2026 Capital One Orange Bowl Preview

The 2026 Capital One Orange Bowl features the 12-1 Oregon Ducks and the 12-1 Texas Tech Red Raiders. Here is the 2026 Capital One Orange Bowl Preview.

Oregon Ducks (12-1)

The Ducks won 11 games to make their second straight CFP. They defeated six bowl-eligible teams this regular season: Northwestern, Penn State, Iowa, Minnesota, USC and Washington. Their only loss of the season was to Indiana, who earned the no. 1 seed in the CFP. They had no issues getting past James Madison in the first round of the CFP.

Oregon scores 39.3 points per game, ranking ninth in the country. They pass for 251.8 yards (ranked 45th) and rush for 217.1 yards (ranked 13th) per game.

Dante Moore sat out a season after transferring from UCLA and has developed well as a result. He has passed for 3,046 yards, 28 touchdowns and eight interceptions on 72.4 percent completion. Six players have at least 250 receiving yards on the season for the Ducks. Malik Benson leads the team with 645 receiving yards. Kenyon Sadiq has been a matchup problem at tight end with 509 receiving yards and eight touchdowns. Freshman Dakorien Moore provides a spark as well with 29 catches for 448 yards and three touchdowns.

Four running backs have over 200 rushing yards for the Ducks. Noah Whittington is the lead back with 798 rushing yards and six touchdowns. Jordon Davison, Dierre Hill Jr. and Layden Limar all carry the ball a bit too with 625, 557 and 259 rushing yards, respectively.

Defensively, the Ducks allow 16.3 points per game, ranking 10th in the FBS. They give up 113.3 rushing yards (ranked 24th) and 158.1 passing yards (ranked fifth) per game. Bryce Boettcher has been great at pursuing ball carriers with 113 total tackles. Teitum Tuioti leads the team with 7.5 sacks. Dillon Thieneman is a transfer from Purdue that has made plenty of plays with five passes defended and two interceptions.

Texas Tech Red Raiders (12-1)

Texas Tech won 12 games to make their first CFP. They defeated five bowl-eligible teams this season: Utah, Houston, Kansas State and BYU (twice). Their only loss was to Arizona State, who went 9-3 this year. They had a bye in the first round of the CFP.

The Red Raiders score 42.5 points per game, ranking second in the country. They pass for 289.4 yards (ranked 10th) and rush for 190.9 yards (ranked 26th) per game. Behren Morton has been solid at quarterback for the Red Raiders when healthy this season. He has passed for 2,643 yards, 22 touchdowns and four interceptions on 67 percent completion. Six players have at least 200 receiving yards on the season. Caleb Douglas leads the team with 54 catches for 846 yards and seven touchdowns. Reggie Virgil and Coy Eakin have also been impressive with 676 and 626 receiving yards apiece.

Four players have rushed for over 200 yards this season. Cameron Dickey is the team’s leading rusher with 1,095 yards and 14 touchdowns. J’Koby Williams has filled in well behind him with 787 rushing yards and six touchdowns.

On defense, the Red Raiders concede 10.92 points per game, ranking third in the country. They allow 68.5 rushing yards (ranked first) and 185.9 passing yards (ranked 24th) per game. Jacob Rodriguez has been one of the best players in the country with 117 total tackles. David Bailey and Romello Height have been a great pass-rushing duo with 13.5 and nine sacks, respectively. Brice Pollock has made game-changing plays in the secondary with six passes defended and five interceptions.

Prediction

Texas Tech has the defense to challenge Oregon in this game. Morton should be able to move the ball decently well against Oregon and the pass rush they have can take over.

Texas Tech Red Raiders 31 Oregon Ducks 28  

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