A 59,625-strong crowd at Autzen Stadium witnessed a gut-wrenching upset as Oregon lost to Indiana. Of course, it was always going to be a tense matchup, given that both teams were undefeated coming into the game. Even though Oregon mostly trailed in the game, a fourth-quarter disasterclass by Dante Moore extinguished any hopes for a comeback. But Dan Lanning understands that this loss is on more than the QB.

Moore completed 21 of his 34 passes for 186 yards and a touchdown. He was limited greatly by Indiana’s D-line. For context, the Hoosiers sacked Moore six times along with 8 tackles for loss. This made functioning in the pocket a nightmare for the young sophomore. His exceptional passing game faltered.

Owing to Oregon’s O-line failing to protect Moore, the QB threw two crucial interceptions in the fourth quarter, when Oregon trailed 20-27. Despite this, Dan Lanning has backed his QB and instilled motivation in the post-game presser. “It wasn’t Dante. It was the whole group. It was the coaching staff. It’s the players. Ultimately, Dante’s going to look at this as an opportunity to learn from it as well,” said Lanning.

The head coach also called the game an “adversity” and vowed to improve in the next game. Not just that, Lanning took full accountability for the loss and refused to point fingers at his players. “Adversity is real. You’re going to face it at some point in your career. It’s about how you respond to it. We didn’t have our fastball today. They did a great job. In this game, everybody wants to look at players and say, ‘Oh, this is the reason.’ That was a team effort, and that was a team loss. Their team played better than us…We’ll grow from it and get better,” said Lanning.

Of course, Indiana was exceptional in the game. Fernando Mendoza completed 20 of his 31 passes for 215 yards. Moreover, the QB also contributed to the ground game and rushed for 31 yards on 6 carries. As for Indiana’s receiving unit, Elijah Sarrat had a 15.1 yards per reception performance, totaling 121 yards. Whereas Omar Cooper Jr had 58 receiving yards. In contrast, Oregon was without its ace wide receiver, Evan Stewart, who is battling a long-term injury.

While other WRs like Malik Benson, Dakorien Moore, and Gary Bryant Jr were present on the team. Not to mention, Kenyon Sadiq, Stewart’s touted replacement. Still, Oregon’s receiving game was limited to 186 yards with no WR crossing the 50-yard mark. One would have expected the run game to compensate in such a situation. However, the rushing unit, too, regressed, accumulating just 81 yards.

Dan Lanning praised Indiana and Curt Cignetti

The loss is also notable since the total of 267 yards in the game are the lowest ever by Dan Lanning at Oregon. Third down conversions were another issue, since IU allowed just 3 out of 14 attempts. Even penalties cost the team greatly.

“They had extra hats at the point of attack. In situations where we’re having to throw for it, they did a great job defending the sticks. They were aggressive,” said Dan Lanning about Indiana’s quality. As for Dante Moore’s interceptions, the first one came on 2nd and 14 at Oregon’s 21. Moore’s pass was intercepted by Indiana’s Luis Moore. Indiana scored a field goal and went clear ahead of Oregon, 30-20, and never looked back. Thereafter, another interception at 1st and 10 at Oregon’s 25 shut the door on any possible comeback with only 2:01 left on the clock.

The next games for Oregon are against Rutgers, Wisconsin, and Iowa. All of these teams don’t have the quality to challenge Oregon, and Dan Lanning will eventually emerge victorious. Barring a PSU level meltdown. But that isn’t likely to occur. The real test, however, lies against USC and Washington in late November, which can decide Oregon’s playoff fate. That said, Oregon is still a Big 10 contender and an Indiana loss might even be beneficial for them in the long term, forcing them to improve. Something they didn’t have last season, owing to an undefeated regular season.