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Northwestern Wildcats at Oregon Ducks

Oct 31, 20262:30 PM CTPeacockEugene, OR
By JR·2 min read
#20 Northwestern(6-1)
Oregon(4-3)
2:30 PM

TLDR: No. 24 Northwestern is 6-1 and heading west. Oregon is unranked, just lost at Illinois, and is about to host a team it would have been laying 3 scores to not long ago.

SAT 10/31, 2:30 PM CT · Week 9Peacock
20Northwestern
(6-1)
WWWWL
Oregon
(4-3)
LWLWW
Kickoff 56°

No. 24 Northwestern (6-1) visits unranked Oregon (4-2) on Saturday, October 31, with the Wildcats on a 4-game win streak and the Ducks coming off a 21-10 loss at Illinois. Oregon's offense has stalled against Power 4 defenses: it ranks near the bottom in yards per drive and turnover rate, the run game is 114th in the country, and its receiver room keeps losing people to injury. Oregon still enters as the home favorite, so the game comes down to whether that offense can find anything against a Northwestern defense that held Penn State and Rutgers to 14 or fewer.

Northwestern Wildcats
  • Won 4 straight, including 34-13 over Penn State
  • Chiles won Michigan State game with 58-second drive
  • Defense held Penn State and Rutgers to 14 or fewer
  • Starting CB Fussell out, no timetable
  • TE McGlinchey out, no timetable
  • Long trip west to Autzen
Oregon Ducks
  • Defense allowed 21 or fewer in 3 straight
  • Won at USC 41-27 in late September
  • Home crowd at Autzen
  • 24.0 yards per drive vs Power 4, 2nd-worst
  • Run game 114th nationally, tackles struggling
  • Receivers Hooks and McClellan out, Gresham questionable

Halloween brings Northwestern to Eugene for a noon kickoff Central on Saturday, October 31, and the 2 teams are going in opposite directions. Northwestern has won 4 straight, most recently a 42-14 win over Rutgers, and the one blemish in its last 5 is a 29-23 loss at Indiana. Aidan Chiles has the offense playing with some nerve. He drove it 68 yards in 58 seconds at Spartan Stadium to set up Jackson Kleather's 34-yard field goal with 2 seconds left, a 24-21 win over Michigan State.

Oregon is 4-2 and 2-2 in the Big Ten, and the problem is the offense. Going into the Illinois game, the Ducks were averaging 24.0 yards per drive against Power 4 opponents, and only Stanford was worse. 18.5% of those drives ended in a turnover. The run game ranks 114th nationally at 109.8 yards per game and 3.6 per carry, and SI pins a lot of that on a shaky offensive line, especially at tackle, that isn't opening anything for Jordon Davison and Dierre Hill Jr. Dylan Raiola is also running out of receivers: Isaiah Hooks is out for an extended stretch, J. McClellan has no timetable with a foot injury, and D. Gresham has been questionable with a neck issue.

Then came Illinois. Oregon managed 10 points in Champaign and lost 21-10, its first road loss in conference play since 2023. The game-sealing Illinois touchdown came after a replay review the Oregon staff wasn't happy with. A bad call can explain the last 7 points. It can't explain 10 points of offense, and it doesn't explain the 17-15 home loss to UCLA either.

20Northwestern Wildcats
(6-1)
10/24WvsRutgers42-14
10/17W@Michigan State24-21
10/10WvsBall State45-14
10/03WvsPenn State34-13
09/26L@4Indiana23-29
Oregon Ducks
(4-3)
10/24L@Illinois10-21
10/18WvsNebraska17-14
10/10Lvs7UCLA15-17
09/26W@USC41-27
09/19WvsPortland State84-0

Don't let the 84-0 win over Portland State fool you. Since then, Oregon has scored 41 at USC and 17 or fewer in each of its other 3 games. The defense has mostly held up its end, giving up 17, 14 and 21 in those 3. That's why this looks like a field-position game. Northwestern held Penn State to 13 and Rutgers to 14. If Oregon's offense stays this stuck, Autzen will need its defense to win this, not the other way around.

Both secondaries are shorthanded. Northwestern has been without CB J. Fussell since early October with no timetable, and tight end T. McGlinchey is out too. Oregon lost CB A. Flowers for the season. Northwestern is the healthier team where it counts, because Oregon's injuries are stacked in a receiver room that was already short on answers.

The forecast is mild for Eugene at the end of October: low 40s, partly cloudy, barely any wind. Weather won't be the story. The story is whether Oregon's offensive line can give Raiola enough time to push the ball downfield against a Northwestern defense that has been tough all month. If it can't, a ranked team leaves Autzen with 7 wins and a Ducks season that is coming apart starts asking harder questions.

Northwestern vs. Oregon: Polymarket Odds & Prediction (Oct. 31) — Ranked Northwestern Heads To Autzen To Face A Struggling Oregon