Oregon head coach Dan Lanning, players talk win over Northwestern ~ Duck Sports Central

EVANSTON, Ill. — Oregon left the lakeshore with a 34–14 win over Northwestern and a fistful of lessons about clock control, wind management, and finishing. Head coach Dan Lanning and a handful of Ducks laid out the story of a game that was more grind than glide, a morning kick with Big Ten texture that asked Oregon to win a different way.

“I thought we lacked a little killer instinct there at the end. Our standard can't change,” Lanning opened. “I want to give a lot of credit to Northwestern. I thought they came out here with a good plan. They executed well on their side of the ball… I thought we had some good answers, and were able to create some things, especially there early in the second half.” He added, “Ultimately those takeaways and being able to score early and play some good defense early, more advantageous defense than great defense, allowed us to come away with the win.”

From the first series, the Wildcats showed their intent: bleed clock, stay on schedule, and keep Oregon’s offense watching. Oregon’s first drive stalled, but a precision punt pinned Northwestern inside the 10. The Wildcats answered with quick slants and draws that turned second-and-long into third-and-short. “They had some sustained drives, and we had to put the fire out,” Lanning said. “They converted some short yardage plays… and in every one of those, I thought they shot themselves in the foot a little bit more than we created success. But we were advantageous when we had opportunities to make plays on the ball.”

Linebacker Bryce Boettcher embodied that swing. He nearly picked a slant, then cashed in a tipped pass moments later to set up Oregon’s first touchdown. “First one I was just keying the quarterback… probably should have dove like a center fielder on that one,” he said. “But I made up for it a couple plays later.” The defense knew those moments would matter. “Commonalities between their success and our success is turnover margin,” Lanning said. “We knew that would be huge in this game.”

Five snaps after Boettcher’s interception, Jayden Limar finished a short-field march on a quick pitch to make it 7–0. Limar said the room answered without Noah Whittington. “I feel like we did our job… there was no drop-off with the young guys either—they did amazing.” And on the ebb and flow of a game that finally forced Oregon to punt with the first unit: “We were very limited—only four possessions in the first half, I think… when we bounced back and scored on the next drive, it showed we could respond. We knew adversity was coming.”

Northwestern’s plan worked early up front. Oregon’s first two possessions yielded just 4.1 yards per carry and the Wildcats’ zone structure squeezed the windows. Will Stein countered with draws, rollouts, and tempo pivots to Cooper Perry, Kenyon Sadiq, and Dakorien Moore, and Atticus Sappington’s 42-yarder capped a 12-play, 56-yard answer for 10–0.

The half tilted on a clinic in two-minute operation. With 4:51 left, Dante Moore engineered an 11-play, 89-yard drive—third-and-long lasers to Dakorien Moore and Malik Benson, a scramble conversion, and then a 24-yard rope to Sadiq with :31 remaining. “Poise, man. I thought Dante played with poise all day,” Lanning said.

Moore detailed the mindset: “I go back to practice and the way we operate on two-minute drills, four-minute… Coach Lanning loves to see how I face adversity. And I loved the adversity today.” The setting amplified everything. “First away game… thunder and lightning, windy, a lot of things going on,” he said. “It’s just us versus us like always.”

The third quarter was Oregon’s hinge: three straight stops, three straight scores. Dierre Hill detonated the first snap after halftime with a 66-yard sprint to make it 24–0. After a 31-yard bust to Gavin Wilde, Jerry Mixon jumped a route for his second pick in as many weeks and nearly housed it. “Just reading the quarterback’s eyes,” Mixon said. “We had a play call where I played inside the running back… tried to get another pick six.” Two plays later, Jordon Davison bulled in from the 2 for 31–0.

Lanning nodded at the sequencing. “I think we started out the second half with three series and three scores… The same thing defensively. We started the second half with three stops.” And he underscored the third-down execution that kept Oregon on schedule: “To go 7-of-11 on third down is impressive… What we’d love to do is avoid third down altogether. That means we have to be more efficient on first and second.”

Depth was part of the plan, not a late-game afterthought. “We’ve got to create critical moments for everybody on our team,” Lanning said of playing three quarterbacks. “Strength in numbers… Brock has had a really good camp… Luke’s done some really good things. I thought they both did some good stuff today as well.” Moore finished 16 of 20 for 178 yards with a touchdown and an interception; Brock Thomas and Luke Moga handled the closing series.

Moore’s rapport with Malik Benson (team-high 62 receiving yards) stayed central. “He’s a vet… we’re not blood, but I call him my brother,” Moore said. “He’s very unselfish… faith-driven… super quick, makes plays with the ball in his hands and I’m blessed to have him as a receiver.” Lanning, asked about Benson’s impact, widened the frame: “We’ve got a lot of guys who can make plays on offense… Good quarterback play helps all those things, but Malik has been great for us.”

Northwestern broke the shutout on fourth-and-1 with 6:20 left, then popped a 79-yard run with 1:48 to go as Oregon’s reserves sprung leaks in their fits. That finish shaped Lanning’s tone. “Good and bad,” he said of adversity. “We knew this was going to be a limited possession game… they did a really good job of eating the clock. We’ve got to take advantage of every series… We just didn’t finish the way I want to finish.”

Boettcher blended pride and accountability. “We take a lot of pride in being able to pitch a shutout like that,” he said. “It was clean football all the way through until the end there. The standard’s the standard… we’d like to have kept it at zero, but we got the win.” He also spotlighted edge Matayo Uiagalelei’s constant pressure: “Just consistency, man. He’s twitchy… the amount of shoulder rotation he gets—he’s a tackle’s worst nightmare.”

Mixon, whose reputation as a takeaway magnet preceded him, smiled when told he leads the team in “almost picks” at practice. “I think that goes back to my ball skills from playing running back,” he said. “Also just being a Mixon—it’s in the name, instincts. Doing it every day in practice gives me confidence to do the same in games.” On his pairing with Bryce Nash at linebacker: “Coach Lanning calls us ‘sticks and picks.’ He’s a hard hitter, and I like to get picks. We mesh together well—just play off instincts.”

Discipline fed all of it: Oregon finished with zero penalties. “More than anything, you get what you emphasize,” Lanning said. “No DBOs. We don’t beat ourselves… We operated clean.”

With Whittington out, Oregon’s backfield leaned into committee. Limar started (11 for 38 and a TD); Hill delivered the day’s exclamation point; Jay Harris chipped key yardage on draws; Davison closed a short field at the goal line. “Some good, some bad,” Lanning said of the run game. “It was exciting to see Dierre get in there and create an explosive play… [Northwestern] did a good job of getting extra hats to the point of attack… made it tough for us to establish some of our run-game, but we came back with some answers.”

Limar also credited tight end Kenyon Sadiq, who had the late-half TD. “He’s just always been very consistent… when the ball goes up, you know he’s going to come down with it,” Limar said. “The way he attacks the ball separates him.”

What the numbers say

Third down: Oregon 7 of 11 (63.6%), Northwestern 3 of 11 (27.3%).
Explosives: Ducks 9 plays for 215 yards; Wildcats 3 for 81.
First down efficiency: Oregon averaged 8.1 yards (202 on 25 plays).
Discipline: Oregon 0 penalties; Northwestern 4 for 27.
Possession/Style: NU 37 rushes for 178 yards (with a late 79-yarder), 32:17 TOP; Oregon 6.7 yards per play and 3-for-3 in the red zone.
Havoc points: Two Oregon interceptions (Boettcher, Mixon), two sacks (Uiagalelei; Tuioti/Alexander shared).

The venue added wrinkles—real wind, unreal noise. “Those have to be the loudest speakers behind us that I’ve ever heard,” Lanning said. “That’s false crowd noise, right? It was annoying. That’s something they should keep.” Moore, who grew up playing near the water, shrugged at the gusts until one got him. “Mother Nature playing on Lake Michigan, it’s windy… the wind got under it, the corner did his job,” he said of the interception. “The GOATs throw picks—Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning… I just gotta flush it.”

Moore also offered a nod to the long game he learned as Dillon Gabriel’s understudy. “The biggest thing he taught me was preparation… and you gotta enjoy this process,” Moore said. “He would come to the facility early in the morning and late at night… seeing him smile every day when the days got tough, it brought me the juice and energy to keep going.”

There was joy amid the grit. “The best thing was my family being able to come out here—a three-hour drive from Detroit,” Moore said. “Playing in this venue is a blessing… It’s not like Autzen. Autzen is one of the best in the world—it is the best in the world. But playing in this venue is a blessing.”

Boettcher appreciated the contrast, too. “Cool venue, man. Cool scenery,” he said. “It’s a little different than Autzen Stadium… Here it was easier to communicate, which was nice… But I’m looking forward to getting back home next week, let me tell you.”

Lanning, always calibrating, closed the loop. “I think I know where our defense is at. I think I know where we’ve got to improve,” he said. The standard travels—especially back to the place that sets it. “We don’t beat ourselves,” he reminded. “When you don’t beat yourselves, you have a chance to have success.”

And for Boettcher, one more date circled. “Obviously, there’s an extra bit of motivation because it’s the Beavers,” the in-state senior said of the rivalry ahead. “This is the last time I’ll play them in a Duck uniform. So I’m going to come out ready to play. Bet you that much.”