Oregon plays aggressive under new play-caller Jay Johnson, beats Northwestern before Ohio State trip

Oregon fired offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer one week ago. In its first game since, the offense played with a lot more nerve. With assistant quarterbacks coach Jay Johnson calling plays, the Ducks came back from 10 points down and beat No. 20 Northwestern 34-26 at Autzen Stadium. That stopped a run of three losses in five games and moved Oregon to 5-3.

Ducks Wire reported that Dan Lanning saw a clear change in approach. In his view, the offense had been too cautious under Mehringer, and Johnson's plan was built around attacking. Lanning listed a halfback pass, a reverse, deep shots and a fade in the red zone among the calls, and summed up the night as "about letting it hang." The biggest example came early in the fourth quarter. Down 23-20, Oregon faced fourth-and-goal at the 2 and passed on a tying field goal. Freshman Brandon Smith scored, and the Ducks led for the first time at 27-23. Lanning said the thinking was simple: if the Ducks came up short, Northwestern would be backed up nearly the length of the field.

The ESPN recap of the game showed what the change produced. Dylan Raiola, in his second straight start with Dante Moore out for the season, completed 22 of 31 passes for 336 yards and three touchdowns, his best passing day at Oregon. Dakorien Moore caught 128 yards' worth of passes and scored twice, including a 75-yard touchdown that put the game away. Smith ran for 82 yards after starter Jordon Davison left in the first half with a leg injury. The defense gave Northwestern only six points after halftime and held the Wildcats to field goals in the red zone. Aidan Chiles threw for 281 yards and ran for 93 in the loss.

What it means for Ohio State

The opponent gets much tougher now. Oregon travels to No. 11 Ohio State on Saturday, November 7, on CBS. The Ducks have been hard to read all season. They won 41-27 at USC and beat Northwestern, but they also lost 10-21 at Illinois and dropped close home games to UCLA and Nebraska, losing 15-17 to UCLA and winning 17-14 over Nebraska. Before Saturday, Oregon had scored 17 points or fewer in three straight games. Whether the aggressive style holds up on the road against Ohio State is the open question.

The board for Oregon at Ohio State has the Buckeyes clearly favored. Novig lists Ohio State at -245 on the moneyline and Oregon at +233. Hard Rock Bet has the best Oregon price among the 12 venues at +250. The spread is 7.5 points at Novig, while DraftKings has Ohio State -7 at -115. Novig's total is 48.5, and Pinnacle sits at 48. Sportsbook hold on the moneyline runs from 4.0% to 5.6%, so the gap between venues is small.

Northwestern falls to 6-2 and goes home to face No. 21 Iowa on Fox. On that board, the Wildcats are narrowly favored: -127 at Novig and -118 at FanDuel, with a total of 44.5.