For an athlete, a loss can shake even the strongest mental foundation. For Ohio State quarterback Will Howard, those feelings bubbled up after losing to the Oregon Ducks 32-31 at Autzen Stadium in early October.

While interviewing with ESPN before Ohio State’s semifinal game against the Texas Longhorns for the College Football Playoffs, the quarterback reflected on that feeling of loss.

“It’s been a rollercoaster. Some of the ups and downs that we did go through are why we’re sitting here today in the semifinals and probably playing our best ball right now,” Howard said. “There have been some tough moments. I’d say that Oregon loss early on in the season was rough.”

Howard, who went 28-35 passing for 326 yards and two touchdowns, remembers what he did after that fateful quarterback keeper turned slide that sealed the fate of the Buckeyes during that regular season encounter with the Ducks.

“Coming out of it I felt like I played a good game but it was really just the ending. I sat there and stewed over just how could I have done that differently. But when we got back here I think it was about six in the morning. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was kind of at a loss. I went into the indoor and I just laid there for about an hour – hour and a half. I was in a dark place. I just wanted another crack at them so bad. I just couldn’t stop thinking about the next chance I could get,” Howard said.

It wasn’t too long before Howard got his second chance with Oregon. After winning the Big Ten Championship, the No. 1 ranked Ducks were seeded for the Rose Bowl. With the Buckeyes easily beating Tennessee at home the previous week, Ohio State faced the Ducks once more.

“Before every game, I listen to two voicemails that my late grandmother sent me and I’ve been doing that every game for the last three years now,” Howard said. “I listened to the voicemail and it just brought this immense peace over me. This year for the playoffs it actually probably got me going even more. It really helped.”

Those voicemails helped Howard correct his headspace before facing Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Howard went 17-26 in passing for 319 yards and three touchdowns. The Buckeyes completely shut out Oregon in the first quarter, with the Ducks only responding at the end of the second quarter with a touchdown and two point conversion. Howard reflected on the point in the game where the Buckeyes were up 34-0 against the No. 1 team in the nation. 

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“Ecstatic. I mean, at that point it felt like it was almost not real. It was like ‘Man, are we really up on the No. 1 team in the country right now that we were in a dog fight with at their place?’” Howard said.

The Buckeyes won against Oregon 41-21, advancing to the Cotton Bowl Classic against the Texas Longhorns, where Howard and the Buckeyes are knocking on the door of a National Championship.

“You take a big National Championship ring and hoisting the trophy up. It takes a lot of the hardships and bad things that happened this year and kind of go out the window,” Howard said.

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Some private universities in Oregon are offering extra assistance — from crisis counseling to emergency financial aid — to students who call Southern California home.

This comes amid the devastating wildfires currently burning in Los Angeles.

Lewis & Clark College, University of Portland and Reed College sent out messages of support to students with home addresses in Southern California this week.

Administrators at Lewis & Clark contacted around 250 undergraduate students in the region affected by the blazes. These students represent close to 12% of the college’s current undergraduate students.

The school, which begins its next term on Jan. 21, is opening up its dorms early for Southern California students at no extra cost.

“We will keep communicating with students in the weeks and months ahead to know how this impacts their next semester and beyond,” said Benjamin Meoz, Lewis & Clark’s senior associate dean of students. “That will mean a range of wraparound academic and counseling support.”

Lewis & Clark also pushed back its application deadline for prospective students from the Los Angeles area to Feb. 1.

Oregon crews arrive in Southern California to aid wildfire response

Reed College began reaching out to about 300 students who live in Southern California on Wednesday. In an email, the college urged students and faculty impacted by the fires to take advantage of the school’s mental health and financial aid resources.

Reed will also support students who need to return to campus earlier than expected. Classes at Reed do not begin until Jan. 27.

Students at University of Portland will be moving back in this weekend as its next term begins on Monday, Jan. 13. But UP did offer early move-in to students living in the Los Angeles area earlier this week. A spokesperson with UP said four students changed travel plans to arrive on campus early.

Students are already back on campus at the majority of Oregon’s other colleges and universities, with many schools beginning their terms earlier this week.

Four Oregon lawmakers are calling on Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to help stop a plan that would kill 450,000 barred owls in an effort to save endangered spotted owls over the next 30 years.

The entrepreneurs were named by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

In a letter sent Tuesday, state Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Stayton, Rep. David Gomberg, D-Lincoln County, Rep. Virgle Osborne, R-Roseburg, and Sen.-elect Bruce Starr, R-Yamhill and Polk counties, asked the incoming Trump administration officials to stop the reportedly more than $1 billion project, calling it a “budget buster” and “impractical.”

Environmental groups Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy in late 2024 filed a federal lawsuit in Washington state to stop the planned killing of the barred owls.

Here is why the Oregon lawmakers are opposed to the plan, what the plan would do and why it is controversial.

Why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to kill barred owls

In August 2024, after years of planning, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service came up with a proposal to kill a maximum of 450,000 invasive barred owls over 30 years as a way to quell habitat competition between them and the northern spotted owl.

Spotted owl populations have been rapidly declining due in part to competition from invasive barred owls, which originate in the eastern United States. Northern spotted owls are listed as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act.

According to the USFWS plan, barred owls are one of the main factors driving the rapid decline of northern and California spotted owls, and with their removal, less than one-half of 1% of the North American barred owl population would be killed.

The plan was formally approved by the Biden administration in September 2024.

Why environmental groups want to stop the plan to kill barred owls

Shortly after it was announced, Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy immediately responded in opposition to the plan to kill barred owls. They argued the plan was both ill-conceived and that habitat loss is the main factor driving the spotted owls decline.

“Spotted owls have experienced significant population decline over decades,” a news release from the groups filing the lawsuit said. “This decline began and continues due to habitat loss, particularly the timber harvest of old growth forest. The plan is not only ill-conceived and inhumane, but also destined to fail as a strategy to save the spotted owl.”

In their complaint, the groups argued the USFWS violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to properly analyze the impacts of their strategy and improperly rejecting reasonable alternatives to the mass killing of barred owls, such as nonlethal population control approaches, spotted owl rehabilitation efforts and better protections for owl habitat.

Why Oregon lawmakers are asking Musk to stop the plan to kill barred owls

The four Oregon lawmakers are siding with the environmental groups and calling for Musk and Ramaswamy to reverse the federal government’s plan to kill the barred owls. It was not immediately clear how the two could stop the plan.

The lawmakers letter stated the plan was impractical and a “budget buster,” with cost estimates for the plan around $1.35 billion, according to a press release by the two groups.

The letter speculates there likely isn’t an excess of people willing to do the killing for free: “it is expected that the individuals doing the shooting across millions of acres – including within Crater Lake National Park – will require compensation for the arduous, night-time hunts,” according to the press release.

“A billion-dollar price tag for this project should get the attention of everyone on the Trump team concerned about government efficiency,” Diehl said. “Killing one type of owl to save another is outrageous and doomed to fail. This plan will swallow up Americans’ hard-earned tax dollars for no good reason.”

USFWS says they aren’t trying to trade one bird for the other.

“As wildlife professionals, we approached this issue carefully and did not come to this decision lightly,” USFWS Oregon State Supervisor Kessina Lee said in announcing the decision in August. “Spotted owls are at a crossroads, and we need to manage both barred owls and habitat to save them. This isn’t about choosing one owl over the other. If we act now, future generations will be able to see both owls in our Western forests.”  

Statesman Journal reporter Zach Urness contributed to this report.

Ginnie Sandoval is the Oregon Connect reporter for the Statesman Journal. Sandoval can be reached at GSandoval@gannett.com or on X at @GinnieSandoval.