About the Oregon Ducks
Head Coach: Dan Lanning
Overall: 40-6 (11-0 in Big Ten)
Bowl Appearances at Oregon: Three
2024 Record: 13-1 (9-0)
Mascot: The Duck
Colors: Green and Yellow
Outfitter: Nike
National Titles: 0
Conference Titles: 17 (most recently in 2024)
Heisman Winners: Marcus Mariota (2014)
Last Week: Bye Week, won in overtime at Penn State in last game
Betting Information
Indiana (+10.5) at Oregon | Total of 53.5
Statistical Leaders
Passing: Dante Moore – 100/134 (74.6%) for 1210 yards with 14 TDs and 1 INTs
Rushing: Dierre Hille Jr. – 26 rushes for 270 yards (10.38 ypc) with 2 TDs
Receiving: Dakorien Moore – 19 receptions for 296 yards with 2 TDs
Tackles: Bryce Boettcher – 40 tackles with 10 solo
Stat of the Week
Since 2020, the Oregon Ducks have turned Autzen Stadium into a fortress. The Ducks are 29-1 in their past 30 home games and have an average margin of victory of 19.73 points per game. The only defeat came in overtime in 2022 against Michael Penix and the Washington team that reached the National Championship Game.
Ducks’ Talking Points
- Next Great Oregon Quarterback Leads Strong Offense
The main question surrounding the Oregon Ducks entering the 2025 season was how prepared Dante Moore was to take over control of the attack. The former five-star prospect began his career at UCLA, started briefly and then left for Oregon and served as the understudy to Dillon Gabriel in 2024. Dan Lanning chose not to pursue anyone in the transfer portal, indicating a lot of confidence in Dante Moore’s ability to lead his team’s attack and keep the offense humming at a high standard.
Through five games, Moore looks more than capable of doing so and he’s exceeding even the most optimistic of expectations. The redshirt sophomore is completing nearly 75 percent of his passes and has 14 touchdowns to only one interception. Dante Moore is now getting buzz as a potential top five pick in the upcoming NFL Draft (if he chooses to declare).
Despite losing receiver Evan Stewart in the preseason, the offense is averaging 46.6 points per game including 69 against Oklahoma State, 34 against Northwestern, 41 against rival Oregon State and 30 on the road at Penn State. Freshman phenom Dakorien Moore has been one of the best wide receivers in the Big Ten (19 receptions for 296 yards with two touchdowns) and seven different players have at least seven receptions on the season: Moore, Malik Benson, Kenyon Sadiq, Gary Bryant Jr., Jeremiah McClellan and Jayden Limar. It’s who has emerged in the running game that is the real surprise though.
Tulane transfer Makhi Hughes has only 17 carries and returning veteran Noah Whittington has only played in three games but freshman Dierre Hill Jr. has been a revelation. Hill Jr. has 26 carries for 270 yards, averaging 10.38 yards per carry with two touchdowns. Oregon’s rebuilt offensive line has three starters from the transfer portal and they held up very well against a strong Penn State pass rush. Will Stein might be the best coordinator in all of college football and operating back in Autzen Stadium, the Ducks offense will be a handful for IU’s stellar defense and it seems imperative to have DeAngelo Ponds back on the field and healthy.
2. Lanning’s Elite Defense
Most of the attention paid to the Oregon program centers around the high-flying offense and the multitude of flashy uniform combinations from Phil Knight’s favorite place to give his money. Dan Lanning is, at his core, a defensive coach and he has built his roster with elite recruiting on both sides of the ball. The Ducks are only allowing 3.44 yards per rush and just 4.16 yards per play while allowing only 12.2 points per game. The Ducks have played three power conference teams plus Oregon State and Montana State but it is fair to assert that IU will be the best offense the Ducks have faced.
The offensive line will have to play an outstanding game for the Hoosiers to have a shot as they go against a star-studded group that includes Matayo Uiagalelei and Teitum Tuioti. The defense is designed to make life difficult on opposing quarterbacks and they are allowing only 44.32% of passes to be completed, the best mark in the nation. That number drops to only 34.15% when they are playing in front of the ravenous fans at Autzen Stadium. If the Hoosiers can’t figure out a way to adjust how they handle the silent snap count and change things up during the course of the game, Oregon’s defense will overwhelm the IU offense.
3. Plan of Attack
Indiana has two points of data that could be considered at least somewhat comparable in quality to Oregon. Granted, Illinois and Iowa are not elite like the Ducks are but they are certainly better than average power conference foes. Meanwhile, Oregon played Oklahoma State and Northwestern but the only near comparison we have to Indiana is the game at Penn State. In that game, both Oregon and Penn State’s defensive lines had the edge over the offensive lines and neither offense was able to find explosive plays.
The second half featured more success for the offense as both defenses started to wear down. Oregon emphasized quick throws and screens plus utilizing Dante Moore as a runner a bit more than they previously had in order to protect him from the Penn State pass rush.
The Ducks were not particularly efficient with the screen game and there were essentially no explosive runs to the perimeter but they ran the ball pretty well on interior zone runs. On the other side of the ball, Oregon was outstanding against Penn State’s rushing attack until the fourth quarter. Penn State’s best success on offense came by spreading their receivers out and picking up the tempo but Drew Allar was harassed and uncomfortable in the pocket for nearly the entirety of the game. How will both coaching staffs use the bye week to prepare for this clash?