5 takeaways from Oregon's comeback win over Northwestern - Ducks Wire

The Oregon Ducks needed this win badly.

The final score read 34-26, but that doesn't fully encapsulate the sigh of relief that fans felt walking out of Autzen Stadium with a victory. For the first time in a while, there was joy once again.

While their chances of grabbing a spot in the College Football Playoff are slim to none, and expectations of competing for a national championship in 2026 have faded, there is still a lot of pride in the building and a lot of things to play for. After falling behind to the Northwestern Wildcats 20-6 in the first half on a chilly Saturday afternoon in Eugene, it appears that bad was going to turn to worse for Oregon's doomed season.

Instead, Lanning turned in a treat for Duck fans on Halloween.

The Ducks stormed back and won, outscoring Northwestern and Chip Kelly's offense 21-6 in the final two quarters, largely breathing some life into a fanbase that has been desperately hoping to see anything from this team over the last month. While some things need to be cleaned up going forward, it was a refreshing performance, especially given the turmoil we've seen off the field in the past week, headlined by the firing of offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer.

The Oregon Ducks have some of the best skill-position players in the nation on offense in Eugene. One of the biggest frustrations throughout the first seven games of the season was an inability to get those guys involved in the offense and let them make a difference.

But this week, with assistant quarterback coach Jay Johnson calling plays, rather than Mehringer, a change was noticeable.

"Players make plays," quarterback Dylan Raiola said after the game.

That's the simplest way that you could explain Oregon's offensive success on Saturday. It's not as if Johnson schemed up elaborate looks that fooled the Northwestern defense time and again; rather, Raiola trusted his teammates to make plays in big moments, and they didn't let him down.

Dakorien Moore had the best game of his career, catching seven passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns — the first 100-plus-yard game of his career. He had a goal-line fade thrown his way in the 2nd quarter where he toe-tapped for the touchdown, and a 75-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown in the third quarter.

Jamari Johnson only had his number called a few times, but he came up huge, hauling in the go-ahead touchdown on a corner route in the third quarter, where he beat the defender off the line. He also had the game-sealing catch on 3rd down in the fourth quarter, where an acrobatic grab kept Oregon's punt team off the field and allowed the Ducks to end the game on offense.

True freshman running back Brandon Smith was quite possibly the biggest playmaker of all, stepping in for an injured Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill, and turning eight rushes into 82 yards and a touchdown, while also taking four catches for 32 yards.

The offense under Johnson was no different than it was a week ago under Mehringer, but the philosophy seemed altered.

"This game was about letting it hang," head coach Dan Lanning said when all was said and done.

That means giving your players a chance to do what they're getting paid to do, and not worrying about the consequences if it goes wrong. That's matchup football, and if the Ducks continue to do that this year, they might have a lot more success in front of them.

There have been a lot of ups and downs for Dylan Raiola this year, from leading the team to victories off the bench against the USC Trojans and Nebraska Cornhuskers, to getting benched and/or losing the game against the UCLA Bruins and Illinois Fighting Illini. Credit to him, though, as he's continued to get back on the horse and fight forward.

On Saturday, it resulted in, statistically, the best game of his career.

Raiola completed 22-of-31 passes for 336 yards and three touchdowns. What he did wasn't surgical, picking apart the secondary, but it absolutely was enough when you have the level of talent around you that Raiola does in Eugene. Early on, he struggled a bit with ball security, coughing up one fumble that the Ducks were able to recover. Down the stretch, though, Raiola was sound, and he ended up doing just enough to let the playmakers around him make plays.

There is still a lot of football left to be played, but if Oregon can get 80% of this version of Raiola going forward, they should be in a pretty good spot.

Credit to Chip Kelly and the Northwestern offense; they were in their bag in the first half.

Quarterback Aidan Chiles was dicing up Oregon's defense, picking apart the secondary and running at will around the edges of the Ducks' defensive line. The Wildcats converted six-of-nine third downs in the first half and put up 20 points seamlessly, in what looked like a game that could get ugly.

But credit to Oregon's defense, which was able to make some incredible adjustments at halftime and bow up in the final two frames.

The Ducks gave up just six points in the second half, and they held Northwestern to 1-of-8 on third downs coming out of the break. You could tell that more emphasis was put on containing Chiles and not letting him break outside, and the secondary was able to step up and make plays. In the final quarter, the Ducks were able to tally all three of their sacks in the game and ultimately put things away.

There's no telling how long and glorious Brandon Smith's career at Oregon will be, but assuming it's something worth remembering years down the road, many fans will point back to this game as the day that his legacy started.

Smith was phenomenal, and he stepped up in moments where the Ducks needed him the most. After Jordon Davison left the game with an apparent knee injury in the first half, and Dierre Hill got banged up right before the break, Smith took advantage of his opportunity in the second half and provided a spark to the offense. Twice, he kicked off drives with gains of 20 yards or more on the opening play — a 35-yard run and a 22-yard catch in the third quarter — completely jolting the offense awake and getting them into scoring position.

When all was said and done, Smith ended with eight carries for 82 yards and a touchdown, along with four catches for 32 yards. The Ducks will hope that Davison and Hill can return to near full health before the season is over, but fans can at least be excited about what they have in No. 26.

Earlier this week, I talked to Dan Lanning about his desire to get back to his aggressive tendencies, and how that might be what this team needs to get a spark of life back. At times this year, Oregon has strayed away from what Lanning has habitually done in the past — be overly aggressive and push the envelope — and Lanning had a feeling that's part of the problem for Oregon through its 4-3 start.

In this game, Lanning had a chance to do that, and it worked.

Trailing 23-20 with 14:19 left in the game, Lanning faced a 4th-and-goal from the 2-yard line, and a decision to make. Did he want to kick the field goal and tie the game, or go for the throat and take the first lead of the day? Oregon opted for the latter, and a rush up the middle from Brandon Smith put the Ducks on top.

"I think the fourth down there, down in the red area, is a great example of that," Lanning said after the game. "'Hey, we could kick the field goal tied up right here, or we could punch this in and go up four,' and the guys did a great job in that moment."

It was a moment in the game that felt like what Oregon fans hope is a microcosm of where the season is right now for the Ducks: getting back to basics. Trust your playmakers, find some tempo on offense, and be relentlessly aggressive. It worked on Saturday, and if we've learned anything from Lanning over the past five years, there's reason to believe that it can continue to work going forward as well.

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