Fresh off a big win at home over a ranked opponent, the Oregon Ducks could be feeling the wind in their hair again. Changes were made, and the Ducks looked like the explosive offense and tenacious defense that many expected coming into the season.

A 34-26 win over Northwestern restored some confidence for the Ducks with a new and aggressive offense, led by the connection between Dylan Raiola and Dakorien Moore. But now comes the toughest task on the schedule: a November trip to Columbus to take on Ohio State, which is feeling its back up against the wall.

Dan Lanning has split his two matchups against the Buckeyes, both of which occurred in the 2024 season. Oregon squeezed by Ohio State in Eugene for a 32-31 victory that saw time run out on the Buckeyes' final drive, but Jeremiah Smith and Ryan Day took their revenge in a 41-21 blowout win in the Rose Bowl.

Ohio State is coming off a 30-18 loss on the road to USC in freshman backup quarterback Luke Fahey's first career start. The Buckeyes' game plan is still for Fahey to get the ball to Smith as much as possible, but Ohio State has playmakers across the field on both sides of the ball that Lanning and the Ducks should be worried about.

Lanning previewed the upcoming matchup, Raiola's improved play and the new aggressive identity on offense heading into the game. Here is everything Lanning had to say on Monday before the Ducks travel to Columbus:

Opening Statement

"Following up after the game, again, I want to thank our crowd. I thought the atmosphere was awesome. I thought our players really showed some resiliency in that game and really kept their focus and were able to attack. So some real positives that came out of that, and obviously that matters when you're going to play a team like Ohio State and a legendary place there like "The Shoe." Coach Day does an unbelievable job. It's a really well-coached team. They've got good personnel in all phases. They really show up, so it'll be a real challenge for us, but one that we're certainly excited about."

Different Stakes

Dylan Raiola's Consistency

Coaching Staff Growth

Luke Fahey

Jeremiah Smith

Ohio State's Defensive Line

Jeremiah McClellan

Raiola's Aggression

The Shoe

Messiah Hampton

Stopping Jeremiah Smith

Player Experience On Staff

Teitum Tuioti

Operation

Jordon Davison

Kirby Smart's Comments

Penalties

D'Antre Robinson

Farm Your Land

"When you go back, and you just point to the entirety of the game to our players and show, 'Hey, look, we had 11 guys doing what they were coached to on this play. Look at the result,' you recognize that there's a lot of success on both sides of the ball when that happens, so our guys care. Sometimes that means they press right, and again we don't want superheroes, we want assassins. We want guys that do their job consistently, don't really care where the credit comes, and they make 100 of the plays that they're supposed to make. I don't need anybody making 100% of the plays that they're not supposed to make, because that means they're probably not doing their job somewhere else."