At 9 a.m. PT on January 1st, Oregon meets Big 12 Champion and No. 4-seed Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl.
The Ducks are a 1.5-point favorite in the early betting line. The over-under is 52.5 and the Moneyline is Oregon -115, Texas Tech -105.
That's a close, close game, particularly given the long road trip and the early kickoff. Oddly, the ESPN matchup predictor handicaps the contest at Texas Tech with a 51.6 percent chance to win, Oregon 48.4 percent, a virtual coin flip.
The 12-1 Red Raiders lost just once this season, October 18 at Arizona State 26-22, playing without quarterback Behren Morton, who sat out the game with a knee injury. They beat BYU 34-7 in the Big 12 Championship Game and in the two games prior, trounced West Virginia 49-0 and UCF 48-9.
Ducks must prep for pressure, tenacious Red Raider defense
Joey McGuire's squad features a stifling defense. It ranks No. 3 in the country at 3.96 yards per play. Led by unanimous All-Americans Jacob Rodriguez and David Bailey, the unit slashed opponents for 39 sacks this season, tops in the Big 12. They hold opponents to 2.3 yards a carry on the ground, lowest in the FBS.
Texas Tech LB Jacob Rodriguez projects as my way too early LB1. Rodriguez is an elite run defender with an outstanding 17.1% run stop rate and a 95.5 run defense grade. His ball production in coverage is above average with a 0.84% interception rate and a 1.46% pass breakup rate.… pic.twitter.com/G5wP5rLBsJ
— Adam Carter (@impactfbdata) December 20, 2025
In their first-round win over Group of 5 opponent James Madison the Ducks riddled the Dukes for 514 yards on offense but struggled to close it out after building leads of 34-3 and 48-13. JMU scored touchdowns on their final three possessions to close within 51-34.
Saturday night Dante Moore threw four touchdowns, but two interceptions that led to 10 JMU points. On each his receiver fell coming out of his break, the second thrown into coverage across the field, throwing off his back foot under pressure.
TTU is fourth in the nation with 96 tackles for loss this season. They rank third nationally in overall pressure rate at 38.9 percent.