STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Big Ten? Big boy football? Your whiteout vibes live in Eugene now!
Oregon fans, I know you woke up Sunday morning still buzzing. Your pulse still trapped in double OT. Relief and lingering nerves tangled together. Because a win like that can test your faith.
Penn State came back from Oregon’s 17-3 lead to force overtime.
Oregon botched the 2-point try in the second OT, and that 6-point lead looked fragile.
Then, on Penn State's first down, a walk-off Oregon interception to win it.
Purdue transfer DB Dillon Thieneman flying from a deep-middle Safety look; racing out wide to Penn State’s right.
Thieneman, a name most Oregon fans didn’t recognize until spring ball at best, maybe right up to the season opener a month ago.
Thieneman, for those who did know his name, had a hard-earned reputation as last season’s leading tackler for Big Ten DBs.
Thieneman, nobody’s prediction for the ballhawk who’d make a game-changing INT in one of the year’s biggest regular-season games in the nation.
That guy.
He raced out wide and undercut Drew Allar’s sideline receiver. High-pointed the final pass of the game. And won it, 30-24 for Oregon, with a walk-off pick that took the whiteout hysteria and painted it Oregon green.
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And the nuance of the split-second of Thieneman airborne that I loved most? He made zero effort to stick the landing. From the instant that pass hit his gloves, Thieneman over-indexed on securing the catch. Still in the air, both hands on the ball, curled himself around it. Cradled it to his chest. Gave up his body and landed flat on his back. Taking no chances and leaving nothing to question.
From the instant that pass hit his gloves, Thieneman zoned out everything but coming down with that ball secure to seal the win.
We learned something big in Beaver Stadium. True, we learned that Thieneman’s a baller. But even bigger than that, we learned that Oregon might be ready to deliver us a very special season in these months ahead.
These 2025 Ducks are 5-0 (2-0 Big Ten), with a bye week to prepare for Indiana in Game 6.
Moore’s poise, Thieneman’s dagger
The Ducks were up 17–3 late, feeling solid but not yet truly safe.
And to Oregon’s credit, the offense had found traction in the second half. But you could see the momentum shift stronger and stronger toward Penn State in the fourth quarter.
Oregon 17, PennSt 17
Penn State burned the final six minutes of regulation on a 15-play drive, capped by Allar’s scoring pass to Devonte Ross from 7 yards out to tie it 17-all with 30 seconds left.
OT: Oregon 24, PennSt 24
Oregon started overtime on defense. The teams traded TDs, which put Oregon on offense to end the first OT and again to start the second.
OT: Oregon 30, PennSt 24
The Ducks needed just one play to score on Moore’s 25-yard TD pass to Gary Bryant Jr., crossing on a drag route from Oregon’s left and turning upfield after the catch for game’s final points.
Moore was picked on the 2-point try, and Penn State came dangerously close to breaking the interception return for a possible 2-point score of their own.
Leading by six, Oregon was in a bind. A Penn State TD would tie. And from the second OT on, both teams would have to go for two.
On first down, the game’s final play, Allar tried to float a pass over the first level of Oregon’s coverage to a sideline route about 11 yards downfield.
In the blink of an eye, Thieneman’s pick ended the game 30–24.
Ranked game vs. Indiana
Oregon has a bye week before facing Indiana in Game 6. The Hoosiers are extremely well-coached and come in as a legit top 10 squad.
Some major differences from the Penn State whiteout:
Oregon faces Indiana in the friendly confines of Autzen Stadium.
After the Penn State win, Dante Moore knows exactly what he’s capable of.
Oregon’s sense of its 2025 identity on both sides of the ball is solid now.
Through all of Penn State’s whiteout commotion, Dante Moore showed growing command. As Penn State gained momentum, Moore increasingly rose to the occasion with answers.
From no TDs in the first half to two in the second and two more in OT, including the game-winner.
The tougher it got, the better he and Oregon responded.
Indiana has showcased bulletproof confidence through these first two seasons of the expanded Big Ten. But the Hoosiers have to take note that Oregon just knocked off a top-3 team. In hostile territory. In a rematch of last year’s Big Ten title game.
It’s true, the job’s not finished. Far from it.
Keys vs. Indiana
Like Oregon, the Hoosiers are unbeaten this year. Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza is precise, and their offense is balanced.
Defensive discipline and depth: That second-half sequence where Penn State clawed its way back into Game 5 can be tighter moving forward. Tosh Lupoi’s defense will need to grow into a squad that can maintain that first-half lockdown from the Penn State win, no second-chance opportunities like the whiteout second half. From the Oregon fan perspective, Thieneman’s interception felt like destiny. But you don’t want to be in a spot every week where you lead 17-3 late and still end up needing overtime heroics to win.
Offensive balance & Moore’s poise: Keep riding Dante’s confidence, but the Ducks can’t start putting everything on him, and he can’t afford to start playing with an air of invincibility. The teams that succeed in January are teams that balance run and pass, spread the ball to all zones of the field, and stay stingy about avoiding turnovers.
Handling national scrutiny and expectations: Every week now, Oregon is under a microscope. Media, opposing fans, and even the Oregon fan base will nitpick everything from margin of victory to poll movement to uniforms. One thing Dan Lanning’s Oregon squads have been exceptional about is keeping distance from all that outside noise. In these ranked matchups, Oregon will be well-served to keep the uniform critiques and opposing fan hot takes out of the Ducks’ poise, focus, and swagger.
The bottom line
Oregon fans, if you weren’t nervous in the fourth quarter at Penn State, you were hiding from the truth. Penn State ate up Oregon’s 17-3 lead and forced overtime.
If you weren’t nervous in the second overtime, you must not have been even watching. Up six after the botched 2-point try, the odds were heavily on Penn State’s side.
You saw how fast momentum can swing when a team like Penn State smells a second-half opportunity.
But this game gives you proof that Lanning’s staff will make bold calls. Proof that Moore, Oregon’s 17 new starters, and those freshman Receivers and RBs are the future, and the now.
Weathering a storm like Game 5 at Penn State, surviving it and winning, that builds belief that can fuel a team through a close scrape. And it builds conviction not to end up in a bind like that again.
The rest of Oregon’s 2025 schedule is no joke:
Indiana
Rutgers
Wisconsin
Iowa
Minnesota
USC
Washington
There will be more tough games and more hostile environments. Oregon will have to keep proving who they are.
Win this Indiana game convincingly, and Oregon will absolutely be in the top tier of the Big Ten race.
Beyond that, and bigger than that, for Oregon fans, the best of this 2025 season is yet to come.
The Ducks have awakened, and Game 6 presents a new kind of pressure: To do it again.
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