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QuickTake:
A 24-team playoff could give Saturday's Oregon-Northwestern matchup some real postseason stakes. For now, there's Chip Kelly, Halloween and $9 tickets.
Here in 2026, storylines are doing a lot of the heavy lifting to sell Saturday’s game. And that might be generous — tickets can be found on StubHub starting at $9.
See, the Oregon Ducks have three losses, their quarterback is most likely out for the season, and they don’t have a full-time offensive coordinator.
Saturday’s game against No. 20 Northwestern? Maybe it could be good, but the sell is really the return of Chip Kelly, Halloween and a kickoff time that may just get fans home in time to man their buckets of candy.
However, what if this were 2027?
The College Football Playoff is on the verge of expanding from 12 to 24 teams, potentially as soon as next season. And while there’s plenty to debate about whether college football needs a postseason that includes roughly one in six FBS teams, Saturday’s game is a pretty good example of what expansion would mean for the regular season.
At 6-1, No. 20 Northwestern would be playing to protect its playoff position.
And Oregon? In a 24-team playoff world, the Ducks would still actually be in this thing.
Despite Oregon’s 4-3 record and flailing offense, ESPN’s Football Power Index still considers the Ducks the 11th-best team in college football. Bill Connelly’s SP+ rankings have Oregon at No. 12.
Win Saturday, upset Ohio State next week and suddenly Oregon would be 6-3 with four victories over teams currently ranked or receiving votes in the national polls. Win its final three games, finish 9-3 and it’s not hard to imagine the Ducks landing in a 24-team field.
Wouldn’t that be fun? I don’t actually know. But Oregon coach Dan Lanning is in.
“I think we’ve recognized that there are teams that are right on the cusp or right on the bubble that probably deserve the opportunity to play because they’re that caliber of team,” Lanning said of the proposed expanded field.
Granted, those hypothetical wins for Oregon to make the field may be easier said than done for an offense that hasn’t scored more than 17 points in three straight weeks.
Maybe that’ll be different in 2027.
But hey, at least Chip’s in town.
And Halloween.
How to watch or listen
- When: 12:30 p.m. PT Saturday, Oct. 31
- Where: Autzen Stadium, Eugene
- TV channel: Peacock (Paul Burmeister, Yogi Roth and Caroline Pineda)
- Radio: Oregon Sports Network (Jerry Allen, Mike Jorgensen and Dusty Harrah): KUJZ 95.3 FM in Eugene, 105.1 FM The Fan in Portland.
Who’s playing?
- Oregon: 4-3 overall, 2-2 Big Ten
- No. 20 Northwestern: 6-1 overall, 3-1 Big Ten
- Depth charts/rosters: Oregon | Northwestern
Players to watch
Oregon wide receiver Evan Stewart
Frankly, curiosity is a factor here.
Oregon’s senior receiver hasn’t played since early October against UCLA, a span that included his arrest on a DUII citation following Oregon’s win over Nebraska.
But Stewart is not listed on this week’s Big Ten injury/availability report and is expected to play — all the more important considering freshman receiver Messiah Hampton was arrested on Friday.
Stewart’s talent will obviously be useful — he has 27 catches for 352 yards and is tied for the team lead with four receiving touchdowns — but his performance might be the best gauge of whether Lanning has gotten his roster locked back in and focused, even with the playoff carrot gone.
Stewart was expected to be a leader coming into this season. Let’s see how he handles his return.
Northwestern quarterback Aidan Chiles
Kelly isn’t the only familiar face coming back to Autzen.
Aidan Chiles was once supposed to be Oregon State’s quarterback of the future, then followed head coach Jonathan Smith to Michigan State after the Pac-12 dissolved.
Things never quite came together in Lansing. Chiles completed just 59.4 percent of his passes in 2024, throwing 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Injuries limited him to nine games in 2025.
But Chiles has found new life in Kelly’s Northwestern offense.
The numbers are pretty remarkable: a 71.3 percent completion rate, 1,617 passing yards, 12 passing touchdowns, just one interception and nine rushing touchdowns. He’s also been named Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week twice.
Yes, Northwestern has the Big Ten’s second-best rushing attack, averaging 204.6 yards per game. And while that ground game is helping Chiles, the quarterback’s elusiveness and ability to extend plays are helping it right back.
“I think their offense has done an unbelievable job of utilizing his skill set,” Lanning said.
Reads to get ready for the game
From Lookout:
- Dennis Dixon recalls the thrilling year he starred in Oregon’s ‘mind-boggling’ offense — Lindsay Schnell catches up with the former Ducks quarterback who helped launch the Chip Kelly era.
- For these fans, Ducks big win on Halloween 2009 was a milestone — but not because of the game — We revisit Oregon’s historic 47-20 victory over USC through the eyes of two fans who remember the night for reasons that had little to do with football.
- The Duck Report: The end of Moore2Moore — On the relationship between Dante and Dakorien Moore, and what Oregon has lost with its quarterback sidelined.
- Quarterback Dante Moore expected to miss the rest of the season — Why Moore’s absence leaves Oregon with more questions than answers about its future.
- The Sunday Duck Report: OC change is just the start — Why firing Drew Mehringer won’t be enough to fix what’s gone wrong with the Ducks this season.
Learn more about Northwestern:
- Northwestern’s Chip Kelly went into the history books to build an offense — ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler and Adam Rittenberg explore Kelly’s embrace of the Wing-T, with some fascinating details about the old-school plays that have made Northwestern’s offense so difficult to defend.
- Three keys to Northwestern vs. Oregon — Inside NU breaks down what the Wildcats need to do to win at Autzen, including how Chip Kelly can attack Oregon’s defense.
- No. 20 Northwestern visits Oregon for first time in program history — Northwestern’s official game preview, featuring comments from David Braun and a closer look at the players powering the Wildcats’ four-game winning streak.
