3 & Out: Ohio State welcomes Oregon to Columbus on Saturday afternoon

First Down

Players to watch for Oregon

1) Dakorien Moore

A five-star recruit coming out of high school, Moore has recently shown why he was the top-ranked receiver in the 2025 class.

Over the last 3 games, Moore has 23 receptions, which is the most among Big Ten receivers. After hauling in 34 passes for 497 yards and three touchdowns as a freshman, Moore has already bettered those numbers in 2026 with 41 catches for 545 yards and six touchdowns.

The best performance of Moore’s collegiate career came last week when he caught seven passes for 128 yards and two touchdowns, marking the first time he has eclipsed 100 yards receiving in a game.

His second touchdown came in the fourth quarter after a Northwestern field goal closed the gap to 27-26. On the first play of the drive, Moore took a Dylan Raiola pass 75 yards to the end zone to extend Oregon’s lead to 34-26.

Moore and Raiola are building a connection that should make them a dangerous combination for the rest of the season as Oregon fights for their College Football Playoff lives.

2) Matayo Uiagalelei

The Ohio State offensive line has had trouble keeping opponents out of the backfield throughout the season. The task won’t get any easier on Saturday when they go up against defensive end Matayo Uiagalelei.

The defensive lineman currently leads the Ducks with six sacks on the season. Uiagalelei has also intercepted a pass and forced a fumble. In 50 games at Oregon, Uiagalelei has 24.5 sacks, which ranks fourth in school history. One of those sacks came back in 2024 when the Buckeyes took on the Ducks in Eugene in the regular season.

Uiagalelei has already matched his 2025 total with 34 tackles this season. With five more tackles, Uiagalelei will set a career high, moving past the 38 stops he made during the 2024 season.

3) Koi Perich

One of the biggest transfers following the 2025 season came when Minnesota safety Koi Perich announced he would be moving on to Oregon.

Perich burst onto the scene with five interceptions as a freshman in 2024. The addition of Perich was seen as a seamless replacement for Dillon Thieneman, who was a first-round pick in the NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears.

Perich enters this week leading the Ducks with 53 tackles on the season. The safety has also picked off two passes, bringing his career total to eight interceptions. Perich has previous experience playing at Ohio Stadium, recording nine tackles last year in a 42-3 Minnesota loss.

What has been a bit puzzling is that Perich was excellent while returning kicks the last two seasons for the Golden Gophers. Last year Perich averaged 26.3 yards per kick return and 9.9 yards per punt return. Dan Lanning has chosen not to utilize Perich’s talents in the return game this year, as Perich has not returned a kick or a punt.

Second Down

Keys for Ohio State

1) Forget about last week

To say last week was a total team failure for Ohio State might be an understatement. The Buckeyes gave up a 69-yard touchdown on the second play of the game and could never find their footing against USC.

The performance was one of the worst by the Buckeyes since Ryan Day took over in 2019.

With the change of the calendar to November, Ohio State needs to approach these next four games as an extension of the College Football Playoff. If the Buckeyes lose, then they are not making the postseason tournament. Run the table, and you’re a part of the dance for a third straight year.

Aside from using last week’s loss as a teachable moment, there’s not much reason to dwell on it. Wipe the slate clean.

There is still plenty of talent on both sides of the football. Find ways to properly utilize it, and Ohio State will still be a tough team to beat even without Julian Sayin.

2) Play disciplined

About everything that could go wrong for Ohio State did go wrong against USC. Many of the setbacks against the Trojans were self-inflicted mistakes. The Buckeyes were repeatedly penalized, committed a costly turnover, couldn’t tackle, and the coaching staff looked lost throughout the night.

With Sayin on the sidelines, the margin for error is razor-thin. The offense won’t be able to move the football quite as easily as they did with Sayin. The task gets even tougher when Ohio State struggles to get a snap off without getting flagged.

Making simple mistakes might fly against teams like Ball State and Maryland, but it certainly won’t against Oregon, Northwestern, and Michigan. The Buckeyes have to play smart and not lose their heads as Beau Atkinson did with an idiotic personal foul penalty on a punt. If Ohio State doesn’t beat themselves, it makes it so much harder for their opponents to beat them.

3) Don’t overthink things

When Ryan Day is at his best as a head coach is when he is letting the game flow. What makes Day’s teams so frustrating is when he tries to get too cute. Ohio State’s red zone offense is a perfect example. There is no reason Jeremiah Smith should come off the field inside the 20-yard line of the opponent in favor of a bunch of tight ends.

Obviously Day and his staff don’t want to make things too simple, but they also don’t need to act like they are the smartest men in the room. Complicating things too much is only going to hurt them, especially with a quarterback who is making his second career start on Saturday.

The coaches know what their players do well and what type of formations work. Don’t stray too far from that. Put your players in spots where they are comfortable. As things start to work, their confidence will grow, and they won’t play as tight as they have recently.

Third Down

Notable Ohio State/Oregon connections

1) Carlos Locklyn

Prior to coming to Ohio State in 2024, Carlos Locklyn was the running backs coach at Oregon in 2022 and 2023. Locklyn was a weight room assistant at Memphis in 2017, which was the same year Dan Lanning was an assistant on the coaching staff of the Tigers.

Locklyn was a running back during his college career, rushing for over 1,509 yards in four years at Chattanooga. Before being hired by Oregon, Locklyn was the running backs coach at Western Kentucky in 2021. After arriving at Ohio State, Locklyn has coached the likes of TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins, and Bo Jackson.

2) Chip Kelly

While he is currently the offensive coordinator at Northwestern, Chip Kelly has been employed by both Oregon and Ohio State. During four years as Oregon head coach, Kelly compiled a 46-7 record, leading the Ducks to a BCS National Championship Game appearance, along with three other BCS bowl game appearances.

After coaching in the NFL and at UCLA, Kelly took a step back and accepted the position of offensive coordinator at Ohio State in 2024. After Ryan Day was previously an assistant under Kelly at New Hampshire and in the NFL with Philadelphia and San Francisco, the roles were reversed.

Day and Kelly clicked running the offense in Columbus, leading Ohio State on a magical national title run during Kelly’s only year with the Buckeyes. After Kelly and Northwestern lost at Oregon last week, the Wildcats will be in Columbus next Saturday.

3) Sean Stewart

With college basketball starting up early this week, we’ll turn our attention to the hardwood here. After starting his college career at Duke, Stewart transferred to Ohio State after one season. Stewart’s time in Columbus was short, averaging 5.7 points per game and 5.8 rebounds per game in 30 games during the 2024-25 season.

Stewart again entered the transfer portal and headed out west to Eugene. Last year Stewart averaged 6.5 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game.

In Oregon’s opener on Monday, Stewart recorded six points and six rebounds in 13 minutes on the floor.

& Out

Prediction 27-24, Ohio State