Saturday, November 7
Columbus, OH
12:30 PM
University of Oregon
at
Ohio State
11/07/26 | Football
The Ducks are on the road to face the Buckeyes on Saturday (12:30 p.m., CBS)
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A matchup that had the attention of the nation in the preseason is no less intriguing now that it has arrived, though the stakes may be different than initially anticipated.
When preseason polls were released, Ohio State was No. 1 and Oregon was No. 2. Two months later the Ducks and Buckeyes will finally meet on the field Saturday, and though their rankings have changed, the match-up remains critical to each.
Oregon (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) endured an up-and-down October after the injury to quarterback Dante Moore at USC in late September. The Ducks may have stabilized themselves with their Halloween win over Northwestern, and they can prove it at Ohio State.
The Buckeyes (6-2, 4-1), meanwhile, are coming off their second loss of the year, at USC. Their starting quarterback, Julian Sayin, was hurt in a win Oct. 17 at Indiana, prior to Ohio State's bye week; their return to the field was at the Trojans on Halloween, when true freshman Luke Fahey took over at quarterback.
Ohio State leads the all-time series between the two, 10-2, though Oregon has won two of the last three matchups. That includes a 35-28 victory for the Ducks the last time they met in Columbus, in 2021.
Saturday's game will be telecast by CBS, with kickoff scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Brad Nessler will provide play-by-play, with analysis by Charles Davis and sideline reporting by Jenny Dell.
Some storylines to watch when the game kicks off …
1. Two months ago, this projected to be a match-up of leading national championship contenders. Now, it's closer to an elimination game, with the loser facing an exceedingly uphill climb back into the College Football Playoff picture.
Given recent struggles, both programs are much more focused on what's right in front of them, rather than big-picture goals and narratives. And regardless of current records, it's a marquee match-up of two of college football's most successful programs over the last quarter century.
"I think that Ohio State speaks for itself," UO coach Dan Lanning said. "They're a really good team, and it's a real challenge this time of year. It's part of what makes it exciting about being at Oregon or being at a place like Ohio State, to get to play in games like this. So this is one that certainly means a lot to both of us."
2. The biggest X factor for Oregon after Moore's injury has been quarterback Dylan Raiola. He was elite off the bench to rally the Ducks from behind after Moore was hurt at USC, and Raiola was superb in last week's win over Northwestern, under the direction of new play caller Jay Johnson.
But Raiola struggled with ball security in his first start for the Ducks, against UCLA, and to translate yards into points in his next start, at Illinois. He's been up and down the last five games, and there's no better time than this week to demonstrate consistent positive momentum.
"The more comfortable he gets, the better he's going to play," Lanning said. "Like I said (after the Northwestern game), he builds confidence as the game goes. So I think it's important for us to be able to start (quickly), but for him to also understand, 'I don't have to force anything.' For us to have success and be able to lean on the players that he has around him to be able to have success, and us have a great game plan for him."
3. For the Buckeyes, Fahey made four limited appearances off the bench behind Sayin before taking over as quarterback at USC. The Ducks want to keep him from enjoying a breakout game Saturday.
Fahey was 21-of-38 for 260 yards and a touchdown against the Trojans. Ohio State also rushed for 204 yards in that game, but like Oregon at Illinois, there was a disparity between yards produced and points on the scoreboard.
"He's an operator," Lanning said of Fahey. "He's a really smart quarterback. He's a winner. His intelligence, it shows up. This is an offense that has a lot of moving parts. I thought he handled it extremely well in that environment."
4. The Buckeyes boast arguably the best player in college football, and as November dawns Jeremiah Smith already is over 1,000 receiving yards this season. The Ducks probably won't be able to shut him down, but they'll work to contain Smith as much as possible.
Smith has 62 catches for 1,067 yards and 13 touchdowns through eight games this season. With 164 more yards, he'll become the Big Ten's all-time career leader in receiving yards; he had more, 187, the last time the Ducks and Buckeyes met, in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff two years ago.
"He's certainly pro-ready," Lanning said. "I think anybody that's played against him already would tell you that he probably was two years ago, right? So he certainly is now. He's a guy that, you have to know where he's at at all times."
5. The top two teams in the preseason top 25 weren't nearly as prominent when the initial College Football Playoff rankings for this season were announced earlier this week.
Ohio State was No. 12, in position to be bumped from the 12-team field by a team from outside the Power 4 conferences. And Oregon was No. 23, despite being unranked in the polls.
One team Saturday will get a big boost in next week's rankings. The Ducks would like it to be them, even if that's not a motivating factor given all Oregon has been working to shore up the last few weeks.
"I'll be honest. I didn't even know that was happening," Lanning said Wednesday, the day after the CFP rankings were released. "Of course, somebody texts it to you, but that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter unless we do what we need to do, and we haven't talked to our players about it. I'm not going to talk to our players about it. Let's go play this game."
When preseason polls were released, Ohio State was No. 1 and Oregon was No. 2. Two months later the Ducks and Buckeyes will finally meet on the field Saturday, and though their rankings have changed, the match-up remains critical to each.
Oregon (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) endured an up-and-down October after the injury to quarterback Dante Moore at USC in late September. The Ducks may have stabilized themselves with their Halloween win over Northwestern, and they can prove it at Ohio State.
The Buckeyes (6-2, 4-1), meanwhile, are coming off their second loss of the year, at USC. Their starting quarterback, Julian Sayin, was hurt in a win Oct. 17 at Indiana, prior to Ohio State's bye week; their return to the field was at the Trojans on Halloween, when true freshman Luke Fahey took over at quarterback.
Ohio State leads the all-time series between the two, 10-2, though Oregon has won two of the last three matchups. That includes a 35-28 victory for the Ducks the last time they met in Columbus, in 2021.
Saturday's game will be telecast by CBS, with kickoff scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Brad Nessler will provide play-by-play, with analysis by Charles Davis and sideline reporting by Jenny Dell.
Some storylines to watch when the game kicks off …
1. Two months ago, this projected to be a match-up of leading national championship contenders. Now, it's closer to an elimination game, with the loser facing an exceedingly uphill climb back into the College Football Playoff picture.
Given recent struggles, both programs are much more focused on what's right in front of them, rather than big-picture goals and narratives. And regardless of current records, it's a marquee match-up of two of college football's most successful programs over the last quarter century.
"I think that Ohio State speaks for itself," UO coach Dan Lanning said. "They're a really good team, and it's a real challenge this time of year. It's part of what makes it exciting about being at Oregon or being at a place like Ohio State, to get to play in games like this. So this is one that certainly means a lot to both of us."
2. The biggest X factor for Oregon after Moore's injury has been quarterback Dylan Raiola. He was elite off the bench to rally the Ducks from behind after Moore was hurt at USC, and Raiola was superb in last week's win over Northwestern, under the direction of new play caller Jay Johnson.
But Raiola struggled with ball security in his first start for the Ducks, against UCLA, and to translate yards into points in his next start, at Illinois. He's been up and down the last five games, and there's no better time than this week to demonstrate consistent positive momentum.
"The more comfortable he gets, the better he's going to play," Lanning said. "Like I said (after the Northwestern game), he builds confidence as the game goes. So I think it's important for us to be able to start (quickly), but for him to also understand, 'I don't have to force anything.' For us to have success and be able to lean on the players that he has around him to be able to have success, and us have a great game plan for him."
3. For the Buckeyes, Fahey made four limited appearances off the bench behind Sayin before taking over as quarterback at USC. The Ducks want to keep him from enjoying a breakout game Saturday.
Fahey was 21-of-38 for 260 yards and a touchdown against the Trojans. Ohio State also rushed for 204 yards in that game, but like Oregon at Illinois, there was a disparity between yards produced and points on the scoreboard.
"He's an operator," Lanning said of Fahey. "He's a really smart quarterback. He's a winner. His intelligence, it shows up. This is an offense that has a lot of moving parts. I thought he handled it extremely well in that environment."
4. The Buckeyes boast arguably the best player in college football, and as November dawns Jeremiah Smith already is over 1,000 receiving yards this season. The Ducks probably won't be able to shut him down, but they'll work to contain Smith as much as possible.
Smith has 62 catches for 1,067 yards and 13 touchdowns through eight games this season. With 164 more yards, he'll become the Big Ten's all-time career leader in receiving yards; he had more, 187, the last time the Ducks and Buckeyes met, in the quarterfinals of the College Football Playoff two years ago.
"He's certainly pro-ready," Lanning said. "I think anybody that's played against him already would tell you that he probably was two years ago, right? So he certainly is now. He's a guy that, you have to know where he's at at all times."
5. The top two teams in the preseason top 25 weren't nearly as prominent when the initial College Football Playoff rankings for this season were announced earlier this week.
Ohio State was No. 12, in position to be bumped from the 12-team field by a team from outside the Power 4 conferences. And Oregon was No. 23, despite being unranked in the polls.
One team Saturday will get a big boost in next week's rankings. The Ducks would like it to be them, even if that's not a motivating factor given all Oregon has been working to shore up the last few weeks.
"I'll be honest. I didn't even know that was happening," Lanning said Wednesday, the day after the CFP rankings were released. "Of course, somebody texts it to you, but that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter unless we do what we need to do, and we haven't talked to our players about it. I'm not going to talk to our players about it. Let's go play this game."
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