The Ohio State Buckeyes’ Week 9 loss to the USC Trojans put their backs against the wall. Ohio State must win out the rest of the way to make sure it lands in the College Football Playoff. There’s no more margin for error in Columbus.

Next up for Ohio State football is an Oregon team with three losses. However, the Ducks are coming off a ranked win over Northwestern that shows they’re certainly still capable. Oregon head coach Dan Lanning spoke about the Buckeyes ahead of the matchup, and his comments show how he feels about Ryan Day’s team.

Oregon has a familiar face at quarterback

The Ducks will be without starting quarterback Dante Moore for the rest of the season, as a result Dylan Raiola will make the start in his place. Raiola is a one-time Ohio State commit who flipped his commitment in high school. The Buckeyes also have experience against him from his time at Nebraska.

This will be the first meeting between these two programs since the College Football Playoff two seasons ago. Ohio State blew out top-seeded Oregon 41-21 in that game. A couple of games later, the Buckeyes were national champions.

Before that, the last regular season matchup came in 2024, when the Ducks escaped with a narrow win at home. This go-around, the game shifts to Columbus with a lot more on the line for Ohio State.

Dan Lanning gets honest about Ohio State

Lanning didn’t hold back when he spoke about the Buckeyes and what his team needs to do to compete. Lanning said recently:

“It’s certainly going to be a great challenge,” Lanning said via Oregon Ducks on SI. “Obviously, they’re a great team, and Coach (Ryan) Day does an unbelievable job. I think it goes back to all the things we focused on this week. We can’t focus on outcomes. Let’s focus on the things that can make us better. There are going to be moments we can watch in this game and say we could have been even better than we were today.”

The Oregon coach also pointed to his team’s own mistakes as something it can’t repeat in Columbus. Lanning then went on to say:

“You don’t get an opportunity to make mistakes like that against great teams like Ohio State, so we’re going to have to be at our best. We’re going to enjoy this win for 24 hours, and then when we hit the ground running tomorrow as a staff, we’ll be ready to attack the next team.”

Oregon was sloppy against Northwestern

Lanning had good reason to bring up mistakes. Oregon gave up 26 points and 456 total yards against Northwestern. The Ducks were actually outgained by the Wildcats in the win. Additionally, Oregon put three fumbles on the ground and lost one of them. It was a sloppy day overall, though the Ducks found a way to come out on top.

That kind of performance won’t cut it on the road against Ohio State. Oregon is likely all but out of the College Football Playoff picture at this point. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes simply need to win this game to keep their path to the field open.

Lanning made it clear that the Ducks have a lot of respect for who the Buckeyes are this season. Still, Ohio State can’t overlook Oregon just because of the three losses. There’s a ton of talent on that roster, and a former Buckeye commit under center adds another layer to the matchup.

This is going to be a tough one for Ohio State to go out and win. The Buckeyes must do it if they want to keep their goals on the table.