COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Oregon coach Dan Lanning knows what it is like for a season to teeter on the brink when the starting quarterback goes down.
The Ducks seem to have found their stride though, while the Buckeyes' season has imploded.
Oregon rallied from an early two-touchdown deficit to hammer No. 11 Ohio State 41-28 on Saturday as Dylan Raiola passed for 257 yards and Dierre Hill Jr. rushed for two touchdowns.
The Ducks (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten, No. 23 CFP) have won two straight after losing two of three following Dante Moore’s season-ending concussion at Southern California.
“I know it’s hard when you change what you think you’re going to be throughout the year, and somebody gets injured. It takes a while to kind of figure that out, and in college football, you just don’t have time,” Lanning said. “We went through some growing pains ourselves, and figuring out OK, how do we become the team that we want to be? And I feel like we saw glimpses of that.”
Oregon was down 14-0 late in the first quarter before scoring on four of their next five drives to take control of the game and deliver a stunning loss to the Buckeyes, who have dropped two straight games for the first time since 2011.
It was sweet revenge for the Ducks and Lanning after the Buckeyes dashed their hopes of a College Football Playoff title and undefeated 2024 season with a 41-21 win in the Rose Bowl. Ohio State went on to win their second CFP title.
“We were confident in our plan. We saw seams everywhere in their defense when we were game planning for them, and those first couple drives were like self-inflicted wounds, and so we never got down. We just kept stacking plays,” said Raiola, who completed 25 of 40 passes
Ohio State's season and its CFP hopes get blown up after Julian Sayin suffered an arm injury on Oct. 17 at Indiana. It is also the first time since October 1992 that Ohio State (6-3, 4-2, No. 12 CFP) has lost back-to-back games to unranked opponents.
Many of the 103,551 mostly scarlet-clad fans that packed Ohio Stadium had departed by midway through the fourth quarter after the Ducks had scored 38 straight points.
“We didn’t expect any of this to happen. I thought the way that we came out was how we thought we would play in this game. And then once the momentum swung, we weren’t able to stop that and then swing it,” said coach Ryan Day, who has lost three games for the first time in his eight seasons leading the Buckeyes.
Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith, who had seven catches for 133 yards and a touchdown, was screaming at coaches and teammates on the sideline at the start of the fourth quarter.
Luke Fahey completed 36 of 50 passes for 360 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in his second start. However, 178 yards and both of his TD throws came in the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach.
Bo Jackson had 11 carries for 48 yards and scored touchdowns from 16 and 8 yards to give the Buckeyes a 14-0 lead.
Hill, who rushed for 75 yards on 13 carries, got the Ducks within 14-10 with 1:25 remaining in the second quarter on a 9-yard touchdown. The sophomore then extended Oregon's lead to 24-14 on the opening drive of the third quarter on a 48-yard run when he cut right and broke three tackles before reaching the end zone.
Raiola had two second-half touchdowns to put it out reach. Dakorien Moore made a one-handed, 11-yard catch in the back left corner of the end zone while being covered by Ohio State's Dominick Kelly midway through the third quarter to make it 31-14.
Running back Brandon Smith then went 15 yards on a screen pass, marking the first time since 1988 Ohio State has allowed at least 30 points in consecutive losses.
Turning point
Gage Hurych's 33-yard field goal early in the second quarter got Oregon on the scoreboard before the Ducks scored twice in the last 1:25 to go up 17-14 at halftime.
Oregon seized momentum with a fake punt. On fourth-and-9, linebacker Teitum Tuioti took the snap and found fellow linebacker Matayo Uiagalelei open near the right sideline for a 30-yard gain to the Buckeyes’ 39. Hill scored his first touchdown six plays later.
“We punted a couple times at that point. We’d seen a look, we felt confident. It certainly created some momentum, and gave us a chance to kind of settle in and even out the score a little bit there, and then get into a rhythm,” Lanning said.
The Ducks quickly got the ball back when defensive back Devin Jackson picked off Fahey at the Oregon 41. After Moore's 3-yard TD catch in the back of the end zone was overturned because he didn't have control of the ball when he hit the ground, tight end Jamari Johnson punched it in with a 2-yard run on a direct snap on the last play of the half.
“I thought getting off the field there before the fake punt would’ve been a huge stop and enable for us to get the ball on offense and eat up some more clock there in the second quarter, but it didn’t happen,” Day said.
The takeaway
Oregon: The Ducks have won three of their last four games against the Buckeyes.
Ohio State: The Buckeyes are in danger of dropping out of the Top 25 for the first time since 2011.
Up next
Oregon: Hosts Michigan next Saturday.
Ohio State: Hosts Northwestern next Saturday.
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