“I guess that’s what they call Big Ten football,” Oregon football head coach Dan Lanning said to GoDucks postgame at Kinnick Stadium last Saturday.

In the week leading up to Oregon’s 18-16 wet and sloppy win at Iowa, Lanning, as well as players, had been asked about the “Big Ten” feeling of this game.

For some context, the Big Ten, the oldest Division I conference, has always been known as a group of Midwest teams that pride themselves on defense and bruising running offenses. When Oregon joined ahead of the 2024 season, the narrative surrounding the move frequently followed the thought process that the Ducks, usually a passing-heavy team, would not translate effectively to that style. 

“This league’s got more variety than people realize, so every week’s a little bit different. But this is certainly one. When you talk about Iowa, you talk about a team that has an identity, and they’ve had an identity,” Lanning said Wednesday ahead of the game. 

That identity has proven to be one of the strongest and most solidified in the country, especially during the tenure of the Big Ten’s longest serving current coach (27th season) and the winningest one in the conference’s history (216 wins): Kirk Ferentz. 

“Ever since Coach Ferentz has been there, it’s been really clear. They’re going to play great defense, be really good on special teams, be physical in the run game and be able to take advantage of shots and opportunities,” Lanning said. 

That identity wasn’t lost on Oregon’s players either. 

“(Iowa is) very physical and very aggressive at the point of attack. All around, they remind me of high effort players, and I give them their props from watching the tape,” senior offensive guard Emmanuel Pregnon said. “The stats also speak for themselves. Coming into this game, that’s why I believe it’s pivotal to match them in those traits.”

Pregnon, as well as the rest of the offensive and defensive lines, should feel incredibly accomplished. 

Offensively, the Ducks’ linemen imposed their will on the Hawkeyes to the tune of 261 rushing yards, which amounted to 7.3 yards per rush. That also included keeping Dante Moore clean from pass rushers all game and only allowing one tackle for loss. 

“We heard the noise all week that ‘they don’t give up runs’ and we just made note of that, and we wanted to run the ball effectively this game and we did,” Lanning said to GoDucks. “There’s a bunch of guys out there whose numbers got called: Jamari (Johnson), Roger (Saleapaga) and those guys. To show up and block the way they did…we felt like that was an important key to the game: to win the rushing battle.”

Defensively, Oregon held Iowa to just 140 yards on the ground, which is the Hawkeyes’ sixth best mark in their nine games so far this season. Iowa’s offense only moved the ball substantially through the air, and even that came with Oregon dominating the trenches. The Ducks were just surprised at times by Iowa, one of the most rushing-heavy offenses in the country, airing it out down the field.

Oregon’s victory in Iowa City displayed its ability to dominate on the line of scrimmage, but the Ducks will have to contend with a completely different mentality in the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who average over 200 yards through the air and 100 on the ground through their nine games this season.