ATLANTA — For the second time in as many seasons, Oregon entered the College Football Playoff with high expectations and exited with a pillar to post thrashing from a conference foe.

In similar fashion to last year’s Rose Bowl rout by Ohio State, No. 1 Indiana had its way with No. 5 Oregon in a CFP semifinal at the Peach Bowl Friday night. By the end of the 56-22 mauling, led by Fernando Mendoza’s five touchdowns, neither the scoreboard nor the box score reflected how lopsided things truly were.

Three Ducks turnovers, including a pick-six by Dante Moore on the opening play of the game, led to 21 first-half points for the Hoosiers (15-0), who led 35-7 at halftime.

“This is going to be a life lesson that a lot of people never get,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “We just got our butt kicked. That’s going to happen in life and not just Dante. Every single person in the locker room, every coach, every person can learn, hey, how do you respond to that.

“Some people crawl into a hole, don’t face the music. Some people say, okay, let’s figure it out. Let me challenge myself so I can be better. Let me be an example of how you handle moments like this. I think there is a way to handle that.”

One could say the Ducks (13-2) should have learned a similar lesson from the Rose Bowl, but with so many new starters from a year ago that’s not entirely accurate.

This UO team ranked in the top 10 in many statistics all season and was at times even more dominant than last year’s team. But against the best competition its weaknesses showed more than its strength. The Hoosiers (15-0) capitalized on many of those to advance to face Miami in the CFP Championship on Jan. 19.

“They have a great defense, great disguise and different looks, but you can’t win football games if you’re causing turnovers,” said Moore, who was 24 of 39 for 285 yards with two touchdowns but lost 28 yards rushing due to three fumbles. “Something of course I need to work at.”

Moore lost two fumbles, one on a strip sack and another when running back Dierre Hill Jr. ran into the tip of the ball on Moore’s wind up.

“First play, I still like the play, but it sucked the result,” offensive coordinator Will Stein said. “We had the fumble off the elbow, like, crazy. … We were stopping ourselves, but they’re a really good defense. They are really good and they create takeaways and they don’t mess up.”

Mendoza was 17 of 20 for 177 yards and the five scores, which went to four different IU players.

Named offensive MVP, Mendoza set a Peach Bowl completion percentage record and threw the most touchdowns against Oregon since Cal’s Davis Webb had five in 2016.

“He understands what he’s doing,” Lanning said. “He has great weapons to be able to take advantage of.”

Indiana was 11 of 14 on third down, including nine of its first 10, underscoring one of Oregon’s defensive weaknesses against better teams.

Defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi called it a “really poor finish” to an “awesome season.”

It’s difficult to take a long view after another promising campaign ends in such brutally demoralizing fashion, though several players tried.

“This is a great program,” said running back Noah Whittington, who was limited due to turf toe. “It’s going to continue to grow. Eventually we’re going to get the job done. Unfortunately it wasn’t today, but down the road we’re going to get ‘em.”

Yet for a second year in a row, albeit once again with several top skill players out due to injury, Oregon was embarrassed on a national stage.

“In this moment,” Lanning said, “you feel like a failure and they’re not. They’re not failures. These guys won a lot of damn ball games. … I also think you can’t discredit that we played well. We’ve played well at times even here in the postseason.”

Lanning proclaimed Oregon’s season motto “double down,” an expected value proposition in blackjack, which adopted because the program’s process is sound, even if last year’s Rose Bowl ending was not.

In many cases, it worked. But not always, like Friday night. It doesn’t mean that Lanning’s methods won’t pay off in the long run. It does mean the 2025 season ends without the ultimate reward, and in this case, far worse: another playoff blowout loss, which even if it proves again to be against the eventual national champion is still an offseason’s worth of misery to endure.

Adding insult to injury is Mario Cristobal, in his fourth year at Miami, bringing the Hurricanes back to the national championship game for the first time in 23 years.

But Oregon still earned a seat back at the CFP table. Whether Lanning is willing to double down in the same spot, or consider greater changes with two outgoing coordinators, could determine if the Ducks play differently next year.