Indiana, and the East Coast travel doesn’t help.
Here’s what Oregon will need to control to keep Rutgers in check:
Start strong, regardless of the Indiana outcome. Don’t let previous highs or lows beat you. Don’t let the travel beat you. And for heaven’s sake, don’t let any of Rutgers’ guys play hero ball. Oregon goes east after a big clash with Indiana. Rutgers will be motivated and bold, with a home crowd and nothing to lose.
Protect the football, and shorten the field. Possession time, precision, balanced offensive mix. Stay ahead of schedule on offense, stay in high-percentage down and distance, and keep the clock moving. On defense, don’t let Rutgers get hot in the pass game. Make them earn every yard.
Lean on identity. Against Penn State or Indiana, you count on trading shots with a powerful opponent. At Rutgers, calmly building an increasing lead is Oregon’s recipe for success. Rutgers would love to end up in a shootout with a conference opponent. Oregon is talented enough to not let that happen. Win this one on the road, and ready up for a Big Ten home game against Wisconsin.
Keys vs. Wisconsin
Wisconsin in Eugene is a rematch of the close call for Oregon in Madison last year, a 16-13 win sealed by Matayo Uiagalelei’s late interception.
This season, the Badgers opened 2-3 overall and went winless through their two Big Ten games in September. At that rate, by the final week of October, the Badgers could very likely land in Eugene frustrated and without much to lose.
Keys for Oregon vs. Wisconsin:
Focus and discipline. Precise execution is mission-critical against teams that can limit opportunities the way Wisconsin did against the Ducks last season. Wisconsin tends to field a defense that can stomach a smash-mouth running game and derail your tempo. By the end of October, the grind takes a toll. This is when eventual champions will power through the cold, hustle through the fatigue, and stay sharp to dodge the mental mistakes that can cost you a game.
Win the turnover ratio. When opponents get sloppy with the ball, Wisconsin is able to make them pay. The Badgers are built to slow down opponents and erase roster advantages. Classic old-school defense that bends but won’t break. In their style of game, every possession is crucial.
Sustained drives, red zone scores. Wisconsin’s game plan will likely hinge on burning clock, slowing the game down, and limiting Oregon’s offense to battling for first downs. The Ducks will have to be patient but stay ready to close strong when there are opportunities to strike.
The bottom line
If Oregon handles October? Best case is the Ducks at 8–0 and in control of the Big Ten race, with momentum into November.
The clickbait hot-takes will likely still come up with some kind of nonsense, but in the real conversation, playoff rankings will no doubt be high on the unbeaten and one-loss teams leading the pack in November.
In that final month of the season, Oregon will face Iowa, Minnesota, USC, and Washington. None of them is flashing national powerhouse vibes this year, but every last one of them looks hungry and capable.
Duck fans, I know you’ve seen hype turn to heartbreak before, promising seasons that fizzled. But this feels different. With absolutely no disrespect to the Oregon squads of the past, I can’t say that we’ve ever seen a roster built quite like this in Eugene.
Lanning’s crew is battle-tested now. They’ve got momentum. And October will do a lot to separate the true contenders.
If Oregon can roll into November unbeaten again this year, Duck Nation could have a lot to start looking forward to.
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