In its two blowout home wins, Oregon (3-0, 1-0 Big Ten) hasn’t needed the benefit of its opponents’ mistakes to ensure a victory. On the road for the first time this season, the Ducks took advantage of mistakes from a Northwestern (1-2, 0-1 Big Ten) team that initially stymied their potent rushing attack and made nearly none of their own to cruise to a decisive, 34-14 victory.

Quarterback Dante Moore (16-20, 178 yds, touchdown, interception) thrived on efficiency but posted his lowest yardage total of the season, while the Ducks defense couldn’t stop the run early but forced the Wildcats into enough throwing situations to make the mistakes that lost them the game.

“Poise, man,” Oregon head coach Dan Lanning said via GoDucks postgame. “I thought Dante played with poise all day. Even the ball that was picked off, I think he’s making the right decision…the wind was a real issue.”

Oregon, though, faced questions before it stepped on the field. Starting running back Noah Whittington, who took the second play of last week’s matchup with Oklahoma State 59 yards for a touchdown, was listed as questionable before the game and would go without a touch in the game.

The depth in the running back room has been featured through two weeks and continued to shine. Jayden Limar (11 carries for 38 yards, TD) and Jay Harris (3-25) combined with freshman backs Dierre Hill Jr. (5-94, TD) and Jordon Davison (4-8, TD) to lead a rushing attack that totaled 176 on the day.

“Some good, some bad,” Lanning said. “I was excited to get Dierre in there and create an explosive play. He’s proven to be an explosive playmaker for us. I thought our backs ran hard. I thought they did a good job of getting extra hats at the point of attack.”

Lakeside, the Ducks’ first away drive of the season didn’t go to plan. Seven plays for 26 yards in 3:38 ended in a third-and-9 where Moore had pressure in his face and couldn’t complete a checkdown. Punts aren’t something Oregon is familiar with in 2025.

Rushing success isn’t something teams have enjoyed against the Ducks so far this season, but Wildcats running back Caleb Komolafe rushed for 21 yards on four attempts during their first drive. Montana State and Oklahoma State combined to average 3.4 yards per attempt; Northwestern averaged 4.1 in the first quarter.

When they had to throw — quarterback Preston Stone (11-21, 135 yds, two interceptions) was 1-2 for eight yards prior to a third-and-8 on that first drive — the pass drifted high and behind Northwestern receiver Griffin Wilde, who inadvertently batted the ball into the waiting arms of linebacker Bryce Boettcher.

It’s exactly what the senior signal-caller, who threw four interceptions in a season-opening blowout at Tulane, had to avoid in order to keep his team in the game. In his face, though, was a senior making the play that kept his side in control.

Boettcher returned the pick to the Wildcats’ 23-yard line, and, following a short drive that included a designed quarterback sweep to Luke Moga, Oregon and Limar punched it in on fourth-and-goal to take a lead it would never relinquish.

After Atticus Sappington extended the lead to 10 points with a 42-yard field goal, Stone made another mistake that stymied a promising Wildcats drive in the second quarter on a first down boot action. As he spun, the ball slipped out of the quarterback’s hand and drifted 18 yards backward before he eventually recovered it. Northwestern would punt three plays later.

His opposite number, Moore, continued to face pressure but found his feet with a third-and-8 step through the pocket that found Malik Benson (four receptions, 62 yards, leading all receivers) 20 yards downfield and a scramble on third-and-2 following the next set of downs.

Following that scramble, tight end Kenyon Sadiq split into the slot and beat safety Robert Fitzgerald, who rotated down into man coverage to give Moore the opportunity to rip a seam shot into the endzone.

It’s another example of the poise and control the quarterback has displayed this season under the pressure of the clock. Handed the ball with 4:53 remaining in the half, Oregon drove 89 yards in 11 plays from its own 11 yard line. Moore, who had just three first-half incompletions, found Sadiq with 31 seconds left, and the Wildcats kneeled it out following the kickoff. 

Boettcher nearly had his second interception of the game out of the half on another tip-drill, but couldn’t haul it in. Instead, running back Joseph Himon II continued to average more than five yards per carry until Bear Alexander and Teitum Tuioti combined for a third-down sack and left the Wildcats with a must-go fourth-and-9.

Stone hit an open Ricky Ahumaraeze ahead of the sticks on the ensuing play, but the receiver couldn’t complete the catch and Northwestern once again went scoreless. Oregon took immediate advantage, when Hill Jr. took his first handoff of the game outside and, sprung by a Sadiq block, rumbled 66 yards to the endzone.

The touchdown was the Ducks’ first 25-plus yard play of the game — their fourth explosive — and benefited from the two-back, 21-personnel set that included both Hill Jr. and fellow freshman power back Davison. It was Davison’s lead block, alongside Sadiq, that created the hole that Hill Jr. sprinted through — and another example of the downfield blocking excellence that Oregon has displayed in 2025.

After Jerry Mixon had his second interception in as many weeks, Dante Moore made his only real mistake of the afternoon on the first play of the fourth quarter with an underthrown ball into a two-high set that resulted in an interception of his own. 

“They understand where we need to be,” Lanning said of his two linebackers. “They understand where the quarterback is going to go with the ball, and they take advantage of it and they bait it. Jerry gets a bunch of those in practice, and it’s because he makes you think that he can’t make the play and then he does an unbelievable job breaking on the ball.”

It’s a play that he made previously — over a retreating middle linebacker and under the safety — to Benson for a touchdown against Oklahoma State, but this time the linebacker (Mac Uihlein) made it back in time and camped under Moore’s throw. Regardless, the Wildcats turned it over on downs in the next drive and Oregon kicked a field goal to cement their lead.

Stone led a nine-play, 75-yard drive that ended in a one-yard rushing touchdown against the Ducks’ second and third-string defense, followed by a one-play, 79-yard rushing touchdown from Wildcats redshirt freshman Dashun Reeder after a Ducks punt. 

“I thought they had some sustained drives,” Lanning, who immediately postgame said the Ducks lacked “killer instinct” in the fourth quarter, said. “We had to put the fire out, right?”

The Ducks, who closed out their third win of the season, return to Autzen Stadium to face rival Oregon State on Sept. 20.