Oregon erases 14-point hole, routs No. 11 Ohio State 41-28

Oregon erased an early two-touchdown deficit and then pulled away in the second half to beat Ohio State 41-28 at Ohio Stadium on Saturday, a result that reshuffles the Big Ten race in its final month and raises fresh questions about a Buckeyes team built for a national-title run. The Ducks, playing without the starting quarterback they began the season with, outscored Ohio State 41-14 after the Buckeyes opened a 14-0 lead in the first quarter.

A 14-point hole, then a rout

Ohio State struck first. Running back Bo Jackson scored on runs of 16 and 8 yards in the opening quarter, and the Buckeyes led 14-0 with less than a minute left in the period. Oregon answered methodically: a 33-yard field goal from Gage Hurych, a 9-yard touchdown run by Dierre Hill Jr. and a 2-yard score from Jamari Johnson as time expired in the second quarter gave the Ducks a 17-14 halftime lead they never relinquished.

The margin widened after the break. Hill broke off a 48-yard touchdown run on Oregon's first possession of the third quarter, and quarterback Dylan Raiola found Dakorien Moore for an 11-yard score to make it 31-14. Raiola's second touchdown pass, a 15-yarder to Brandon Smith early in the fourth quarter, pushed the lead to 38-14 before Ohio State scored twice in the final minutes to make the final margin look closer than the game felt. Wide receiver Jeremiah Smith caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Luke Fahey, who added a two-point conversion run, and Fahey later hit Nate Roberts from 15 yards for a score that went final at 41-28 after a failed two-point try.

Fahey finished 36 of 50 for 360 yards with two touchdowns and an interception in the loss, and Smith caught seven passes for 133 yards. For Oregon, Raiola completed 25 of 40 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns, while Hill ran 13 times for 75 yards and two scores. A crowd of 103,551 watched at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, according to the game's official box score.

Two programs, two backup quarterbacks

The result was shaped as much by who wasn't on the field as who was. Ohio State has been without preseason starter Julian Sayin since he was hurt in the Buckeyes' win at Indiana several weeks ago, an injury to his throwing arm that coach Ryan Day said would keep him out for an extended stretch. That forced Fahey, an early-enrolling true freshman from Mission Viejo, California, into the lineup; Saturday's game against Oregon was only his second career start, after an Oct. 31 loss at USC in his first. Fahey had thrown for 7,021 yards and 68 touchdowns in high school, but his college learning curve has been public: he threw interceptions in each of his first two relief appearances before being handed the full-time job.

Oregon has been dealing with its own quarterback upheaval since late September, when starter Dante Moore was carted off the field with a neck brace after a late hit by USC's Desman Stephens II, who was ejected for targeting on the play. Moore was diagnosed with a concussion, and coach Dan Lanning said in late October that Moore, while recovering normally, was not expected to play again this season. Raiola, who started for Nebraska in 2024 and 2025 before transferring to Oregon, has run the Ducks' offense since, splitting some snaps with backup Brock Thomas earlier in the year before taking over the job outright.

Saturday's win was Oregon's most complete offensive performance since Moore's injury upended a season that began with national championship aspirations in Eugene. The Ducks had also fired offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer in October after a loss to Illinois, a move that preceded Raiola's emergence as a more consistent starter.

A Big Ten race with no clear favorite

Both teams now sit at 6-3 overall and 4-2 in conference play, a record that drops them into a crowded middle tier of the Big Ten standings alongside Iowa, Wisconsin, USC and Illinois, all also 4-2 in league games. UCLA, at 9-0 overall and 6-0 in conference play, and Indiana, at 8-1 and 5-1, remain in control of the race for the Big Ten championship game and the conference's automatic bid into the expanded College Football Playoff field. For Ohio State, the loss extends a pattern that has followed Day in marquee games even as the Buckeyes have remained a consistent national contender under his tenure; for Oregon, it is the clearest evidence yet that Lanning's program can still compete at the top of the conference despite losing its starting quarterback for the season.

The outcome also complicates both teams' paths through the committee's rankings with the playoff field set to be finalized next month. Ohio State, which entered Saturday ranked 11th in the Associated Press poll, now has a second loss in its last three games to absorb before the committee's next release; Oregon, unranked entering the weekend, has a signature result to point to instead.

What's next

Oregon is scheduled to host Minnesota next Saturday before closing the regular season against Washington, according to the Ducks' official schedule, while Ohio State visits Northwestern before matchups with Nebraska and, on the final weekend of the regular season, its rivalry game against Michigan. Ohio State has not announced a target return date for Sayin, who remains in a sling. Lanning's team, meanwhile, will continue to lean on Raiola and the running attack that carried it through Columbus as it tries to climb back into playoff contention in the season's final stretch.