Tag: oregon

Oregon’s Isaiah World, center, works out with the team during a practice session before the first-round CFP game against James Madison.

Report: Ex-Oregon LT Isaiah World recovering from torn ACL

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Left tackle Isaiah World is recovering from surgery for a torn left ACL suffered Jan. 9 when he played for Oregon against Indiana in the College Football Playoff, The Athletic reported Tuesday.

Viewed as a potential Day 2 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, World underwent surgery earlier this month and will not attend the NFL scouting combine, per the report. The San Diego native is expected to miss the majority of training camp and the start of the 2026 season.

Despite the torn ACL, the 6-foot-8, 318-pound World was one of 319 players invited to the combine later this month.

In his lone season with the Ducks after four seasons at Nevada, World earned a second-team Alll-Big Ten selection. He joined the starting lineup early in his freshman season and was an All-Mountain West honorable mention member in each of his final two seasons with the Wolf Pack.

–Field Level Media

QB Dante Moore staying at Oregon, opts against entering NFL draft

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Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, projected to be one of the top picks in the 2026 NFL Draft, announced Wednesday that he is staying in school.

Moore made the announcement on ESPN’s SportCenter on the last day underclassmen not playing in the College Football Playoff championship game can declare for the draft.

The Ducks finished 13-2, the only losses coming against Indiana in the regular season on Oct. 11 and in the CFP semifinals on Jan. 9.

A 6-foot-3, 206-pound redshirt sophomore, Moore was ranked among the top overall draft prospects and second quarterback behind Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza. Instead, he likely will be one of the top prospects for the 2027 draft.

“Even this year, I had many great throws, many great plays, but at the end of the day, I feel like I could still learn so much more,” Moore said on SportCenter. “Of course, as a kid, since four years old, I’ve dreamed about being in the NFL. But, of course this team, we’ve been through a lot, and a lot of people are returning, so I feel like we’ve got exciting things coming this year, and I’m excited to keep pushing my team.”

Moore completed 296 of 412 passes (71.8%) for 3,565 yards, 30 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 15 games, averaging 237.67 yards per game. He also rushed 73 times for 156 yards and two TDs.

A five-star recruit ranked in the top four by national recruiting services out of Martin Luther King Jr. Senior High School in Detroit, Moore played in nine games and made five starts as a freshman at UCLA in 2023. Moore used a redshirt season in 2024 after transferring to Oregon, where he appeared in five games as Dillon Gabriel’s backup and was 7-of-8 passing for 49 yards.

Oregon under coach Dan Lanning has had great recent success with transfer quarterbacks Bo Nix, Gabriel and Moore.

Former Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola announced Monday on Instagram that he is transferring to Oregon. He could potentially redshirt now that Moore has announced his return for the 2026 season.

Raiola, who has two years of eligibility remaining, started 22 games for the Cornhuskers over the past two seasons, passing for 4,819 yards and 31 touchdowns. His 2025 season ended with a broken right fibula in Nebraska’s loss to Southern California on Nov. 1. The injury is not expected to affect his readiness to start next season.

–Field Level Media

Former Nebraska QB Dylan Raiola transferring to Oregon

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Former Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola is transferring to Oregon, he announced Monday on Instagram.

Raiola started 22 games for the Cornhuskers over the past two seasons, passing for 4,819 yards and 31 touchdowns.

Ducks starter Dante Moore has not announced whether he is entering the NFL draft or staying in school, so Raiola potentially could redshirt in 2026 if Moore returns to Eugene.

Raiola’s 2025 season ended with a broken right fibula in Nebraska’s loss to Southern California on Nov. 1. The injury is not expected to affect his readiness to start next season.

A five-star recruit in high school, Raiola completed 69.1% of his passes during his career with the Cornhuskers and threw 17 interceptions while compiling a 13-9 record as a starter.

Rumors of Raiola’s breakup with Nebraska started swirling in late November when his younger brother, three-star quarterback Dayton Raiola, decommitted from the Huskers’ 2026 class. His uncle, offensive line coach Donovan Raiola, was fired by Nebraska on Dec. 6.

The father of Dylan and Dayton is former NFL offensive lineman Dominic Raiola, an All-American and a Nebraska Football Hall of Fame inductee.

–Field Level Media

Fernando Mendoza (5 TDs), No. 1 Indiana stomp No. 5 Oregon in CFP semi

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ATLANTA — Fernando Mendoza completed 17 of 20 passes for 177 yards and five touchdowns, helping No. 1 Indiana post a 56-22 romp of No. 5 Oregon in a College Football Playoff semifinal game in the Peach Bowl on Friday night.

Indiana (15-0) scored 21 points off three Oregon turnovers, advancing to the CFP national championship game against No. 10 Miami on Jan. 19.

Elijah Sarratt had seven receptions for 75 yards and two touchdowns for Indiana, which has won its two playoff games by a combined 69 points.

Dante Moore threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns for Oregon (13-2), which outgained Indiana 378-362 despite being outmatched throughout the lopsided affair.

Leading 35-7 at halftime, Indiana tacked on with Mendoza’s 13-yard touchdown pass to E.J. Williams Jr. with 8:52 left in the third quarter. After Dierre Hill Jr.’s 71-yard rush, Oregon stopped the bleeding with Jay Harris’ 2-yard rushing score and Moore’s two-point conversion pass to Jamari Johnson to make it 42-15.

Less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, Indiana blocked a punt and three plays later Mendoza threw his fifth touchdown pass, this time a 3-yarder to Sarratt with 11:36 remaining. Kaelon Black then scampered for a 23-yard rushing score to extend the lead to 41 on the Hoosiers’ next drive.

Moore’s 1-yard touchdown pass to Roger Saleapaga with 22 seconds left finished the game’s scoring.

After Oregon returned the opening kick to its 20-yard line, D’Angelo Ponds picked off Moore and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage, giving the Hoosiers a 7-0 lead just 11 seconds in.

The Ducks answered with a 14-play, 75-yard scoring drive, stamped with Moore’s game-tying 19-yard scoring pass to Johnson at the 7:11 mark of the first quarter.

On Indiana’s first offensive possession, Mendoza completed each of his four passes for 41 yards, including an 8-yard touchdown pass to Omar Cooper Jr. with 40 seconds left in the first.

After the teams traded punts, Moore committed his second turnover as he had the ball knocked out of his hands inadvertently by Hill. Indiana’s Mario Landino recovered the fumble at Oregon’s 3-yard line, leading to Black’s 1-yard rushing score with 8:17 remaining in the first half to make it 21-7.

Moore took sacks on second and third down of Oregon’s ensuing drive, leading to another Ducks punt. Four plays later, Mendoza connected with Charlie Becker for a 36-yard touchdown strike to extend the lead to 28-7. Moore’s nightmarish first half continued on the next drive, as Daniel Ndukwe’s strip sack was recovered by Landino at the 21.

The Hoosiers took a 28-point lead on Mendoza’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Sarratt with 59 seconds left before halftime. Oregon’s Atticus Sappington came up short on a 56-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the first half.

–Jack Batten, Field Level Media

Oregon’s Jay Harris in portal, still available for Peach Bowl

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Oregon running back Jay Harris plans to play in the Peach Bowl days after entering the transfer portal.

Ducks head coach Dan Lanning confirmed Oregon would have Harris available on Friday against Indiana in the College Football Playoff semifinal in Atlanta. Harris practiced with Oregon on Monday when word of his portal plans broke.

Lanning has not previously allowed players who entered the portal to participate in the postseason. He said Thursday the change is not frustrating but part of the reality that “you are recruiting every single day” as a college coach given the realities of the timing of the transfer portal opening Jan. 2.

Harris has 26 carries for 116 yards this season and is a power back compared to the current top two on Oregon’s depth chart, Noah Whittington and Dierre Hill.

Without Harris, Whittington (829) and Hill (570) would’ve been Oregon’s only healthy running backs for the playoff matchup.

Freshman running back Jordon Davison (collarbone) was the team’s second-leading rusher with 667 yards and a team-leading 15 rushing touchdowns. He is out Friday and backups Makhi Hughes and Jayden Limar exited via the transfer portal.

–Field Level Media

No. 1 Indiana’s Peach Bowl challenge: Beat No. 5 Oregon… again

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ATLANTA — No. 1 Indiana just won its biggest game in school history. In order to replace that victory with an even more important triumph, the Hoosiers will have to tackle a new challenge — beating a team twice.

Hoping to add on to the best season the program has seen, the Hoosiers will have to take down No. 5 Oregon in the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Peach Bowl on Friday. Indiana beat Oregon in Eugene 30-20 on Oct. 11.

Head coach Curt Cignetti’s team is no longer just a good story. Indiana has entered the group of elites in college football.

After Indiana (14-0) steamrolled Alabama 38-3 in the Rose Bowl, a rematch was set with Oregon (13-1) — which breezed past Texas Tech 23-0 in the Orange Bowl.

Cignetti hasn’t faced a team twice in the same season since his Elon Phoenix split a pair of games with Furman in 2017, losing the latter in an FCS playoff game. There’s no doubt Cignetti will have his team ready in the updated version of the biggest game in Indiana history.

“I think it’s more psychological,” Cignetti said of preparing to face Oregon again. “The one team that came up short has a little added edge, so to speak. But at the end of the day, it’s determined by what goes on between the white lines. It’ll be a tremendous challenge because Oregon is very well-coached and they’ve got good players. … You put the best plan together you can, but at the end of the day, it’s which team executes the best.”

In that first meeting, Oregon was held to a season-low 267 total yards, while quarterback Dante Moore threw two interceptions. As head coach Dan Lanning readies for the Ducks’ third all-time CFP semifinal appearance, he knows it’s a play-by-play type of game.

“When games don’t go your way, you’re always trying to look for answers and reasons why. It’s really simple,” Lanning said of avenging the October loss. “They blocked better, they tackled better, they moved the ball and controlled the clock. You try to find moments where it was the difference. It’s every play. Every play added up and mattered. When you’re playing a team with great technique that has great scheme like Indiana, that’s the edge.”

Moore has thrown for 3,280 yards and 28 touchdowns for the Ducks.

Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza leads the nation with 36 passing scores, paired with 3,172 passing yards and a 72.3% completion percentage. The Cal transfer and projected No. 1 overall pick in April’s NFL Draft has done his part to put Indiana football on the map, but understands the job is far from finished.

“Beating a good team twice, not a good team, a great team twice, is extremely difficult,” Mendoza said. “(Oregon) is star-studded on both offense and defense, draft picks all across the board. They’ve changed a little bit throughout the season, but having to play them twice is going to be tough. It’s going to be a great challenge for us.”

It hasn’t taken long for Indiana fans to come around on the Hoosiers transitioning from a basketball school to a football school.

Entering 2025, Indiana’s 715 all-time losses were the most in the FBS (Northwestern now holds the dubious mark). The fan base drowned out the mighty Crimson Tide contingent at the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day — a trend Mendoza hopes follows the team to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Friday.

“I think having that home-field advantage in Atlanta, which you never know until you get there, but assuming that we’re not going to have to go to a silent count because of how far Eugene is from Atlanta, I think that would be huge for us,” Mendoza said. “It being a neutral-site game, usually it’s 50/50, but hopefully there’s more on our side.”

Indiana leading rusher Roman Hemby (1,007 yards) scored two touchdowns when he faced Oregon.

Oregon’s weapons include wide receiver Malik Benson and tight end Kenyon Sadiq, who have combined for 87 catches and 14 touchdowns. Benson caught a 44-yard touchdown against the Hoosiers in October.

–Jack Batten, Field Level Media

Indiana, Miami open as CFP semifinal favorites

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Indiana emerged as the lone team with a bye to win in the College Football Playoff semifinals, and the Hoosiers are now the clear favorite to win the national title.

Following a 38-3 dismantling of ninth-seeded Alabama, top-seeded Indiana was installed as a consensus 4.0-point favorite to beat Oregon in the Peach Bowl at Atlanta on Jan. 9. The fifth-seeded Ducks opened Saturday’s three-game slate with a 23-0 victory over fourth-seeded Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl.

Indiana is the +135 favorite at DraftKings to win the championship. That’s ahead of Oregon and Miami at +300.

The 10th-seeded Hurricanes opened the quarterfinals with a 24-14 upset of second-seeded Ohio State on New Year’s Eve in the Cotton Bowl at Arlington, Texas. Miami had to wait until the final game on Saturday to learn who its opponent will be in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 8 at Glendale, Ariz.

Sixth-seeded Ole Miss survived a wild game against third-seeded Georgia, winning the Sugar Bowl 39-34 on a last-minute field goal and a safety on the ensuing kickoff.

Ole Miss was installed as a 3.0-point underdog against Miami by DraftKings, which also had the Rebels with the longest remaining title odds at +550.

Indiana (14-0) became the first top-four seed to win a game in the 12-team CFP, after teams with a bye went 0-6 to start the expanded playoff era. Georgia became the seventh loser following a bye week later on Saturday.

“It’s definitely a huge struggle,” Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza said. “I think Coach (Curt) Cignetti did a fantastic job of a trickle-down effect of really making sure there was no complacency. You have 26 days off, it’s very tough.”

The Peach Bowl semifinal will be a rematch of an Oct. 11 game at Eugene, Ore., when the Hoosiers beat the Ducks 30-20.

“I’m not going to assume anything like we’ve bounced back from a lot of big wins and we’ll be fine,” Cignetti said. “Because it’s a process. We’ll have a very big challenge ahead of us next week. It’s very hard to beat a very good football team twice.”

–Field Level Media

No. 4 Texas Tech on historic run entering Orange Bowl vs. No. 5 Oregon

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Texas Tech did not win a single bowl game during Patrick Mahomes’ three seasons in the program from 2014-16.

Yet nine years after a legend’s departure, the No. 4 Red Raiders are playing for a spot in the College Football Playoff semifinals when they face No. 5 Oregon on Thursday in the Orange Bowl at Miami Gardens, Fla.

Texas Tech (12-1) set a school record for victories and received a first-round playoff bye. The Red Raiders revamped their roster in the transfer portal last offseason but their best player could be former walk-on Jacob Rodriguez, the unanimous All-American linebacker who finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting.

Rodriguez is the national leader with seven forced fumbles and has 117 tackles, 11 tackles for loss and four interceptions. He has scored three touchdowns — two on direct snaps on offense and one on a fumble returned for a touchdown.

“I’m just proud of myself for putting in the work,” said Rodriguez, “but I’m more proud of the people I’ve been around and people I’ve gotten to experience in that time.”

Oregon (12-1) blasted James Madison 51-34 in the first round, coming out the gates fast with touchdowns on each of its first five possessions and leading 34-6 at halftime.

Star quarterback Dante Moore passed for 313 yards and four touchdowns and added a score on the ground.

Moore, often mentioned as a possible No. 1 overall draft pick should he enter the 2026 NFL Draft, is confident the Ducks will light up the scoreboard again.

This despite the Red Raiders holding high-powered BYU to seven points in each of their two meetings this season, including the Big 12 championship game.

“Of course Texas Tech has a great front-seven,” Moore said. “They’ve been working their tails off to make great plays. I’ve got to give them credit, but at practice I’ve been doing it for a while now, so it’s going to feel good that how you practice is how you play, and this week we’ve been pushing ourselves when it comes to O-Line and it comes to myself.”

Oregon’s exploits in the first round caught the attention of Red Raiders coach Joey McGuire.

“You look up and they’ve already scored 30-plus points,” McGuire said of the Ducks. “I think they had five touchdowns on five drives, so they’re really explosive. We’ve got to do a good job of making them drive the field.”

The Red Raiders’ unanimous All-American edge rusher David Bailey (second in FBS with 13.5 sacks) and cornerback Brice Pollock (team-high five interceptions) will lend Rodriguez a hand for a defense that leads the nation with 31 takeaways.

All of Texas Tech’s wins have come by 20 or more points and the lone loss occurred when quarterback Behren Morton was sidelined with a lower-leg injury. But that 26-22 loss to Arizona State also became a rallying point, according to Morton, a fifth-year senior who has passed for 2,643 yards and 22 touchdowns against four interceptions.

“We brought everyone up, and we kind of said, ‘Is this going to be another year for Texas Tech where we win eight games and go make a decent bowl game, or do we have something special?’” Morton said.

Oregon will look for a better showing than it put up in last season’s quarterfinals, when it trailed by 34 points in the second quarter and lost 41-21 to Ohio State.

This season’s lone loss still burns Moore, who threw two interceptions during a 30-20 loss to Indiana. However, he has been performing well of late with nine touchdown passes over the past four games.

“He understands how to solve problems within our offense,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “He can check to a lot of things himself, make every throw, and use all the weapons we have. Every route is alive on every play.”

Moore has passed for 3,046 yards and 28 touchdowns against eight interceptions.

A victory would give Oregon a school-record 13th victory for the third time (2014, 2024).

Oregon beat Texas Tech 38-30 on the road in 2023 with Bo Nix at quarterback. The Ducks have won all three meetings.

The winner of this game faces either No. 1 Indiana or No. 9 Alabama in the Peach Bowl semifinal on Jan. 9.

–Field Level Media

CFP quarterfinals: Oregon lone lower seed favored

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Oregon coach Dan Lanning was frustrated by his team’s second-half performance on Saturday night, but that didn’t stop oddsmakers from installing the Ducks as the lone road favorite for the College Football Playoff quarterfinals.

No. 5 Oregon will square off against No. 4 Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl, with the Ducks sitting as a consensus 1.0-point favorite on Sunday.

The other three higher seeds are all at least touchdown favorites.

No. 1 Indiana is a consensus 7.0-point favorite over No. 9 Alabama in the Rose Bowl, while No. 3 Georgia is a 7.5-point favorite against No. 6 in an SEC rematch in the Sugar Bowl. The Crimson Tide opened the playoffs by overcoming a 17-0 deficit at Oklahoma, going on to a 10-point victory after all four road teams lost in the opening round last year.

The biggest spread is owned by No. 2 Ohio State, which opened as an 8.5-point favorite shortly after No. 10 Miami outlasted No. 7 Texas A&M 10-3 on Saturday. However, the consensus line for had moved to 10.0 points by Sunday morning.

The Buckeyes and Hurricanes will play in the first CFP quarterfinal in the Cotton Bowl at 7:30 p.m. ET on New Year’s Eve. The other three games will be played on New Year’s Day.

All four teams with first-round byes last season lost their playoff openers.

Ohio State is the strongest favorite to advance to the semifinals at -425 at DraftKings. The Buckeyes are followed by Indiana and Georgia at -260, Oregon (-115), Texas Tech (-105), Alabama and Ole Miss at +210 and Miami (+320).

The Buckeyes are also favorite to win the CFP title at +200.

CFP TITLE ODDS*
Ohio State (+200)
Indiana (+320)
Georgia (+475)
Oregon (+750)
Texas Tech (+800)
Alabama (+1800)
Miami (+2200)
Ole Miss (+2500)
*DraftKings

–Field Level Media

JMU shrugs off critics, point spread ahead of CFP visit to Oregon

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James Madison doesn’t feel as if apologies are in order for crashing the College Football Playoff field.

It’s not the fault of the Dukes that the system was set up in a way that five-loss Duke could emerge as the Atlantic Coast Conference champion and open the door for 12th-seeded James Madison to claim a spot and face fifth-seeded Oregon on Saturday in a first-round game at Eugene, Ore.

“Outside critics can say whatever they want, we made it to this position because we earned it,” Dukes standout safety Jacob Thomas said.

James Madison (12-1) is in its fourth season at the FBS level and can’t match Oregon’s reputation and talent. It also will have to deal with the rabid atmosphere that Oregon (11-1) possesses in Eugene.

But that also equates to a major opportunity in the eyes of Dukes quarterback Alonza Barnett III.

“This is an environment you dream of playing in, and if you are who you say you are, you can’t shy down when the lights are bright,” Barnett said.

James Madison coach Bob Chesney will be moving on to be UCLA’s new coach after the magical season ends.

The Dukes, champions of the Sun Belt Conference, were one of two non-power league teams to crash the CFP field. The other is No. 11 Tulane, which visits No. 6 Ole Miss on Saturday.

“A lot of work to get to this point and we’re really proud to be one of the 12 teams in this College Football Playoff,” Chesney said. “It’s rare, you know, for teams in the Group of 5 to make it, and I think to have two in here is pretty exciting.”

James Madison’s loss this season came at ACC foe Louisville, 28-14, on Sept. 5.

As for Oregon, its lone loss came against No. 1 playoff seed Indiana, 30-20 in Eugene on Oct. 11.

The Ducks rebounded with six consecutive victories, five by double digits, including a 42-27 victory over then-No. 15 Southern California on Nov. 22.

“I think you always feel the pressure in moments, especially when we had a hiccup early against Indiana,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “We didn’t have any room to leave any indecision for anybody afterwards. Our guys really approached that with each game. It has a life of its own, we had to attack it.”

Oregon’s Dante Moore finished the regular season with passing-yardage outputs of 306, 257 and 286 yards. The third-year sophomore is being mentioned as a probable top-five NFL draft pick should he enter his name in the 2026 draft.

“Of course, everybody keeps asking me questions, but there’s not a decision yet,” said Moore, who has passed for 2,733 yards and 24 touchdowns against six interceptions. “I don’t know. I’m just glad to be here and play JMU this upcoming week.”

The Ducks have been hearing all week that they are on their way to an easy victory — they are favored by three touchdowns at multiple sportsbooks — but Lanning isn’t buying into that.

“Obviously, they have done an exceptional job all year,” Lanning said of the Dukes. “You talk about one of the few teams that’s top-10 offense and top-10 defense. You watch their offense and they create explosive plays all over the board. … Defensively, they create a lot of issues, a lot of different looks.”

Barnett has passed for 21 touchdowns and rushed for 14 more. He has 2,533 passing yards and eight interceptions plus 544 yards on the ground.

Dukes running back Wayne Knight has rushed for 1,263 yards and nine touchdowns, caught 37 passes for 379 yards and one score and is the main punt returner (9.5-yard average).

Oregon’s defense is led by linebacker Bryce Boettcher (104 tackles).

–Field Level Media