Oregon took its first loss of the season against Indiana last week, and it looks like Dan Lanning and his program are clearly not over the loss. After falling short against the Hoosiers’ defense, they came in full explosive mode against Rutgers for their Big 10 matchup. And the result was they didn’t let them score for two straight quarters and won it with a 56-10 margin. It seems the Ducks are taking it all out on Rutgers this week.

That loss to Indiana stripped Oregon bare. But against Rutgers, it was like all that frustration had been sharpened into focus. Indiana had exposed Oregon’s flaws across the board: Dante Moore’s reads under pressure, a shaky offensive line, and running backs struggling in protection. The Ducks played fast, angry, and calculated.

It was so evident that even fans pointed it out on X: “Is Rutgers this bad, or is Oregon this pissed off?”

But fans calling it an anger-driven game does make sense, as Lanning’s irritation over Indiana’s loss proves it. “We corrected ’em,” Lanning said while addressing a question on their flaws. “Yeah, we corrected ’em on Monday. Any other Indiana questions? They played really good, guys, they played really good. They had a better plan than us. And we played that game last Saturday.”

Putting up 750 total yards against Rutgers, which is also their program’s highest, isn’t an easy feat. It was fans’ and analysts’ constant bickering that forced them to be this explosive. Oregon went 8 of 10 on third downs and even got 28 first downs with an average of 13 yards every play. Whereas Rutgers couldn’t find rhythm even once, as they gave up 446 yards on 34 plays in the first half only, and even let Dan Lanning’s team gain another 122 yards on just the first 3 plays of the second half.

It was pretty clear that stopping the Ducks was next to impossible for Rutgers. While they needed a perfect offensive push to bounce back, their offense just couldn’t do much, as they finished with just 202 total yards with three turnovers and even went just 4 of 18 on third downs. Lanning was filled with satisfaction post-game, but he is still focused on key misses. “I thought our guys played a complete game. Still have moments they’ll say, We can’t let that happen to us.” But for now, fans are focused on their win against Rutgers.

Fans jab at Oregon’s frustration

Oregon’s motivation to win this game was clearly visible in their performance. Both offense and defense were in their best form in the game, and that’s what made fans feel it was the result of their tough loss against Indiana. Now, it might not be the case, but Dan Lanning needed this win more than anyone to keep their championship hopes alive. But fans couldn’t think of it as a comeback game. Just like this one: “I think Oregon was angry lmao.”

Then came in the other fan, highlighting Oregon’s explosive offensive game against Rutgers that didn’t let them breathe for a single moment.” Oregon scores its eighth touchdown of the game with a 35-yard rush to make it 56-3. The Ducks are up to 638 total yards, the most given up by Rutgers during Greg Schiano’s second stint and the most since it gave up 669 to Ohio State in a 58-0 loss in 2016.” Well, you tend to come up strong after tough losses. Remember how Ohio State won the championship after losing to Michigan last year.

This fan took the sarcastic approach to point out the same: “Oregon shouldn’t be allowed to play conference games against teams like Rutgers.” After today’s game, that might be the case. But fans can’t stop feeling bad for them as they got the heat of someone else’s fury. As this fan said, “I’m so sorry, Rutgers 😂😅.” Now came the final comment summing up every fan’s emotion pretty well after Oregon’s win against Rutgers: “Oregon looked awful last week against Indiana. Rutgers is the unfortunate collateral damage from that. 😎🏈🦆”  Call it a revenge game or a perfect comeback. The Oregon Ducks proved they are no less than any team in the league.