Oregon football's Derrick Harmon got brutally honest on his unnecessary roughness penalty against No. 20 Illinois. The No. 1 ranked Ducks overcame multiple injuries in their dominant win over Brett Bielema and company this past Saturday. But that doesn't mean Dan Lanning and his team's performance came without flaws.

Up 35-3 towards the end of the third quarter, Harmon, a junior defensive tackle, had a major penalty against Illini running back Aidan Laughery that sparked a 16-play, 95-yard touchdown drive.

While senior quarterback Dillon Gabriel and company were able to overcome this mistake en route to a dominant 38-9 victory, the junior defensive tackle acknowledged that kind of mistake can't happen anymore.

“It's just a stupid play. Definitely on my part being a fourth-year guy, that's just a stupid play,” Harmon said to Oregon beat writer James Crepea.

Oregon football is dominating the Big Ten

Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel leaps into the end zone for a touchdown during the second quarter against Illinois at Autzen Stadium.
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Despite the penalty against Harmon, Oregon put together a dominant display on both sides of the ball to win their eighth game of the season.

The Ducks' defense shut down an Illinois offense that was quietly thriving under junior QB Luke Altmyer, and now, QB Dillon Gabriel is squarely in the Heisman race. At this point in the season, Oregon football has put together a terrific resume.

While the epic win over then-No.2 Ohio State stands out, some victories that seemed too close for comfort are actually starting to age well for the top-ranked Ducks. An example of this is Oregon football's tight win over now-no. 15 Boise State, the current favorite to be the Group-of-5 representative in the College Football Playoff.

Looking ahead, the rest of the Ducks' schedule to wrap up their first year in the Big Ten is very reasonable. Saturday's matchup pits Oregon against an embattled Michigan football team.

After that comes three more games against unranked teams. First, comes a game at home against Maryland and then a road game against Wisconsin. Oregon will end their regular season with senior night against long-time rival Washington.

With their remaining schedule, it's very reasonable to think that the Ducks will go undefeated in regular season play. And they might need to if they want to make the Big Ten championship game. At the moment, No. 3 Penn State is still undefeated, as well as No. 13 Indiana, which is in the middle of a historic year.

Oregon football could still presumably lose a game and most likely make the College Football Playoff. But a loss this weekend in Ann Arbor could mean the Ducks' hopes of winning a conference championship and earning an automatic top-4 seed are gone.