Oregon, Texas Tech set to make Orange Bowl debuts, with berth in CFP semifinals at stake
No. 5 Oregon (12-1, CFP No. 5 seed) vs. No. 4 Texas Tech (12-1, CFP No. 4 seed), Thursday, 12 p.m. EST (ESPN)
Series record: Oregon leads 3-0.
A berth in the College Football Playoff semifinals against either Indiana or Alabama awaits the winner of this game, which happens to be a matchup of two teams making their Orange Bowl debuts. The winner of the Oregon-Texas Tech game moves on to the Peach Bowl on Jan. 9; the other CFP semifinal — pitting the Ole Miss-Georgia winner against the Ohio State-Miami winner — is the day before at the Fiesta Bowl.
Impossible to say there is just one (or two, or three), but the obvious one would pit Oregon QB Dante Moore against the Texas Tech defensive front led by All-American LB Jacob Rodriguez. If Moore has time, he's lethal. He's 13-0 in college in games where he averages more than 7 yards per passing attempt.
Oregon: RB Jordon Davison. The freshman hurt his right foot in the CFP first-round win over James Madison, but leads the Ducks with 13 TD runs on only 98 carries this season — and the indications are that he'll be ready to play in the Orange Bowl.
Texas Tech: LB David Bailey. He's part of the 1-2 punch of All-Americans alongside Rodriguez, and his 12.5 sacks so far this season are the clear proof that even the best blocking schemes have been no match for him in 2025.
Texas Tech has outscored opponents by 262 points in first halves this season, the biggest margin in the country. Oregon is No. 2 on that list, outscoring opponents by 222 points in the first two quarters. ... Both teams had their one loss in mid-October — Texas Tech on Oct. 18 against Arizona State, Oregon on Oct. 11 against Indiana. ... The teams met in 2023, a wild back-and-forth affair where Oregon prevailed 38-30. Oregon still has 13 of its players who appeared in that game, and Texas Tech still has eight. ... Oregon is coming to Miami for the third time to play a third different opponent. The Ducks lost to Florida in 1929 and to the Hurricanes in 1958. ... Texas Tech offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich and Oregon assistant offensive line coach/run game coordinator Cutter Leftwich are brothers. They've never previously faced off as coaches; they did once when Cutter, the younger brother, was playing at McNeese State and Mack was a graduate assistant at Incarnate Word. .... Oregon coach Dan Lanning is 47-7 in his career, now just ahead of Chip Kelly (46-7) for the best winning percentage as coach of the Ducks.
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