UNIVERSITY PARK — In what promises to be one of the grandest spectacles of the 2025 college football season, the No. 6 Oregon Ducks will visit the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday night.
The game will be a matchup of two undefeated, top-10 teams, both contenders for the National Championship, before over 100,000 enthusiastic White Out fans at Penn State’s West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium.
This meeting, especially for Penn State fans, has been highly anticipated, and it will be the Lions’ first real test of the season after three non-conference victories to begin the season.
For Oregon, now 4-0 after wins over Montana State, Oklahoma State, Northwestern and Oregon State (41-7 last week), this will be its second visit to Beaver Stadium and the sixth meeting all-time against the Lions. Penn State leads the series, 3-2, and Oregon won the last meeting between the teams last year in the Big Ten Championship, 45-37.
It will also be a chance for the Ducks to solidify their position not only as a contender for the Big Ten Title but the National Championship as well.
Oregon this season has been an offensive machine.
The Ducks average 50.7 points per game and over 520 yards of offense per game. They gain over 250 yards rushing every time out and so far, have scored 14 touchdowns. The passing game gains 270 yards and has scored another 11 touchdowns.
Quarterback Dante Moore has completed 71-of-95 passes for 962 yards and 11 touchdowns, an average of 240 yards per game.
Running back Jayden Limar has run 32 times for 215 yards and 3 touchdowns, while Dierre Hill, Jr. ran 16 times for 190 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Five Oregon receivers have at least 100 yards receiving and one touchdown led by Dakorien Moore with 12 catches for 207 yards and 2 touchdowns. Malik Benson has 14 catches for 201 yards and 2 touchdowns. Tight end Kanyon Sadiq is also considered a major threat.
Against Oregon State last week, the Ducks broke out to a 21-7 halftime lead and went on to score 20 unanswered points in the second half in a 41-7 win.
Moore passed for 305 yards and four touchdowns, Limar ran for 70 and USC transfer Gary Bryant was the leading receiver with 3 catches for 65 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, the Ducks held OSU to just 147 total yards on 48 plays. Oregon State ran for just 67 yards.
Penn State will enter the game at 3-0 with wins over Nevada, 46-11, Florida International, 34-0, and Villanova, 52-6, last week at Beaver Stadium.
The Lions average 437 yards of offense per game including 243 passing and 193 rushing.
Quarterback Drew Allar completed 57-of-88 passes for 626 yards and 4 touchdowns for an average of 208 ypg.
Kaytron Allen leads the rushers with 273 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Nicholas Singleton ran for 182 yards and 5 touchdowns.
Trebor Pena Kyron Hudson and tight end Luke Reynolds are the leading receivers led by Pena with 13 catches for 166 yards and a touchdown. Hudson has 14 catches for 156 yards and Reynolds has 13 catches for 142 yards.
Penn State’s defense has more than lived up to its billing. The Lions have held opponents to just over 220 yards per game, that included just 100 yards on the ground.
The Lions also have seven takeaways, three fumble recoveries and four interceptions, and nine sacks for 45 yards in losses.
Opinions and predictions vary among the experts and models about the outcome of this game.
Some lean toward Oregon because of its strong, balanced offense and overall high talent level. The Ducks’ O is considered one of the best in the country, even though there have been some concerns about the team starting games slowly.
Oregon also gave up some early rushing yards, but against Oregon State, the Ducks were much improved along the D-Line.
Penn State is a more experienced team and will have last year’s loss in the BIG Championship and a rowdy White Out crowd as incentives.
The Lions will have to depend on their defense to contain the Ducks’ explosive plays, but at the same time Oregon will have to contain the Lions’ runners and quarterback Allar.
In the end, this is expected to be a close and exciting matchup between two of the top teams in the country. The outcome will likely depend on which team commits the fewest errors and best handles the pressure situations.
Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. at West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium.
