MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Oranges were flying everywhere.
First, quarterback Dante Moore and wide receiver Malik Benson made a couple of soft tosses from the stage to teammates gathered in front of the narrow platform as Oregon celebrated its Orange Bowl rout of Texas Tech on Saturday. Then the Ducks started launching citrus fruit left and right, with Benson heaving one toward the stands, trying to reach his little brothers.
“Obviously, you can see that’s why I don’t play quarterback,” Benson said.
The Ducks soaked in the sunshine, did snow angels in the green and yellow confetti piled on the turf and a few even stopped to sign autographs as they left the field at Hard Rock Stadium after suffocating the Red Raiders 23-0 to advance to the CFP semifinals. Next up is Atlanta and the Peach Bowl against Indiana. The goal is to return to Miami in about three weeks for the national title game.
🍊#GoDucks pic.twitter.com/K9yw9w0hb8
— GoDucks (@GoDucks) January 1, 2026
“This place is amazing. We want to be back, so we got to make sure that we handle business,” outside linebacker Teitum Tuioti said.
To do so, Oregon will need its offense to be a lot better than it was against a talented Texas Tech defense.
One thing is for sure, though: Dan Lanning’s team will never lack confidence. The coach’s unrelenting aggressiveness fuels these Ducks, and it showed Thursday. Oregon went 4-for-8 on fourth down, including a 1-yard touchdown run by Jordon Davison with 16 seconds left in regulation that put a fitting capper on a game the Ducks mostly controlled but couldn’t quite put away.
“I’m grateful that Coach Lanning is aggressive, man,” Tuioti said. “That he takes his shots. But we understand on defense, like, if it doesn’t go that way, man, we’re ready to put out the fire, and that’s what we do.”
Oregon’s dominant defense made it easier to take more chances on offense. The Ducks sacked Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton four times Thursday, with Tuioti recording two. Freshman cornerback Brandon Finney Jr. intercepted Morton twice and Matayo Uiagalelei made probably the biggest play of the game, strip-sacking Morton in the third quarter to set up the Ducks at the Tech 6-yard line. The offense finally cashed in with a touchdown run on the next play by Jordon Davison.
Tuioti also caught a pass for the first time since high school on a play that showcased Lanning’s aggression. On a fourth-and-3 from the Oregon 43 early in the second quarter, punter James Ferguson-Reynolds executed a nice fake, completing a pass to Tuioti for 11 yards.
OREGON FAKE PUNT 🫢 pic.twitter.com/FpIf3i3wEg
— ESPN (@espn) January 1, 2026
With the score 3-0 at the time, and both teams struggling to protect their quarterbacks, the fake looked like a potential pivot point in a low-scoring game. The Ducks converted another fourth down a few plays later more traditionally, with Moore finding Noah Whittington for 4 yards, but ultimately the Ducks stalled out on fourth-and-goal at the 2.
“You get mad when you don’t convert, because we know what type of offense we are, but you know, we just tell each other, next-play, next-drive mentality,” said Benson, who had five catches for 51 yards and a 28-yard punt return.
Benson’s punt return early in the third quarter was another play that looked like it could give the Ducks some breathing room, but that drive halted on a missed fourth down, too.
“We’ve talked to our guys about being battle tested all year and having to win in different ways,” Lanning said. “That game went back and forth in a lot of ways, struggled at times to go score points, and our defense did an unbelievable job getting the ball back. And then our offense showed up when it mattered most at the end of the game. I think we out-physicaled our opponent at the end.”
Since Lanning’s arrival in Eugene four years ago, the Ducks have been one of the most successful teams on fourth down. Of the 11 teams to win at least 40 games since the start of the 2022 season, Oregon’s 66 percent conversion percentage on fourth downs ranked third-best heading into Thursday’s Playoff game, per TruMedia. Only Georgia (74.3 percent) and Ohio State (67.5 percent) had better conversion rates, but the Bulldogs and Buckeyes haven’t gone for it nearly as much as Oregon has over the same stretch.
The Ducks were 14 of 22 on fourth-down attempts during the regular season, including a season-best 5-of-7 performance in a 30-24 overtime win at Penn State.
Teitum Tuioti caught his first career pass to convert a fake punt on fourth down — and recorded two sacks defensively, too. (James Gilbert / Getty Images)
Lanning finally passed on a fourth-and-short about midway through the fourth quarter, letting Atticus Sappington bang through a 43-yard field goal — this third of the day — to extend Oregon’s lead to 16-0.
“Well, it worked sometimes and didn’t work sometimes. So I assume all the times it didn’t work, I’m stupid, and all the times it worked, I’m smart. That’s kind of how it works,” Lanning said.
No one will be calling Lanning stupid this week. He is now 48-7 as Ducks coach and has them closer to their first national championship than they have been since Heisman winner Marcus Mariota led Oregon to the title game against Ohio State after the 2014 season.
Lanning’s team is far from perfect. This was Oregon’s fifth game against a defense ranked in the top-40 nationally in yards per play, following games against Penn State, Indiana, Iowa and Washington. In those games, the Ducks have scored only eight touchdowns in regulation — and one of those came in the closing seconds of the Orange Bowl.
Moore, who seems to be gaining momentum as an NFL prospect, was 26-for-33 for 234 yards with an interception. Solid, considering how little help he had from his protection and running game. The Ducks running backs managed just 89 yards on 36 carries.
All of that is not going to be good enough to win two more games and a national championship. But if the Ducks do go down, it won’t be because they melt under the spotlight.
“Proud of our players, the resiliency they showed, their ability to stay calm and poised and collected under pressure. It’s not easy in big moments,” Lanning said. “But these guys have shown and proven time after time … that team in that locker room (has) shown time and time again that they’re ready for big moments.”
— Manny Navarro contributed to this report.