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Oregon remains on track to enter the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff as the No. 1 seed.
Dillon Gabriel and the Ducks defeated Washington 35-14 on Saturday night to finish the regular season with an undefeated record for the first time since 2010.
Oregon is now set to take on Penn State in the Big Ten Championship Game on Dec. 7. A win over the Nittany Lions would set up the Ducks for a first-round bye and an automatic trip to the CFP quarterfinals.
Geoff Schwartz @geoffschwartz
I’ve been quiet on this most of the season. I’ve been waiting. Now it’s time.
I keep seeing this question “who is actually good/great in CFB”. The answer is Oregon. Oregon is great. 12-0. Started slow in the first two weeks. Since then they’ve won 8 games by at least 21 points.…
Gabriel led the Ducks down the field on the opening drive Saturday night, where Noah Whittington started things off by running in a touchdown.
But Oregon’s next two drives ended in a punt and a fumble, and Washington came within one point of tying with a pair of field goals.
The Ducks made sure there would be no upset by closing out the half with three consecutive touchdown drives.
Oregon’s defense then racked up 10 total sacks to hold Washington scoreless during the second half.
Jordan Burch recorded 2.5 sacks, while Matayo Uiagalelei contributed 2.0 sacks to help the Ducks tie a single-game program record.
The win marked the first time Oregon has defeated Washington since Dan Lanning took as head coach in 2022. The Ducks went 0-3 in the first three rivalry matchups of the Lanning era.
“I want to go win every game,” Lanning said ahead of the game, per The Oregonian‘s Ryan Clarke. “Certainly, this game means something to a lot of people in this organization. It means something to a lot of people from an alumni standpoint. But it certainly means a lot to me.”
Kyron Samuels @kyronsamuels
dan lanning posted this after nick saban retired then proceeded to go 12-0 overall & 9-0 in the B1G.
this guy has the no. 1 ranked team in college football, is guaranteed a B1G title shot, and a playoff game. pic.twitter.com/DLQCziCvik
gbaby. @_GaryC16_
@CoachDanLanning thank you for bringing this type of defense to eugene, especially the defensive line. thank you.
The CFP selection committee is set to release their fifth rankings list on Tuesday at 7 p.m. With 12 straight wins, including two victories over ranked opponents in Ohio State and Illinois, the Ducks will expect to find themselves at the top of the list.