Oregon head coach Dan Lanning credited a second-quarter fake punt from his own territory with flipping momentum in Saturday’s Oregon vs Ohio State game at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, where the Ducks rallied from an early 14-point deficit to beat the No. 11 Buckeyes 41-28. Oregon scored 38 unanswered points across the second, third, and fourth quarters to hand coach Ryan Day and Ohio State football their second straight defeat and third loss of the 2026 season.
With both teams now sitting at 6-3 overall, Saturday’s result severely damages the College Football Playoff chances for an Ohio State team that began the year ranked No. 1 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll and entered the weekend No. 11 in the AP poll and No. 12 in the first College Football Playoff rankings. According to the Associated Press, the Buckeyes now risk falling out of the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2011.
Ohio State jumped out to a 14-0 lead late in the first quarter behind two touchdown runs from running back Bo Jackson covering 16 yards and 8 yards. After Oregon kicker Gage Hurych drilled a 33-yard field goal early in the second quarter to cut the lead to 14-3, Lanning dialed up a fake punt on fourth-and-9 from Oregon’s own territory. Teitum Tuioti took the snap and completed a 30-yard pass to Matayo Uiagalelei down to the Ohio State 39-yard line.
“Obviously, if it didn’t work, you guys could have a heyday with me, especially in our own territory. But that’s where fakes do work. And we felt like we’d punted a couple times at that point,” Lanning said after the game, as reported by Sports Illustrated. Lanning added that the fourth-down conversion helped his players “settle in” and find an offensive rhythm after their slow start. “Yeah, we’re like cockroaches, man. We won’t die,” he said.
How the Fake Punt Sparked 38 Straight Points
Oregon cashed in six plays after Tuioti’s throw. Quarterback Dylan Raiola connected with tight end Jamari Johnson for 15 yards and running back Dierre Hill Jr. for 20 yards before Hill punched in his first rushing touchdown of the afternoon. Moments later, Oregon defensive back Devin Jackson intercepted Ohio State freshman quarterback Luke Fahey at the Oregon 41-yard line, setting up a 2-yard direct-snap touchdown run by Johnson on the final play of the second quarter to give the Ducks a 17-14 halftime lead.
The Ducks kept pouring it on after the break, stretching their run to 38 straight points to build a 38-14 cushion before the Buckeyes added two fourth-quarter touchdowns. Raiola finished with 257 passing yards, two touchdowns, and zero interceptions, while Hill carried the ball 13 times for 75 yards and two scores and caught four passes for 31 yards. Wide receivers Dakorien Moore (seven receptions, 56 yards) and Brandon Smith (three receptions, 52 yards) each caught a touchdown pass, and Hurych went 2-for-3 on field goals—including a 40-yard make—while hitting all five of his extra points.
Even in defeat, Ohio State outgained Oregon 413 yards to 395, led by Fahey’s 360 passing yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Buckeyes wide receiver Jeremiah Smith caught seven passes for 133 yards and a touchdown on 10 targets, Devin McCuin grabbed nine catches for 84 yards, tight end Nate Roberts added three receptions for 26 yards and a score, and Jackson totaled 48 rushing yards on 11 carries alongside seven catches for 42 yards. In his postgame remarks covered by 247Sports, Lanning praised his players for not blinking when trailing by 14 points and noted that Oregon tried different defensive coverages to contain Jeremiah Smith, calling the Ohio State wideout as good as anybody in college football.
The difference came on fourth downs and red-zone trips. Oregon committed zero turnovers and converted all six of its trips inside the Ohio State 20-yard line, whereas the Buckeyes went 0-for-4 on fourth-down attempts and rushed for just 53 net yards.
Ryan Day Reacts as Ohio State Football Drops to 6-3
Across the stadium, Day pointed to the second-quarter sequence around the fake punt and the final two minutes of the first half as the turning point.
“I thought getting off the field there before the fake punt would’ve been a huge stop and enable for us to get the ball on offense and eat up some more clock there in the second quarter, but it didn’t happen,” Day said during his postgame press conference, according to Newsday.
As reported by The O-Zone, Day also said losing three games is unacceptable at Ohio State and that he would evaluate everything starting with the coaching staff and then the players, calling the past few games frustrating while bringing along a young quarterback. Ohio State offensive lineman Austin Siereveld described the locker room as rough and said the team had no explanation for getting outscored 38-0 through the middle stretch of the contest.
Injury Absences and Week 11 Schedule
Both rosters played Saturday’s matchup without key quarterbacks who were ruled out on the pregame availability report, according to WBNS-10TV. Ohio State was without quarterback Julian Sayin, while Oregon remained without quarterback Dante Moore, who suffered a season-ending concussion at USC earlier this season.
For Oregon, the win in Columbus marks its second consecutive victory after beating Northwestern 34-26 in Week 9, rebounding from an October stretch in which the Ducks lost two of three games against UCLA (17-15) and Illinois (21-10). Ohio State, meanwhile, has now dropped consecutive games after losing 30-18 on the road at USC on Oct. 31, adding to its 24-23 Week 2 road defeat at Texas.
Next Saturday, Nov. 14, Oregon returns to Autzen Stadium in Eugene to host Michigan at 12:30 p.m. PST, while Ohio State stays home in Columbus to face Northwestern at 12:00 p.m. EST.