It was a back and forth battle on Senior Night in Oregon’s 3-1 win over Northwestern. The Ducks had their fair share of sloppy plays, but when the Wildcats were keeping it close, it was up to the seniors to step up as their playing time at Matthew Knight Arena nears the end.

“I thought the connection with Onye [Ofoegbu] and Cris [Cline] wasn’t great today,” Head Coach Matt Ulmer said, “but I like how Onye responded towards the end and she made some really tough plays at the end of the third set, you know, and then I feel like it carried over to the fourth, so I thought that showed good growth and leadership from her. Michelle [Ohwobete] I thought was fantastic! 20 kills. I think it’s definitely a season high for her, right? So she was very consistent. If you get 20 kills, you did something, so you know that’s a nice day, and I thought her and Cris had a nice connection. Obviously her and Mack [Morris] made so many plays. Colby’s (Neal) blocking was really solid. Obviously we miss Daley [McClellan] out there and hopefully we can get her back soon. I thought the seniors did a really nice job.”

Michelle Ohwobete is in her first season as a Duck after spending three seasons playing for the University of California, Santa Barbara. During that time, she won a series of awards including Big West Freshman of the Week, Big West Freshman of the Year, All-Big West First Team, Big West Offensive Player of the Week, and in her final season, Big West Player of the Year. At Oregon, her performance and leadership has inspired her teammates to play at a high level.

“I love love love Michelle,” Ofoegbu said. “I love how she works, I love her effort, I love how she plays, and honestly, she motivates me. Seeing her get a kill, I’m like, ‘I need to get a kill. Look at Michelle.’ When she gets a block, I’m like, ‘My turn. I need to get a block because look at Michelle.’ She’s honestly very inspirational and it’s fun to have a person that inspires you on your team.”

Ofoegbu is a red shirt senior playing in her second season in Eugene. Her first three seasons were spent at the University of California, Irvine. In her final season there, she was nominated for All-Big West First Team, AVCA All-American Honorable Mention, and Big West Player of the Week. In this game, she recorded 8 kills and 7 blocks.

Mackenzie Morris led the team on the deck with 19 digs, which is fairly consistent for her. Despite being smaller than most of her teammates, Morris has never been afraid to hit the floor and keep rallies alive. She is in her first season at Oregon after spending four years at Kansas State University. In those four years, her awards included Big 12 Volleyball Scholar Athlete of the Year, Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week, Academic All-Big 12 First Team, and as a freshman, All-Big 12 Rookie Team.

Colby Neal has played her entire college career with the Ducks. “I think we really wanted to win for each other a lot more, rather than ‘oh, we just want to win,’” Neal said. “So there was definitely that real emotional feeling of doing it for each other.” Neal recorded 4 kills, 5 digs, and 6 blocks in the game. On the season, she has a total of 94 kills, 32 digs, and 91 blocks.

The seniors have one more regular season game at Matthew Knight Arena, and the possibility of at least one more in the playoffs.

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Oregon (5-0) came into the game following an ugly overtime win over the University of Portland Pilots last Tuesday that was filled with slow possessions and poor decision making. Even though the Ducks were able to pull it out, everyone on the team knew they had to be a lot better. 

“We did play a lot harder. We worked off of the ball, we got after it better, so we did play much harder than we did Tuesday night,” head coach Dana Altman said. 

Troy University (2-2) came into the game off of its first loss of the season against the No. 18 University of Arkansas Razorbacks.

The two teams exchanged scoreless drives for the first two minutes. A blocked shot by Nate Bittle and a quick turnaround led to a fast break layup by Brandon Angel.

The Ducks scored 8 points before Troy got on the board with a 1/2 trip to the free throw line. The Trojans finally got their first field goal seven minutes into the game on a second chance layup after Oregon already had 12 on the board. Troy nearly cut the lead in half, but after a missed reverse layup, Oregon was ready and found a wide-open Keeshawn Barthelemy for three, which began a 9-0 run for the Ducks.

Oregon had full control in the first half. Troy got a last-second slam dunk, but the Ducks still led by 15 at the break. Barthelemy led the team with 13 first half points, which didn’t include a single miss. While Jackson Shelstad continued to struggle to shoot the ball, he led the team on the board with five defensive rebounds as well as four assists in the first half.

The Ducks struck first in the second half with a three from TJ Bamba. Oregon’s defense was strong entering the half with a block from Bittle and a steal from Shelstad in the first three minutes.

Oregon’s lead only grew as the game progressed. The second half offense was led by Bittle, who finished the game with 12 points, Bamba, who finished with 13 points, Supreme Cook, who finished with 11 points, and Angel, who finished with 10 points. 

“I felt like for us it was just a mentality thing,” Cook said. “The way we were thinking coming into the game. I felt like we played down to our opponents. We weren’t playing hard enough [Tuesday], so the following day and the days after we just took it seriously in practice.”

Bittle won the rebound battle, finishing the game with eight. Barthelemy only had 2 second half points, but he still led the Ducks from beyond the arc with three 3-point baskets, while no one else on the team had more than one. He was the Ducks leading scorer with 15 points.

While Shelstad continued to struggle to score, he was the best at finding open teammates, leading the Ducks with six assists. Altman is not too concerned about Shelstad’s performance.

“He’s not hitting shots but he did some good things defensively and had six assists. It didn’t completely take him out of his game, but he’s not shooting well and good shooters go through that and guys can’t worry about that,” Altman said. 

The Ducks return to action Thursday night in Corvallis, as they take on the Oregon State Beavers.

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Week 10 was filled with close games, and with the trade deadline in the past, every team will have to work with what they’ve got for the remainder of the season. Let’s take a look at how some of the Oregon alumni did.

Justin Herbert, Quarterback, Los Angeles Chargers

The Chargers improved to 6-3 on the season with a 27-17 win at home over the Tennessee Titans. In the game, 2020 Offensive Rookie of the Year Justin Herbert went 14/18 passing and threw for 164 yards and one touchdown. He did not have a sack or an interception. Herbert has adjusted very well to the Chargers’ new head coach Jim Harbaugh, who is looking to lead the team back to the playoffs.

Bo Nix, Quarterback, Denver Broncos

After being the last quarterback taken in the first round, Bo Nix is certainly making a case for himself as a rookie. The Broncos have not been in the playoffs since 2015 when Peyton Manning led them to a Super Bowl 50 win in his final season. Since then, they have gone through 13 different quarterbacks, but the 14th just might be a charm. 

Denver currently sits at 5-5, and despite a heartbreaking, last-second loss to defending back-to-back Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs, Nix still had a strong game. He had a 22/30 day while throwing for 215 yards and no interceptions. The future looks bright in the Mile High City.

Bucky Irving, Running Back, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Despite falling short to the defending NFC Champions, the San Francisco 49ers, Bucky Irving’s performance was not one that will go unnoticed in Tampa. Irving rushed for 73 yards on 13 carries; more than anyone else on the team, and scored the only rushing touchdown. 

Bucs fans throughout Raymond James Stadium could be heard chanting “Bucky! Bucky!” at various points in the game as the rookie makes a case for himself to become the No. 1 running back on the Buccaneers’ offense.

Arik Armstead, Defensive Lineman, Jacksonville Jaguars

Armstead has faced some struggles in his first season in Jacksonville. As a member of the San Francisco 49ers, he was a part of four playoff teams and two Super Bowl teams. The Jaguars currently sit at 2-8 after a very defensive 12-7 loss to the Minnesota Vikings. 

Armstead currently has 17 tackles on the season, which is similar to the numbers he posted in San Francisco, but on a roster with much less talent, it’s going to take some major changes to turn things around.

Christian Gonzalez, Cornerback, New England Patriots

After missing a good chunk of last season due to injury, the second year defensive back has been ready to work. Gonzalez has 42 tackles and an interception so far this season, which is more than double what he did last year. 

In the Patriots’ last game, Gonzalez recorded a couple tackles as the defense kept the Chicago Bears out of the end zone the entire game on their way to a 19-3 win. The Patriots organization hopes he is the first big piece to their rebuilding process.

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For just the third time in program history, Oregon received the No. 1 national ranking in college football after it went on the road and shutout Purdue 35-0, advancing to 7-0. When asked about their new ranking, head coach Dan Lanning had two words: “Who cares?”

Anyone who knows Lanning the slightest bit was nowhere near surprised at that response. Lanning has lost a grand total of five games in his two and a half years in Eugene. Since the conclusion of his first season, the Ducks have only lost to one team. One thing Lanning will never do is dwell on success. It doesn’t matter if they go into a hostile road environment to beat a Top-15 team or blow out an opponent by a four-touchdown deficit. Dan Lanning’s motto will always be, “We are not satisfied. We are not done.”

The most highly anticipated matchup for Oregon this year was its Week 7 game against the Ohio State Buckeyes. Ohio State has spent a lot of time in the past decade as a Top 3 team. All along, those two were expected to be the top two teams in the Big Ten this year, and everyone knew that game would come down to the wire. It did exactly that and Oregon pulled away with a one-point victory.

“It’s never about the team that wants it the most,” Lanning said. “It’s never about the team that just has great emotion. It’s about the team that executes. So I am filled with great excitement. I’m really proud of our guys, but I’m also really excited to, you know, figure out what we can go attack and improve, because the team we are today, October 12, is not gonna be the same team we are in December.”

Before the Ducks traveled to Michigan to face the defending National Champions — the Michigan Wolverines — Lanning was asked about the team’s mentality of not caring about their No. 1 ranking, why it’s so important and how the players had handled it.

“I just don’t think we’ve ever measured ourselves based on what other people think…At the beginning of every year, everybody asked me, ‘What’s success look like?’ And to me, it looks like us playing our best football at the end of the season. So that’s our goal. It’s to put ourselves in position to play our best football and focus on the process, not the result.” Lanning said.

The first thing Dan Lanning will always look for after a game is ways to improve. The work he and his players put in during the week is what allows them to win so consistently. Any Ducks player, coach or fan will say that the first two games of the season did not meet the team’s standard, even though they came out on top in both. 

They obviously had some adjustments to make after losing a lot of guys to the NFL Draft last offseason and bringing in a bunch of new faces from the transfer portal, but once they got to Week 3, they looked like a different team. One of the main pieces that needed to adjust was the offensive line, who struggled a lot early in the season to protect Dillon Gabriel. 

“Yeah, it’s called work, right?” Lanning said. “You gotta go, you know, take your medicine, figure out what you’re not doing well, and find ways to improve it, and I think our coaching staff and our players have really taken a notice in that and taken ownership of what it means to improve.” 

Oregon might not have a national championship at the moment, but that could end very soon. Under Lanning, a coach with experience on two SEC teams who is always searching for improvement no matter how big a win may be, they will go far. The Ducks are well on their way to 12-0, and once they get there, Lanning will be the first to say they are not done.

Going into the season, not many people were talking about Oregon’s running game. All the attention was on the team’s transfer portal additions such as quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore. 

Junior running back Jordan James seemed overshadowed in his first two seasons while playing behind Bucky Irving, who is now in the NFL. This year, James stepped into a bigger role as the Ducks’ lead running back and nobody has stood in his way.

Before the season, James was asked if he thought the country was talking about the Ducks’ running backs enough. 

“Not really. I’m not gonna lie, I feel like they’re not talking about us enough, but you know, but we don’t care about that. We’re gonna show them Saturday,” he said.

In the first two months of the season, Jordan James has lived up to that statement and thensome. He’s rushed for 800 yards on 136 carries and eight touchdowns, along with recording 90 receiving yards on 13 receptions. 

Against Illinois, James recorded 83 rushing yards and 17 receiving yards. The week before that at Purdue, James thought he scored a touchdown on back-to-back plays, but each play was called back. On the third try, he plunged his way into the endzone to finally put points on the board. James recorded 50 rushing yards and two touchdowns that night.

The most explosive performance from Jordan James came in Week 6 during the Friday night showdown at Autzen Stadium against Michigan State. He rushed for 166 yards including a 41-yard run and one touchdown.

“I’ve been waiting to break loose. A 20-plus-yard run. So you know, it felt good getting my knees up and getting up out of there,” James said. “My stats are just a reflection of their work up front, so [the offensive line] did a hell of a job, and it showed.”

After Oregon’s most thrilling win in Week 7 against then No. 2 ranked Ohio State, Head Coach Dan Lanning said, “We talked all week with our players about taking jabs. It’s not about throwing haymakers, it’s about being accurate and precise with jabs.” 

Jordan James was a perfect example of this in that game.

One thing Lanning preaches more often than anything else is “We are not satisfied,” and “We are not done.” 

This contagious mindset has been spread throughout the entire Oregon football team. When Jordan James was asked if he felt the team was playing up to their standard, he said, “There’s always room for improvement, you know, we have a lot to improve, but we’ve been getting after it at practice.”

As Oregon travels to “The Big House” at 8-0 to face the defending national champions, the Michigan Wolverines, there is no ceiling for Jordan James and the Ducks’ offense as they continue at full gas to make this season one to remember.

On Friday night, to kick off Fall Family Weekend, the No. 11 Oregon Ducks (15-3, 7-2 Big Ten) played host to the Maryland Terrapins (10-10, 1-8 Big Ten) after coming off a promising road win at Iowa last week.

The Ducks came out on top yet again, as they swept the Terrapins in three very action-heavy sets led by Mimi Colyer. 

“I thought Mimi had a tremendous night,” Ulmer said. “Nice crowd. Homecoming Weekend. Lauren Plum – Hall of Fame, great night.”

Maryland took an early 6-2 lead forcing an Oregon time out. Maryland maintained the lead for a while. Oregon went on a 4-0 run to cut the lead to one. Then a 3-0 run gave Oregon a small lead, but Maryland came right back to tie it. Then the Ducks jumped ahead again with another 4-0 run. On set point, Oregon was called for a net violation, but on the very next play, the Ducks secured the first set with a kill to finish it 25-21. Mimi Colyer carried the team with seven of her 20 kills of the evening, while no one else on the team recorded more than two kills.

Oregon struck first in the second set. It remained tightly contested and was tied at 12, until Oregon scored four straight and forced a Maryland time out. The Terrapins cut into the lead immediately coming out of the time out and eventually tied it at 17. Oregon edged ahead again, but Maryland came right back and the score was tied again at 21 going into another time out. The Terrapins stormed out of that break with two kills, but the Ducks answered with two kills of their own to even it out at 23 before moving back ahead. Maryland evened it up again on set point, but Oregon responded with two straight kills to seal the set 26-24.

Colyer continued to lead the team with six kills and a .500 hitting percentage, followed by Noemie Glover who recorded four kills and a .500 hitting percentage. 

“It was just cleaner volleyball overall. The score reflects the fact that it wasn’t very clean volleyball from the start and in the third we started off cleaner so we started off better,” Colyer said about the third set.

The third set opened with the same narrative as the first two, as both teams battled  closely. Maryland took the early 4-1 lead, and then things took a turn. Oregon burst ahead with an 8-0 run and forced a Maryland time out. After the break, the Ducks continued their run for one more kill before Maryland finally got on the board again, but Oregon continued to carry the momentum and the lead. Maryland scored twice on match point, but the Ducks finished it off 25-17. Colyer recorded seven kills and a .500 hitting percentage, and Onye Ofoegbu had five kills and a .286 hitting percentage. (7:50 Ulmer) (5:30 players)

The Ducks come back for another match at Matthew Knight Arena this Sunday at 1 p.m. against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.

It is just the third time in Oregon football history that the Ducks are ranked No. 1 in the country. And this week, Oregon (7-0, 4-0 Big Ten) returns to Autzen Stadium for the first time since their thrilling one-point victory over Ohio State, to play the No. 20 Illinois Fighting Illini (6-1, 3-1 Big Ten). It’s the first time since 2013, back when Marcus Mariota was quarterback, that the Ducks started the season 7-0. The University of Oregon community will be celebrating Homecoming Weekend and Fall Family Weekend, which should add lots of extra support in the stands as the Ducks look to improve to 8-0 on the season.

While the Ducks are at home against what should be a significantly easier opponent than Ohio State, beating Illinois will be no simple task. The Illini started the season unranked but moved into the Top 25 just a week into the season after defeating Eastern Illinois University 45-0. They moved up to No. 20 last week when they beat the defending national champions – the Michigan Wolverines, 21-7 – knocking them out of the Top 25 for the first time since 2021. Illinois’ only loss came in Week 5 on the road against No. 3 Penn State, who remains undefeated.

The Illini’s success has been led by quarterback Luke Altmyer, who is 120 for 182 passing with 1,506 yards. He has thrown for 15 touchdowns and just one interception, while also rushing for 138 yards on 59 carries. In last week’s game against Michigan, Altmyer had 80 passing yards and 48 rushing yards. Supporting him on the Illini offense have been wide receivers Pat Bryant and Zakhari Franklin. They have combined for 856 yards and eight touchdown receptions this season.

Oregon likely will need to work without defensive end Jordan Burch, who missed the last two games with a knee injury and is questionable this Saturday, and tight end Terrance Ferguson, who is recovering from an appendix removal. In the first games without these star players, the team did not seem to be affected. 

Of course, there was the maddening victory against Ohio State two weeks ago, but many people considered last week’s trip to Purdue a major test as well. Even though Purdue is tied for the worst record in the Big Ten, they have a history of upsetting Top 5 teams at home, even when they’re unranked. 

Also, many of the best teams in the country have been known to have a serious drop-off following their biggest win of the season. The Ducks did not let either of these narratives get to them as they recorded their first shutout on the road since 1992 and beat the Boilermakers 35-0.

In that game, quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw for 290 yards and two touchdowns, while running back Jordan James ran for 50 yards and two touchdowns. James did not receive a lot of attention at the beginning of the season, as the Ducks’ roster had so much other talent overshadowing him. This season, his running game has played one of the biggest roles in the Oregon offense, and James has rushed for 717 yards with eight touchdowns on the season.

The Ducks will certainly have a battle at hand this Saturday, but based on previous weeks, this is nothing they can’t handle. Both teams will enter the game with a ton of confidence, but only one will remain that way in the end.

After an early morning of College Gameday, fans loaded Autzen with its largest crowd in stadium history of 60,129. In a game where neither team had a lead larger than seven, the No. 3 Ducks battled the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes for a full 60 minutes. In the final minute, with the Ducks clinging to a one-point lead, the defense stepped up and sealed the 32-31 victory as the crowd took the field to celebrate the biggest win under Dan Lanning.

No. 4 Penn State comes from behind to beat USC in overtime 33-30

USC (3-3, 1-3 Big Ten) jumped to an early 14-point lead at home against undefeated Penn State (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten), but the Nittany Lions outscored the Trojans 24-10 in the second half to send the game to overtime. From there, it was all Penn State, which forced a 3-and-out to begin the OT period, and then marched down the field for a game-winning, 36-yard field goal.

No. 23 Illinois wins overtime shootout over Purdue 50-49

The Fighting Illini (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) dominated the first half over Purdue (1-5, 0-3 Big Ten), taking a 24-3 lead into halftime. The Boilermakers came out of the locker room hungry, scoring 40 second-half points to force overtime. Behind quarterback Luke Altmyer — who recorded 379 yards passing, 60 yards rushing, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions, — and a defense that stepped up on Purdue’s 2-point try in overtime, Illinois held on for the one-point victory.

Minnesota comes to life in the second half to beat UCLA 21-17

A struggling Bruins team (1-5, 0-4 Big Ten) shut down the offense of Minnesota (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) in the first half and took a 10-0 lead. It was a tale of two halves as the Golden Gophers scored 21 second-half points behind quarterback Max Brosmer’s 193 passing yards, and a defense that did just enough to keep the Bruins winless in Big Ten conference play.

Iowa outruns Washington 40-16

Despite the Huskies’ (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) 158-yard advantage in the passing game, the Hawkeyes (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) dominated the game on the ground with 220 rushing yards. Running back Kaleb Johnson alone rushed for 166 yards and two touchdowns to lead his team to a 24-point win.

Wisconsin demolishes Rutgers 42-7

The Badgers (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) came into New Brunswick and dominated Rutgers (4-2, 1-2 Big Ten) on all cylinders. Quarterback Braedyn Locke threw for 240 yards and the offense rushed for 311 to put six touchdowns on the board to move above .500 in Big Ten play.

Northwestern scores 20 unanswered points to beat Maryland 37-10

The Wildcats (3-3, 1-2 Big Ten) paid a visit to the Terrapins (3-3, 0-3) in what was a tightly-contested matchup for the first three quarters. Northwestern led the entire game, but Maryland was never far behind until early in the fourth quarter when the Wildcats’ defense came up with a strip sack and scoop-and-score and never looked back.

This past Friday night, University of Oregon students made their first trip to Autzen Stadium since beginning fall classes and the team welcomed them with something much bigger than football. For the fifth time in the program’s history, the Ducks introduced a uniform to raise cancer awareness.

This uniform design was inspired by head coach Dan Lanning’s family in honor of his wife, Sauphia, who beat bone cancer in 2017. 

The design is known as the “Heroes” uniform, to honor those who conduct cancer research and contribute to saving the lives of Sauphia and many others. The uniform was brought to life by Van Horne Brands. Senior designer Quinn Van Horne said to GoDucks, “This is her love letter to her heroes, and that’s why we wanted to call it ‘Heroes.’ This is her thanking the people who truly helped save her life.”

“I’m really glad the boys and Dan got to be a part of it all. They were definitely my driving force in getting better and healing. I’m just so glad they were able to put their touch on it,” Sauphia said to GoDucks.

The goal that night was to raise awareness to all types of cancer. The yellow base color acknowledged osteosarcoma, which is what Sauphia had, and the colorful stripes on the front of the helmets and the tops of the cleats and gloves were to emphasize all other forms of cancer.

In addition to the words “Stomp Out Cancer,” which has been used by all Oregon athletic teams who have honored cancer awareness, the Ducks had three new logos in honor of this occasion using the trademark Oregon O. 

The logo that was seen the most on the players’ and coaches’ clothing had a yellow ribbon under the O, which was sketched by Sauphia herself. On the left side of the ribboned O was the word “Flight” and on the right side “+ Fight.” 

Another logo, which came from Dan and Sauphia’s oldest son Caden, was an ice cream cone with an O. This was to acknowledge the treat that families like the Lanning’s get to enjoy when the research and treatment of cancer is successful. 

Finally, the logo that was displayed on the scoreboard was the “O” inside a bell, to represent patients ringing the bell after they beat cancer. During the game, three cancer survivors from the UO community were invited onto the field to ring a bell in front of the Autzen crowd.

When the Lanning’s first started working with  Van Horne Brands on these designs earlier in the year, Sauphia said to GoDucks, “This is beyond what I would have envisioned for this. We’re just really honored and grateful for you guys, and we’re looking forward to it. I can’t wait to see it all really come to life, and everyone really represented.”

The Duck Store has been selling shirts with the new logos for the past week, and the concessions at Autzen Stadium served drinks in cups that featured all of these logos during the game.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t (feel emotional) you know, this game was definitely special for a lot of people, anybody that’s been affected by cancer,” Lanning said after the Michigan State game.  “You know, I couldn’t help but notice the people ringing the bell out there on the field and I remember that moment and what it felt like. So it’s certainly special for our family. It’s certainly special for a lot of people out there tonight.” 

It was clear in his face that this meant a lot more than the game itself.

The Oregon Ducks women’s volleyball team is coming off of a tremendous season where they finished No. 6 in the country and made it to the Elite-8 round of the NCAA Tournament. The Ducks are looking to build off of last year with an even stronger season as they enter the Big Ten.

One player everyone should have their eyes on is Junior Mimi Colyer. As a sophomore, Colyer started all 35 games, led the team with 471 kills and averaged 4.43 points per set — which was fourth in the Pac-12. She became the 22nd player in Oregon history to reach 1,000 career kills, and was nominated as an AVCA All-America Honorable Mention, AVCA All-Pacific North Region, All-Pac-12 Team, Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week and Rainbow Wahine Classic MVP.

When asked about her focus on playing good teams at a high level, she replied, “just making sure I rely on the game plan and what we were told to do and do it as good as I could, and with that I found some success.” 

Colyer also said an important part of her game is, “being smart with where I was trying to hit, and being deceptive.”

In the first two games this season, Colyer recorded 23 kills on 54 total attempts and 1 ace. After the Ducks’ season opening loss to Pittsburgh, Colyer said, “a huge thing for us was just our ball control and our serve-receive. I think there was a little bit of nerves. Pitt is also a really good serving team, they’re very consistent, they don’t miss a lot, and we let that get the best of us.” 

As the season progresses, she said, “knowing we pushed a team that’s gonna make it far in the tournament should also be super inspiring for us.”

The Ducks have gotten off to another hot start, largely thanks to Colyer. As they enter Big Ten play, she’ll need to continue to perform at a high level. But, for now, she’s establishing that the program’s recent successes aren’t flukes, but the new standard of a powerful program.