The White Out is periphery. While it's a great college football tradition, an iconic set of images for TV and a marvelous fan experience, the greater challenge is the Penn State defense and running game.
In reality the Nittany Lions are 11-6 in full-stadium White Outs since 2007. It's a tremendous tradition, not a guarantee of victory. The last Top Ten matchup involving a White Out crowd came in 2018, No. 4 Ohio State at No. 9 PSU. Before a record crowd of 110,989, the stadium rocking to "Sweet Caroline" and "Livin' on a Prayer," Buckeyes quarterback Dwayne Haskins threw two touchdowns in the last seven minutes of the fourth quarter to win 27-26.
The White Out can be beaten. The real problem is Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant, Amare Campbell, Tony Rojas and Dominic DeLuca, A.J. Harris, King Mack and Zakee Wheatley. It's the guys in the navy-blue jerseys, not the white tee shirts in the stands. Crowds always want to give themselves too much credit.
It's the same at Autzen. Atmospheres are a wonderful part of college football, the chief reason it's a better game than the NFL. Yet it's the NFL talent playing in front of them that wins or loses games.
To win, Oregon has to neutralize a fierce Penn State Front 7 that's produced nine sacks and 29 tackles for loss. They're disruptive. The matchups between Durant and the Oregon interior offensive line is one the Ducks have to win or at least win often enough to carve out some success.
So too the match outside between Dennis-Sutton and Ducks tackles Isaiah World and Alex Harkey (defensive coordinator Jim Knowles will move him around,) Chaz Coleman, 6-4, 240, the defensive end on the other side, a freshman from Warren, Ohio, has posted five tackles, a sack and a forced fumble.
The Ducks have to find a way to move Durant, Coleman and Dennis-Sutton off the ball and keep them out of the backfield, and they have to get blocks on a superb trio of linebackers in Campbell, Rojas and DeLuca. They are the issue. The rest is just noise.
The Penn State secondary is excellent too, a ball-hawking group that's allowed just two touchdowns while picking off four passes. In the team's 3-0 starter they were stingy, physical and opportunistic; three outmanned opponents completed just 52 percent of their passes and scored less than six points a game.
To win on the road in Happy Valley the Ducks need to hit some big pass plays to Dakorien Moore, Malik Benson and tight end Kenyon Sadiq, but there's no doubt this defense is a step up in class. The pressure exceeds anything Dante Moore has experienced. The windows will be tighter.
Harris and Mack spent their week drilling on Moore's back shoulder throws, working on timing and breaking up the play at the point of the catch.
In the last meeting between these two teams at the Big Ten Championship, offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki's shifts and motion and formation diversity kept Oregon scrambling and skating: Drew Allar, Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton rolled up 538 yards of offense, 297 yards rushing.
The offensive line that drove that productivity returns largely intact, four of five starters from a year ago. A key for the Ducks lies in the interior, the matchup of tackles Bear Alexander and A'Mauri Washington against guard Vega Ione and center Nick Dawkins. If Alexander and Washington get pushed off the line, PSU could grind Oregon down with chunk runs.
On passing downs, the Ducks need some outside pressure from Matayo Uiagalelei and Teitum Tuioti, who have combined for 4.5 sacks this year.
Something to keep an eye on. Through 3 games, the starting PSU OL has given up 9 pressures
— LandonTengwall (@LandonTengwall) September 23, 2025
All 9 came from RT Nolan Rucci (5), LT Drew Shelton (4)
Oregon DE Matayo Uiagalelei is a very good pass rusher with a deep bag of moves. Jack/Edge Teitum Tuioti is also very solid pic.twitter.com/Q7a6thIhaF
The White Out becomes a factor if the Ducks allow themselves to be distracted or flustered, fall into a pattern of unforced errors and self-inflicted wounds. They've prepared for it with piped-in noise; in Dan Lanning's time at Oregon they've won at the Big House and they've won at Camp Randall. They tuned out the Mighty Utah Student Section.
"Preparation is going to create confidence," Lanning said. He's taught his team that they can control the environment by making plays. While that's true, the bigger problem is that they're facing a team with equal talent, one of the few in the country that can match them.