Ducks Win Top-10 Tilt In Double OT

Saturday, September 27

University Park, PA

4:30 PM

University of Oregon

5-0 , 2-0

Penn State

3-1 , 0-1

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Oregon

Penn St.

Photo by: Eric Evans/GoDucks.com

09/27/25 | Football

Box Score Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

Oregon scored two touchdowns in the overtime periods and sealed a win Saturday at Penn State with an interception.

By: Rob Moseley

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The game lived up to the hype. And Oregon's biggest dreams are very much alive as well.

A touchdown for the Ducks in double overtime followed by an interception of Penn State clinched a win for the UO football team in a battle of top-10 teams at Beaver Stadium. Playing in front of the biggest crowd ever to watch a UO football game, a frenzied "white out" of 111,015 Nittany Lions fans, the No. 6 Ducks silenced them all when Dillon Thieneman picked off Drew Allar on No. 3 Penn State's first play of double overtime for a 30-24 Oregon victory.

"I think that's the best game I've ever been a part of," UO coach Dan Lanning said.

The rematch of the 2024 Big Ten Championship Game saw the Ducks top the Nittany Lions again. Oregon now enters a bye week at 5-0 on the season, 2-0 in conference play and firmly in the thick of the College Football Playoff race.

The victory required some fortitude from the Ducks, who took a 17-3 lead early in the fourth quarter and saw Penn State lean on its rushing attack to tie it up with 30 seconds left in regulation. The two teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, Oregon scored in the second but didn't convert the mandatory 2-point try, and Thieneman came through to deny the Nittany Lions another comeback.

Johnson Moore Jube

"These guys, they fought," Lanning said. "We talked all week, it's about getting it done. It was gonna be death by a thousand cuts, and eventually the last cut would be the jugular. And that interception was the jugular."

Dante Moore finished the game 29-of-39 for 248 yards and three touchdowns, including both of Oregon's overtime scores. His shovel pass to Jamari Johnson allowed the Ducks to match Penn State's touchdown in the first overtime, and Gary Bryant Jr. followed with a 25-yard scoring reception on the first UO play of the second OT.

Moore also ran 10 times for 35 yards, including a short run for a fourth-down conversion on the play prior to Johnson's game-tying touchdown in the first overtime.

The Oregon Ducks take on the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania on September 27, 2025 (Eric Evans Photography)

"I think we have the best quarterback in college football," Lanning said.

The game was 3-3 at halftime, and Oregon's defense forced a punt to open the second half. The Ducks then drove down inside the 10-yard line, where Noah Whittington fumbled and Penn State recovered. But a replay review determined that Whittington was down before the turnover, and the next play was a pass from Moore to Dierre Hill Jr. for the game's first touchdown.

The UO defense then forced a three-and-out, and the Ducks drove to another touchdown by another freshman running back, Jordon Davison, for a 17-3 lead early in the fourth.

The Oregon Ducks take on the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania on September 27, 2025 (Eric Evans Photography)

"Playing on the road after a six-hour flight, playing in a 'White Out' game, it's things you dream about as a kid," Moore said. "… Everybody had each other's backs. We were our brothers' keepers."

The Ducks would have to have each other's backs through a Penn State comeback. The Nittany Lions quickly answered that second UO touchdown with one of their own, forced an Oregon punt and then used most of the final 7 minutes of regulation to drive to another score in the final minute of regulation.

When Penn State then scored again to open overtime, the momentum seemed to be with the home team. But Moore, Thieneman and the Ducks had other ideas.

Bryce Boettcher had 12 tackles to lead the UO defensive effort, Teitum Tuioti and Matayo Uiagalelei each had a sack and Thieneman made the game-clinching interception for the night's only turnover.

The Oregon Ducks take on the Penn State Nittany Lions at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania on September 27, 2025 (Eric Evans Photography)

Defensive tackles Bear Alexander and A'Mauri Washington each had five tackles, helping the Ducks mostly contain the Penn State rushing attack after the Nittany Lions ran for nearly 300 yards in the 2024 Big Ten title game.

"We're relentless," Boettcher said. "The most physical football team always wins."

Oregon now enters a bye week before another game that figures to have national implications, at home against Indiana on Oct. 11. The hype for that one figures to be substantial, all because the Ducks handled the hype Saturday night at Penn State and came away with the victory.