It was “Cupcake Saturday” in the SEC, and don’t think Oregon coach Dan Lanning didn’t notice. While Lanning’s No. 7 Ducks were dealing with No. 15 USC, fellow College Football Playoff contenders Texas A&M, Georgia and Alabama were facing Samford, Charlotte and Eastern Illinois. Oregon won 42-27, while the Aggies, Bulldogs and Crimson Tide won by a combined 139-3 over two FCS opponents (Samford and Eastern Illinois) and one well-below-average Group of 5 team (Charlotte, which is 1-10 this year). When asked what he hopes the playoff selection committee takes away from his team’s victory over the Trojans on Saturday, Lanning didn’t hold back. Oregon which is 10-1, its lone loss to unbeaten Indiana finishes the regular season next week at Washington. “I think proof’s in the pudding,” Lanning said. “Played a good team, we beat ’em. All we can do next week is try to do the same thing. This conference is a really good conference, it’s competitive. We didn’t play Chattanooga State today, like some other places. We competed. “That being said, it’s tough playing nine conference games. It’s tough playing in this league. And we got to take advantage of playing a good team today and attacking that.” Here’s video: Chattanooga State is actually a community college that doesn’t play football, though Chattanooga (sometimes called UT-Chattanooga) is an FCS school that has routinely played games against SEC competition. Alabama beat the Mocs 66-10 in 2023, while Tennessee pulled off a 69-3 win in 2024. Like many Power 4 conference teams, Oregon did play an FCS opponent this year, albeit in its season-opener. The Ducks crushed Montana State 59-13 on Aug. 30. The SEC will presumably stop scheduling FCS or Group of 5 opponents late in the season beginning next year, when it goes to a 9-game conference schedule. Until then, Lanning and his fellow critics will still be able to get their shots in.
https://www.al.com/sports/2025/11/oregons-dan-lanning-takes-shot-at-sec-teams-for-playing-chattanooga-state.html
