Ducks Storm the Horseshoe: Oregon Rallies From 14 Down to Stun No. 10 Ohio State 41-28

For about fifteen minutes on Saturday afternoon, everything in Columbus was going exactly as Ohio State had drawn it up. Then Oregon decided it had seen enough.

The Ducks, down 14-0 at the end of the first quarter and being pushed around in front of 103,551 people at Ohio Stadium, scored 38 straight points and stunned the 10th-ranked Buckeyes 41-28. By the time Ohio State scored again late in the fourth quarter, more than half of the crowd had already left. It was Ohio State's second straight defeat, and it has all but extinguished whatever was left of the Buckeyes' Big Ten and College Football Playoff hopes.

The start could hardly have been worse for the visitors. Bo Jackson ran for touchdowns of 16 and eight yards as Ohio State marched 75 and 82 yards on its first two drives, outgaining Oregon 174-37 in the opening quarter. The Buckeyes were 3-for-3 on third down on the opening drive alone. At 14-0, this looked like a rout in the making.

What happened next is the part Dan Lanning's team will be telling stories about for years. Oregon's defence, which had given up 174 yards in a quarter, gave up only 239 yards and 14 points over the final three quarters. The Ducks got on the board with a Gage Hurych field goal, then pulled off the play that turned the whole afternoon: lined up to punt late in the second quarter, outside linebacker Teitum Tuioti took a direct snap and threw a 30-yard pass to fellow linebacker Matayo Uiagalelei. The fake punt kept the drive alive, and Dierre Hill Jr. finished it with a nine-yard touchdown run. A minute later Devin Jackson intercepted backup quarterback Luke Fahey, and with two seconds left in the half, tight end Jamari Johnson took a direct snap and pushed two yards into the end zone. Oregon led 17-14 at the break, having scored 17 unanswered points, two touchdowns in the final 1:25 of the half.

The second half was more of the same, only louder. Hill broke a 48-yard touchdown run on the opening drive. Dakorien Moore hauled in an 11-yard touchdown pass from Dylan Raiola with one hand. Brandon Smith took a pass 15 yards for a score. At 38-14 early in the fourth quarter, the game was over in everything but the scoreboard. Ohio State's late scores — a 13-yard touchdown catch by Jeremiah Smith and a 15-yard touchdown to tight end Nate Roberts in the final minute — only dressed up the margin.

Raiola finished 25-for-40 for 257 yards and two touchdowns without a turnover, and Hill ran 13 times for 75 yards and two scores as Oregon totalled 395 yards of offence.

The context makes it bigger still. Oregon came into the day unranked in the coaches' poll and No. 23 in the first College Football Playoff ranking of the season, a team with three losses that had been written off as a playoff factor weeks ago. Ohio State, meanwhile, had already lost at home to USC 30-18 the week before, and was playing without starting quarterback Julian Sayin, leaving Fahey to run the offence. The Buckeyes now sit at 6-3 with three losses on the résumé and a trip to Michigan still to come. Their path to the 12-team field has narrowed to a crack.

Oregon, 6-3 and 4-2 in the Big Ten, is suddenly alive again. In a season that has already produced its share of chaos, Saturday in the Horseshoe might have been the wildest afternoon of them all.