The Oregon Ducks had an incredibly successful season in 2024, going undefeated in the regular season for just the second time in program history and winning the Big Ten Championship in their first year as league members. However, the final game of the year, a 41-21 blowout loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl, will be the lasting memory for most Oregon fans and players, whether fair or not.
While Dan Lanning and the Ducks kicked off a new season this past week with the start of the 2025 spring football season, questions about what happened on January 1 still resonate. As we talk to coaches and coordinators, we’re starting to learn what exactly went wrong for Oregon in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.
According to defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi, the Ducks’ biggest problem in Pasadena wasn’t a lack of preparation but a miscalculation in their preparation.
“I think first, I’ve always got to look myself in the mirror,” Lupoi said on Saturday. “From a preparation standpoint, you know, we probably utilized too many things that helped us win the first time we beat them. (We need to) always be asking ourselves, you know, the what ifs, if they’re getting to specific looks or moving around guys that they didn’t do in the past.”
Back in October of last year, Oregon had a thrilling 32-31 win over Ohio State at home. They saw a strong defensive performance in shutting down the running and passing games, limiting Jeremiah Smith to 100 yards and a touchdown on nine catches while keeping the tandem of Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson to a combined 110 yards rushing.
In January, it was a different story, though.
Smith was the most dynamic player in the game, and it was evident from the opening drive where he took a pass from Will Howard 45 yards for a touchdown on the game’s third play. The freshman WR had seven catches for 187 yards and two touchdowns, while the Buckeyes rushed for 181 yards and two touchdowns.
“They moved (Smith) around way more than they had in the past, so having a plan for that moving forward is necessary and applies, you know, to any team we play,” Lupoi continued.
The Buckeyes that Oregon played in October were far different from the team they saw in January. With a revamped offense that was more aggressive in the passing game and a remade offensive line that was pieced together due to injuries, it was tough to prepare for Ohio State a second time, regardless of how much time the Ducks were allowed.
More than anything, though, Lupoi recognizes that the Buckeyes had a great gameplan for them and that offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was able to do a great job of finding what other teams had been able to have success with against the Ducks throughout the season.
“I feel like there were a lot more copycats when we watched that game and broke it down in the past, in terms of bits and pieces from other teams that did work at times versus us,” Lupoi said. “So (it’s) just going back to almost a self-scout standpoint of ‘what were the answers’ when we did hive up an explosive, whether it’s versus Illinois and the game is 38-9, and never having the imposter of victory or defeat effect the way that we post-debrief all of those answers.”
The Buckeyes aren’t on Oregon’s regular-season schedule in 2025, but there is always the chance that these two teams will meet in the Big Ten Championship Game at the end of the year or potentially in a College Football Playoff matchup for the second year in a row.
Should that happen, Oregon hopes to have a better game plan and outcome. Regardless, they certainly learned from what took place on New Year’s Day.
“You’ve gotta learn from wins, and you’ve gotta learn from losses,” head coach Dan Lanning said earlier this week of the Ohio State game. “We certainly learned from that one. But this is a new season. That has no impact on our next season. All of the wins we had last year? They have absolutely no impact on this next season, either. So it’s really about focusing on what’s next and continuing to improve.”
