For the Oregon Ducks, Saturday night's game against Penn State is the football equivalent of a freeroll.
A freeroll is a poker tournament where the House or the website puts up the prize money with no entry fees.
Win or lose, all of Oregon's goals for the 2025 season are intact after the prime-time clash with the Nittany Lions Saturday night, 4:30 p.m. PT on NBC. They can still make the playoffs and compete for the national championship. They could even sneak back into the Big Ten Championship Game.
The Ducks are a 3.5-point underdog for the White Out game in Happy Valley. Penn State has a fearsome defense, a 122-decibel crowd and two 1,000-yard running backs. They're expected to win.
Head coach James Franklin is 1-15 against AP Top 5 teams, 5-20 against Top 10 teams. He's 0-1 against the Ducks. All the pressure is on him and Drew Allar. The Nittany Lion fans are restless about the prospect of another possible failure in a perceived "big game" and a fast start by the Ducks would fill that capacity crowd of 106,000 with a growing sense of angst and dread.
The Ducks, on the other hand, are free to let it rip. They've got a stack of chips and a chance to win thousands with all of their own money still in their wallet.
They don't care about reputations or narratives because they don't care about outside noise. This is a player-led team, a team that believes "it's always us."
They asked tight end Kenyon Sadiq about the White Out atmosphere and how loud and intimidating it can be and he said, “I think coach (Dan) Lanning said it great today, it’s a White Out because it’s Oregon. They know what's coming. We know what's coming. So, I said it's going out there, and who executes the best. It's just about eliminating the crowd aspect and going in there playing our game.”
The Ducks don't have to worry about the crowd, the expectations, the record or the past. It's a freeroll. They can take some shots and try to steal some pots.
Bud … the pressure is on Penn State in this game. You’re at home. Off a bye. It’s a whiteout. Oregon is bringing a young team with a bunch of guys who’ve never played in a game like this. https://t.co/z160f4SCSI
— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) September 24, 2025
If they lose, there's another game in 14 days. They can take the sting of losing in a big game and turn it into motivation, the way Ohio State did last year.