Turnovers doom Oregon to another ugly CFP exit

ATLANTA — With No. 5 Oregon trailing No. 1 Indiana by seven points in the second quarter of Friday’s College Football Playoff semifinal at the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, Ducks quarterback Dante Moore lined up in pistol formation.

As Moore dropped back to throw a screen pass to his left, the football grazed the left arm of Oregon running back Dierre Hill Jr.. The ball jumped into the air and bounced all the way to the Ducks’ 3-yard line, where it was recovered by Indiana defensive lineman Mario Landino.

The undefeated Hoosiers (15-0) scored another touchdown three plays later on Kaelon Black’s 1-yard run, and the rout was underway at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Indiana cruised to a 56-22 victory and will face No. 10 Miami in the CFP National Championship in Miami Gardens, Fla., on Jan. 19 (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

“It’s a weird deal, man,” Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein said. “Dante was just throwing it, and it was just like the story of the night. Literally, the very edge of the ball caught the [arm]”.

It was the second straight ugly exit for the Ducks in the playoffs. Last season, top-seeded and undefeated Oregon trailed 34-0 in the first half of a 41-21 loss to No. 8 seed Ohio State in the CFP quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl. The Buckeyes would win the CFP title.

“They started out strong and they really didn’t slow down,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said of Indiana. “They were able to manage it and have some success. We were able to create a little momentum there at times, but we were so far in the hole that we couldn’t [climb] get out of it.”

It couldn’t have started worse for the Ducks, who committed three turnovers in the first half.

On Oregon’s first play from scrimmage, Indiana cornerback D’Angelo Ponds jumped a route and intercepted Moore’s pass to Malik Benson. Ponds, a transfer from James Madison who went to Indiana with coach Curt Cignetti, returned the interception 25 yards for a touchdown to make it 7-0 11 seconds into the game.

“They played a good game,” Stein said. “We ran a quick takedown. It’s one of our plays that we like and just a good starting play. The guy made a good play and jumped the route. It’s not on Dante. The guy is open for a second.”

Indiana defensive coordinator Bryant Haines said Ponds lined up in front of Benson, hoping he would make Moore think he was playing soft zone. The plan, according to Haines, was to “bait him, bite him, take him to the house.”

“I’ll be honest with you, I think the biggest impact was what it did to that quarterback because I know he left our last game thinking, ‘I was seeing ghosts. I cleaned up those mistakes. I’m going to be better this time,'” Haines said. “And for your first pitch to cost your team six points, I think the impact on him was [significant].

“D’Angelo puts on a lot of master classes, but I think this might have been one of his best performances of the season.”

The Ducks bounced back with a 14-play, 75-yard drive that took more than 7½ minutes late. On third-and-12, Moore threw a pass over the Indiana defense for a 19-yard touchdown to tight end Jamari Johnson to tie the score.

That was pretty much Oregon’s only highlight of the first half.

The Hoosiers scored five touchdowns in the first 30 minutes — the first on Ponds’ interception and two more after Moore fumbled deep in Ducks territory. Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza’s 8-yard pass to Omar Cooper Jr. put the Hoosiers back in front 14-7 with 40 seconds left in the first quarter.

After Oregon punted, the Ducks defense finally made a big play when linebacker Nasir Wyatt stripped the ball to Mendoza on third-and-7 from the Oregon 37. The Indiana quarterback recovered it, but the play resulted in a 20-yard sack and forced a punt.

Disaster struck again, however, on Oregon’s next play when Hill’s arm knocked the ball out of Moore’s hand as he attempted to throw it.

“The first thing is the quarterback has to protect the football,” Moore said. “They have great defense, great disguise and different looks, but you can’t win football games if you cause turnovers. [It’s] something, of course, that I need to work on. It comes with just repetition. “

Moore, who is considered a potential No. 1 pick in this year’s NFL draft, along with Mendoza, completed 24 of 39 passes for 285 yards with two touchdowns. He was sacked three times.

The sophomore hasn’t said whether he’s ready to join the NFL after just one season as Oregon’s starter.

“I knew this question was going to come up,” Moore said. “Yeah, I’m going to enjoy this moment. That’s the most important thing, just giving hugs and thanking my teammates. But at the end of the day, I mean, I don’t know my decision yet.”

Unfortunately for the Ducks, things only got worse in the second quarter. On Oregon’s next possession, the Hoosiers sacked Moore on consecutive plays to force a punt. After a 16-yard punt return and 18-yard pass to Elijah Sarratt, Mendoza threw a nice pass down the right sideline and Charlie Becker jumped high to catch a 36-yard touchdown to extend the lead to 28-7.

Oregon’s misery was not over. On second-and-6 from the Oregon 29, Hoosiers defensive lineman Daniel Ndukwe sacked Moore and forced a fumble. Landino got the ball again at the Oregon 21. With 59 seconds left in the half, Mendoza threw a bubble screen to Sarratt, who dove into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown to give the Hoosiers a 35-7 lead at the break.

The last time the Ducks played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, they trailed 28-3 at halftime in a 49-3 loss to Georgia in Lanning’s debut in the 2022 opener.

“We spotted these guys with 21 points,” said Stein, who coached his final game against Oregon after being named Kentucky’s head coach. “It’s hard to win when you turn the ball over three times in your own territory. It doesn’t do anything good for our defense on that end. It’s obviously a poor job on our part taking care of the ball.”

The Ducks ran for 93 yards, which was a bit surprising since they didn’t have their two best backs, Noah Whittington and Jordon Davison. Whittington was a game time decision and got a few snaps but didn’t carry the ball. Davison broke his collarbone in last week’s 23-0 win over No. 4 Texas Tech in the Capital One Orange Bowl.

Indiana scored three more touchdowns in the second half, including one after the Hoosiers blocked an Oregon punt.

Mendoza completed 17 of 20 passes for 177 yards with five touchdowns. The Ducks ran for 177 yards.

“The way these guys have performed all season, I’m really proud of them and proud to be a part of it,” said Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi, who is leaving the team to become head coach at Cal. “Again, really poor finishing, no excuse for the performance. You mentioned short fields, it doesn’t matter. Elite defense can [stop them]just like we did last week, right?”

ESPN’s Pete Thamel contributed to this report.