Ducks Game Day Lookout: Oregon heads to USC for a West Coast showdown

QuickTake:

The No. 20 Ducks meet the No. 12 Trojans in Los Angeles for its biggest test of the season.

There was a time when the Oregon Ducks depended on Californians to beat USC.

No era trumpeted that better than 2019.

The Ducks had long recruited in California before the Mario Cristobal era, but Oregon’s second-year head coach had made the state a particular focus, with the program’s recruiting efforts and social media accounts going on an all-out blitz for what they called the “CaliFlock.”

That season, the Ducks beat the Trojans 56-24 at the Coliseum, in a game where Californians Mycah Pittman and Mykael Wright scored touchdowns, then later beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.

Read the headline of Bill Plaschke’s column in the Los Angeles Times afterward: “Oregon wins Rose Bowl with players who should be on USC or UCLA.”

“For us, this is a home state,” Cristobal said then. “That’s what it is. We’ve made it a priority.”

And here, seven years later, California is still a large part of Oregon’s calculus.

For the No. 20 Oregon Ducks to beat No. 12 University of Southern California on Saturday, they might need big games from defensive lineman Matayo Uiagalelei, running back Jordon Davison and linebacker Jerry Mixon, all California products.

But they’re also going to heavily rely on quarterback Dante Moore, from Detroit, receiver Dakorien Moore, from Duncanville, Texas, and freshman receiver Messiah Hampton, from Rochester, N.Y.

That’s the difference.

Under fifth-year head coach Dan Lanning, Oregon’s recruiting footprint has expanded well beyond the West Coast, with the Ducks pulling players from nearly every corner of the country and coaches repeatedly saying they’ll go wherever the talent warrants.

And while Oregon has only improved in the national recruiting rankings, it marks a change from the version of the program Uiagalelei was recruited into, when California remained closer to the fulcrum of Oregon’s roster-building operation.

That doesn’t make this matchup with the Trojans any less compelling for the California players.

“Coming from Southern California, like, the two schools that you knew pop out if you want to stay on the West Coast is definitely Oregon and USC,” Uiagalelei said. “In respect to USC, I think their program has been on the rise and keeps getting better, but shoot, I feel like at Oregon, it don’t matter where you’re from, like, if Coach Lanning thinks you can play and our coaching staff likes you, we’re going to chase after you.”

The Ducks can’t argue with the results.

Oregon is 2-0 against USC in the Lanning/Lincoln Riley era and has finished with a top-10 recruiting class in each of Lanning’s four full cycles, turning what was once a California-heavy recruiting strategy into a national operation.

What’s fascinating about this matchup, however, is how USC has responded.

If Oregon spent the previous decade proving it could raid Southern California, the Trojans have recently made a concerted effort to reclaim it.

USC’s 2026 recruiting class ranked No. 1 nationally and included 20 Californians among its 35 signees. It was a dramatic shift for the Trojans, who had signed just five California players in their 2025 class.

Seven years ago, Oregon went to the Coliseum with a roster built from USC’s backyard. Now the Ducks return as a program capable of recruiting almost anywhere in the country.

And USC?

The Trojans are trying to make California their advantage again.

How to watch or listen

When: 4:30 p.m. Pacific time, Saturday, Sept. 26

Where: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

TV channel: NBC

Streaming: Peacock

Radio: KUJZ 95.3 in Eugene and 105.1 The Fan in Portland

Who’s playing?

Oregon: 2-1 (0-0 Big Ten)

Opponent: USC (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten; 9-4 in 2025)

Depth charts/rosters: Oregon roster; USC roster

USC player to watch: Quarterback Jayden Maiava

We saw two weeks ago what a strong quarterback can do against the Ducks, and Saturday might be Oregon’s toughest challenge yet.

Through four games, the redshirt senior has completed 75.7% of his passes for 1,173 yards, 12 touchdowns and just one interception. He has also had prior success against the Ducks, passing for 306 yards and three touchdowns in Oregon’s 42-27 win at Autzen last year.

And, according to Lanning, Maiava has only gotten better.

“He puts the ball in places where they have a chance to go make a play on the ball,” Lanning said. “And a lot of times, your back is to the ball as a DB. You really struggle when it’s in a tight window to be able to do that. He can extend plays with his feet, but he always keeps his eyes downfield. He’s a guy that can scramble to throw and have success, and then he’s obviously athletic enough to be able to run as well. And if you look at quarterbacks in Lincoln’s system, they’ve always had success, but he certainly had success, and he’s been there now a number of years where it’s going to allow him to be the best version of himself.”

Oregon player to watch: Defensive end Matayo Uiagalelei

The numbers just aren’t there for Oregon’s vaunted pass rush.

The Ducks rank 11th in the Big Ten with 1.67 sacks per game, with two of their five sacks coming against lowly Portland State. Uiagalelei had one of those, but his production has largely been down since his breakout 2024 campaign, when he finished with 10.5 sacks.

USC might be the cure-all.

Uiagalelei had seven tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble against the Trojans last year and could be the difference-maker for an Oregon defense that failed to sack Drew Mestemaker on 43 pass attempts against Oklahoma State.

“We got to get after the quarterback,” Uiagalelei said. “If the DBs are doing their job back there, we have to do ours, too. It takes all 11. Same thing with the run game.”