Dan Lanning knows an exclamation point when he sees it. And TreVeyon Henderson’s 66-yard touchdown run along the Oregon sideline early in the second quarter of the 111th Rose Bowl was about as emphatic as one gets.
Henderson zipped untouched down the Ducks’ sideline, right by Lanning, who immediately dropped his head and smacked his hands together seconds before the Ohio State running back gave the Buckeyes a stunning 31-0 advantage with oodles of time still to go.
There were myriad in-game illustrations of just how swiftly Oregon’s undefeated season hit the skids in Pasadena. But the head coach’s temporary state of disbelief so early in such a massive game summarized it most aptly. The program so many picked to win the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff was out in a blink.
The last undefeated team in college football, which spent 10 weeks with a No. 1 ranking, was reckoning with its place in program lore in real-time in the 41-21 loss to Ohio State.
GO DEEPER
Oregon’s crushing Rose Bowl defeat once again leaves Ducks on the outside looking in
Linebacker Bryce Boettcher and defensive back Kobe Savage, both seniors, didn’t get up from the Oregon bench for a few minutes as the Ohio State party a few hundred feet away kicked off. They just sat there, talking about how everything went sideways so fast.
Moments later, in a dark tunnel around the corner from the dejected Oregon locker room, Savage stood in front of a few cameras and microphones, holding his phone that continued to light up with messages from loved ones. Savage, a transfer from Kansas State, said Lanning’s halftime message wasn’t one of defeat but of defiance. Lanning reminded his Ducks of a miraculous comeback in that same building when, on Jan. 1, 2018, Georgia rallied from a 31-14 deficit to Baker Mayfield and Oklahoma to advance to the national title game.
That CFP semifinal in Pasadena is remembered as one of, if not the best game in the Playoff’s 11 years to date.
“We were trying to recreate the same thing,” Savage said.
Who will replace Dillon Gabriel as the Ducks quarterback? (Troy Wayrynen / Imagn Images)
An admirable approach, but the pit was too deep, the opposition too talented.
“They put it all out on the field for us,” Lanning said. “The blood, sweat and tears. But adversity happens in life and we’re going to get an opportunity in life to continue to attack and move forward. There’s a lot of winners in that room, right?
“To me, it’s not about when you get knocked down — it’s about when you get up and what you do next.”
The college football offseason is replete with daily news of potential roster departures and additions. Rumors of transfer portal activity will percolate even before the secondary window opens on April 16. Among the programs most likely to be the subject of offseason speculation will be the Ducks and how they plan on getting up and what they do next.
A stacked senior class was headlined by quarterback Dillon Gabriel, wide receivers Tez Johnson and Traeshon Holden, tight end Terrance Ferguson, defensive lineman Jordan Burch, linebacker Jeffrey Bassa and the entire starting secondary as well as other important contributors who will likely enter the NFL Draft. Many familiar faces who played vital roles in Oregon’s impressive last two seasons will be gone, making this offseason paramount for Lanning and his staff to figure out who will replace proven commodities across the board.
Oregon’s 2025 recruiting class ranks No. 5 nationally according to the 247Sports Composite, and during the December transfer portal window, the Ducks secured defensive commitments from the likes of former USC and Georgia defensive tackle Bear Alexander and former Purdue star safety Dillon Thieneman. Offensively, Oregon signed potential bookend tackles Isaiah World (Nevada) and Alex Harkey (Texas State).
The high school class includes five top-50 national prospects, highlighted by five-star wide receiver Dakorien Moore (Duncanville, Texas) and five-star defensive back Na’eem Offord (Birmingham, Ala.).
The pressure and spotlight will fixate on the player most likely to succeed Gabriel, who in his one year with the program finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting and kept Oregon’s offense humming after the record-setting year by Bo Nix in 2023. UCLA transfer Dante Moore is the odds-on favorite to assume that spot, but the Oregon quarterbacks are going to be fascinating to watch. The Ducks signed four-star Akili Smith Jr., son of Oregon great Akili Smith, but fellow four-star signee, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, a late flip from Cal, has already entered the transfer portal.
Former four-star recruit Austin Novosad, a one-time Baylor commit, has been in the program for two seasons, but Moore is the only returning quarterback with significant experience based on his true freshman year at UCLA in 2023. The Ducks have struck it rich twice with portal additions at the most important position in consecutive offseasons. Will Lanning and offensive coordinator Will Stein feel compelled to bring in a veteran to compete with Moore? Or, at the very least, someone with experience to be a backup?
Decompression time for the Ducks is now.
They’ll have the ensuing months before spring practice commences to wrap their heads around how they were blitzed by the Buckeyes on both sides of the ball with such veracity that they never found their footing. Last spring, the veteran-laden Ducks were viewed as a CFP favorite, and for four months they looked every bit the part. Going 13-1 and earning the No. 1 overall seed in a stacked CFP bracket is a whale of a good season for most programs.
But with the ongoing sea change afoot in college football, you never really know when you’ll get back. Or which players will rise and take you there. The 2025 season will not be a rebuild, by any means. At Oregon, under Lanning, the Ducks no longer exist in that realm because of the amount of talent they’ve cultivated in recruiting over the last three years. Improvements must come from within first and foremost, as daunting as that may sound.
After the Rose Bowl, Lanning said multiple times that his staff had inferior plans on both sides of the ball.
“We have to find a way to prepare ourselves for these moments as a coaching staff,” he said.
Which is accurate. Lessons learned are always more impactful when the familiar sting of anguish resurfaces to remind you what got you there and, more importantly, what sent you home earlier than you imagined.
(Top photo of Dan Lanning: Ben Lonergan / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
