It’s exceedingly difficult to play a perfect game of football, but Oregon’s 49-21 win over Washington a season ago was fairly close. Then, the Ducks advanced to 12-0 and the Big Ten title game with a 10-sack, seven-touchdown performance over their rival that traveled alongside them to a new conference.

It was probably the last “perfect” competitive game they’ve played since.

No. 7 Oregon’s (10-1, 6-1 Big Ten) 2025 season has been markedly different than last. Nonconference play against uncompetitive teams notwithstanding, the Ducks eked past Penn State in double overtime, snapped their nation-leading home winning streak at the hands of Indiana and hung 42 points on No. 15 USC last Saturday despite racking up 130 penalty yards. This season has been anything but perfect, but it doesn’t matter for the Ducks, who built a brand off those wins and have a chance to essentially clinch a College Football Playoff bid with a win Saturday against the Huskies (8-3, 5-3 Big Ten).

“I think it’s scary,” wide receiver Malik Benson said of the Ducks’ victories through imperfection after the USC game. “I feel like we’re still not playing our best brand of football.”

The win on Saturday may have been the most imperfect of them all. Outside of the 11 penalties (six of which were defensive pass interference calls), the Ducks missed a field goal try that was reset by a USC penalty and failed to capitalize on a third-quarter Jadon Canady interception and instead threw one of their own. 

USC walked down the field and punched in a score to cut Oregon’s lead to seven points on a nine-play drive where it accumulated 21 rushing yards, 14 passing yards and 15 from a pass interference penalty. Oregon outplayed the Trojans on the other side of the ball and allowed just one more score, but it was never perfect. That’s what Oregon head coach Dan Lanning saw — but he saw something else, too.

“I’m excited to see the growth that we can walk away from and say, ‘Okay, how can we do this better?” Lanning said. “And there’s definitely going to be some moments like that, coming out of this game. We’re going to see some elite passing attacks throughout the season. That’s somewhere we can improve.”

Perhaps the only part of Oregon’s season that has approached perfection has been its depth. By the fourth quarter, the Ducks faced USC without either of their starting tackles or backup Gernorris Wilson, and without scholarship receivers Dakorien Moore, Gary Bryant Jr. and Evan Stewart. Postgame press conferences heaped praise on redshirt-freshman tackle Fox Crader, who stepped up as Oregon allowed one sack on the day.

Lost in the imperfection, though, is some truth that Lanning communicated Saturday: “There’s an example that we can beat you in multiple ways, right?” he said after the Ducks’ 42-27 win over the Trojans. “We can outscore you at times, right? We can hold you to an 18, 16 (point) type of game. We can win in tough environments, any weather, put the ball down, let’s go play football. That’s the kind of team that we have.” 


Oregon has won on the ground. It has won in the air. It has ridden its defense for a half, and its offense for the other. This much is clear: Oregon doesn’t need perfection to win — a young team now has the experience to overcome significant mistakes, and that’s happened this season. 

“It’s coming up, and we’re going to need to (play our best brand of football),” Benson, the third-string punt returner who housed one from 85 yards out against the Trojans, said. “But I feel like once we are, we’re often a very scary team.”

Will Oregon play a “perfect” game against a competitive opponent this year? Who knows? Does it matter more than winning to a team that has become excellent at doing so?

Maybe not.