It wasn’t cloudy in the Oregon locker room after the Peach Bowl.

There was no haze of cigar smoke. There was no swirl of victory. There was frustration, though, and hands slamming against lockers for a team that stumbled before the hurdle of expectation again.

The Ducks were close, yes, but they looked off the pace against college football’s best again on Friday. They weren’t the “complete team” that Dan Lanning hailed Indiana as after its 56-22 demolition of the Ducks at the Peach Bowl — at least not all at once. The offense shone in the CFP First Round, then the defense in the Orange Bowl. Both were preyed upon in Atlanta. Neither showed up in the same game this postseason.

“I think it’s probably too premature for me to speak on what happened tonight until I go back and really evaluate it. We’re about growth,” Lanning said after the game.

So where does Oregon football go from here?

The expectation, it’s clear, remains a national championship. The Ducks are still closer than the majority of the field, too.

It’s disingenuous to judge the Ducks’ offensive identity based only on a game where the Ducks didn’t have their top running backs, but they struggled to connect with Dakorien Moore (two catches, 28 yards) and Kenyon Sadiq (five catches, 29 yards) against Indiana. Whether or not Dante Moore returns under center in 2026, the quarterback in green will be judged on his ability to make use of the “studs.”

If that offensive coordinator is current co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach Drew Mehringer, an in-house hire, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the key tenets of Will Stein’s offense remain in place. His “feed the studs” mentality, fueled by a high-completion-percentage passing game and (this year) multiple personnel groups, fits with the Ducks’ returners. It’s a style that works, but the Ducks too often had their best options sealed off in key games. 

The Ducks may see Sadiq depart for the NFL Draft, with Jamari Johnson waiting in the wings. They’ll re-examine their offensive line, where at least Emmanuel Pregnon is expected to head to the draft and Iapani Laloulu will play another year. They’ll return a receiver group that is expected to feature Dakorien Moore, Jeremiah McClellan and potentially Evan Stewart, who left that door open at the Orange Bowl. Noah Whittington is out of eligibility, but Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill Jr., who were the backs benefiting the most from Stein’s 21-personnel usage, should be back.

But Oregon has been stifled with the ball in crucial situations in back-to-back playoff losses now, even if it’s up in the air what the Peach Bowl would’ve looked like with a healthy Davison and Whittington. Its 2026 slate isn’t short of historically excellent defenses, either as Michigan comes to Eugene or as the Ducks head to Columbus for the first time as a member of the Big Ten. Those games are opportunities to fine-tune the offense that shone against James Madison University, but struggled to  look like a complete offense when the run game sputtered against Texas Tech and Indiana.

Really, though, the viability of where Oregon goes from here on offense may be decided by whether or not Moore returns at quarterback — he said postgame that, “I don’t know my decision yet.” 

With his arm and experience at the helm, despite a flawed performance in Atlanta, the Ducks will remain a contender and won’t replace their quarterback along with their offensive coordinator. He has a strong connection with Dakorien Moore, McClellan and Johnson, and will enter his third year in a Stein-inspired system. If he declares for the NFL Draft, the Ducks will have a new starter at quarterback for the third time in as many years, either from their stable of underclassmen or from the transfer portal, where Moore, Dillon Gabriel and Bo Nix emerged from. It’s the biggest question that Oregon has to answer right now.

On the other side of the ball, the Ducks were dissected by the best quarterback in college football, twice. Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, though, also had as much time as he ever could’ve wanted to do so. 

It’s a complicated frustration — some of the throws that Mendoza put on tape in Atlanta were just ‘Wow’ throws. I remember one to the sideline to Charlie Becker that ripped past Brandon Finney Jr. in coverage. Watching it, I felt like there was nothing to be done against a quarterback who was in rhythm. 

But the Ducks also sacked Mendoza just twice in eight quarters of football this season and couldn’t get him off the field. The cliche is to talk about complimentary football between phases, but Oregon’s pass rush didn’t compliment its secondary, either.

The defense was arguably the most encouraging part of Oregon’s 2025 season, especially because a large contingent of it will return. 

The Ducks cemented young starters at cornerback in Finney and Ify Obidegwu and at safety in Aaron Flowers. Bear Alexander has announced his intent to return. Jerry Mixon nailed down a spot next to Bryce Boettcher, who is out of eligibility, at linebacker. Matayo Uiagalelei, Teitum Tuioti and A’Mauri Washington have NFL decisions to make, but retain eligibility.

It’s another side of the ball that could replace a departing coordinator with an in-house hire in co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Chris Hampton. The report card is strong: they’re allowing the fifth-least yards per play and 11th-least points per game. The issues pile up on third and fourth down, where they’re 61st and 113th in opponent conversion percentage, and in the redzone, where they’re 114th in opponent scoring percentage.

Oregon proved this season that it can win with new starters on defense. It’ll have to do it again in 2026 to a degree, when it will replace its best safety (Dillon Thieneman), green-dot linebacker (Boettcher) who’ll help run its defense, and likely part of its pass rush. From here, the Ducks target a revamped pass-rush against quick-trigger systems like Indiana’s RPO-heavy style (and their own offense) and look for impact starters at multiple levels.

Regardless, the Ducks will watch the National Championship Game from home for the fourth time under Lanning. In order to play in one, they’ll need to become the “complete team” that they faced in Atlanta.