Oregon’s Lanning and Indiana’s Cignetti hope to outwit each other as teams meet again in CFP

By Canadian Press on January 3, 2026.

As he prepares for a rematch against Indiana, Oregon coach Dan Lanning didn’t want to get into specifics about how his team has grown since the Ducks’ loss to the Hoosiers earlier this season.

Indiana will find out Friday night when the Big Ten rivals meet again, this time in the College Football Playoff semifinals at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta.

“I won’t go in every detail, but both these teams, neither one of us are the same team that you saw earlier in the season when we played each other,” Lanning said Saturday during a conference call with Indiana coach Curt Cignetti. “I think we’ve grown in a lot of different ways, found different strengths. As your team changes, you change, you adapt to your strengths of your team. And you see the same thing with Indiana.”

Indiana, ranked No. 7 at the time, beat then-No. 3 Oregon 30-20 in Eugene on Oct. 11. Fernando Mendoza threw for 215 yards and a key fourth-quarter touchdown while building his Heisman Trophy-winning resume, and Roman Hemby added a pair of scoring runs.

“Second time around, we’re both going to watch the tape of the first game, see what we did well, see what we didn’t do well, and maybe some wrinkles. Both teams will have some wrinkles, obviously,” Cignetti said. “Both teams have sort of morphed since that game because it was a while back. And you put the best plan together you can, but at the end of the day, it’s which team executes the best plan.”

Indiana swept through the season undefeated and outlasted Ohio State 13-10 for the Big Ten championship and the No. 1 seed in the CFP. After a first-round bye, the Hoosiers (14-0) smothered Alabama 38-3 in the quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl.

Fifth-seeded Oregon (13-1) blanked No. 4 Texas Tech 23-0 in its quarterfinal at the Orange Bowl after beating James Madison in a first-round game in Eugene.

With both teams coming off strong defensive performances, Lanning and Cignetti were asked Saturday to evaluate how their opponents had evolved on that side of the ball.

Cignetti said his study session had been derailed a bit.

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m seeing some different things, some different techniques, but also with the college football calendar the way it is, we have 13 (transfer) portal guys on campus right now. So from 10:00 to 2:00, my Oregon prep got cut a little bit short,” Cignetti said. “I’m going to pick up on that later this evening, but philosophically, core base, they look very similar to what they did. There are some new things shown up, but the bottom line is, they got guys inside, good job stopping the run and they don’t give up many yards rushing, they put heat on the passer outside with their pressure package and they do a good job covering and swarming the ball.”

Lanning quipped: “Keep focusing on those portal guys, coach. We want you to have a great roster next year.”

The winner of Friday night’s game will head to Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, for the national title game on Jan. 19, facing the winner of Thursday night’s Fiesta Bowl between Mississippi and Miami.

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Anne M. Peterson, The Associated Press

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