The giant “O” on Skinner Butte at the University of Oregon, normally painted yellow, has been splattered with red paint ahead of the Ducks’ matchup with Ohio State in the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal on New Year’s Day.

Haleigh Kochanski of the Register-Guard reported that she “reached out to the Eugene Police Department about the vandalism but had not received a response as of early Tuesday morning.”

A “paint tray and other paraphernalia” were reportedly left behind at the scene.

Oregon and Ohio State already played once this season, a 32-31 victory for the Ducks in Eugene. That was part of Oregon’s fantastic debut season in the Big Ten, which resulted in a perfect record, a conference championship, wins over Boise State, Ohio State and Penn State and the top overall seed and a first-round bye in the CFP.

That Oregon has to face the Buckeyes in the quarterfinals, however—while lower seeds like Penn State and Texas ended up with far easier matchups in Boise State and Arizona State, respectively—has called into question the CFP’s format. Currently, the four highest-seeded conference champions get first-round byes, which this year was Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State.

But that meant that lower seeds who had high rankings, like Penn State and Texas, ended up with easier CFP draws than Oregon. Penn State’s path to the championship round, potentially, will go through SMU, Boise State and either Georgia or Notre Dame.

Oregon, meanwhile, will have to get through Ohio State and either Texas (likely) or Arizona State. It’s arguable that, despite playing an extra game, the Nittany Lions have the easier path.

The solution would be to simply give the top four seeds to the four highest-ranked teams, though that may receive some pushback from the Big 12, ACC and non-Power 4 conferences. It would lead to a more balanced bracket, however.

It might feel to many as if the wrong team is favored here. That’s because it is.

Look, Ohio State is really good. The defense is about as stingy as it gets, and the offense can pop from almost any position. Freshman receiver Jeremiah Smith is already a superstar, while senior receiver Emeka Egbuka won’t wait long to hear his name called at the upcoming NFL draft. Running backs Quinshon Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson could both be off the board by the end of Day Two.

But Oregon already beat this team once. Just like it beat everyone on its schedule.

Senior quarterback Dillon Gabriel was comically productive (28 passing touchdowns, seven rushing scores) while taking third in the Heisman Trophy voting. He helped activate all aspects of this offense, which featured a 1,200-yard rusher (Jordan James), three receivers with 600-plus yards (Tez Johnson, Evan Stewart and Traeshon Holden) and a tight end who averaged nearly 14 yards on his 38 catches (Terrance Ferguson).

The defense may have bent on occasion, but it never broke. Sophomore defensive end Matayo Uiagalelei may have broken some opponents, though, while racking up 10.5 sacks, two forced fumbles and an interception.

This feels like a coin flip that could and very well may come down to which offense has the ball last. Still, the Ducks should be slight favorites in our eyes, and maybe the fact they aren’t will be what gives them that final push to edge past the Buckeyes once again.

Prediction: Oregon 34, Ohio State 31

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