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And just like that, the Oregon Ducks are Big 10 Champions.
That's right, after being the “less flashy” transfers to the conference alongside Washington and the Los Angeles schools, UCLA and USC, the Ducks fought through adversity, a nationwide schedule, and the perception that they couldn't hang against “better” competition to route Ohio State, Michigan State, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Washington, on the way to their first-ever Big 10 Conference Championship game against Penn State.
Taking the field at Lucis Oil Stadium, the NFL home of the Indianapolis Colts, the Ducks went out to an early lead thanks to impressive play by Dillon Gabriel and never let up, going up seven before the half and never letting their foot off the gas, no matter how hard Drew Allar and company fought to keep things close. They overcame tricky throws on near-sacks and strong runs, and, with a mere second left on the board, the Ducks stuck a pin in the contest with a Nikko Reed interception, stealing Allar's chances of a hail mary tie before setting up one final Ducks drive to run out the clock.
Dan Lanning's team has an answer for everything PSU threw his way, and in the end, Oregon secured their first undefeated regular season since 2010, when Chip Kelly was still the team's head coach.
With the number one seed in the playoffs officially secured and a first-week bye allowing the Ducks to recharge ahead of their Quarterfinal matchup, fans of Oregon Football can finally breathe a sigh of relief that the University's move to the Big 10 was a good one and prepare for their second-ever trip to the college football playoffs. For the fanbase's sake, let's hope this one turns out better than Mark Helfrich's run at the end of the 2014 season, as that loss to now conference rivals Ohio State still stings in the minds of more than a few fans in the Pacific Northwest.
