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Yay, we're now underdogs playing USC. So it's not as big of a deal losing to them? 🤔

Difficult questions, and they give rise to more. As the traditional college game continues to give way to NFL-lite $$ball, what now motivates players to compete at the highest level if the money alone doesn’t? As Mike points out, other high NIL budget programs are not currently faltering in the way we are. Of the top 10 NIL spenders, only Oregon has not won a national championship. Is Oregon dealing with a program legacy deficit that affects motivation in a way it does not for the other nine? Do players here not feel the same expectation of excellence they do at these other programs to, “win one for the gripper”? Without a a proud tradition, can money alone win championships? Those who were there during the Brooks/Bellotti eras that set the tone for Oregon’s development into a nationally recognized program will recall that emergence of what would become ‘Oregon football’ under Chip Kelly and beyond. It felt like we knew where we were going, and players were excited and proud to be a part of it. Now, it feels like money’s shadow has fallen over that emerging legacy, and stalled its growth. Lost in the woods. Since money is not going away, we need to find what it takes to rekindle the excitement and pride of those emerging days that defined what Oregon football could become: our legacy. Money alone will not get us there.

Definitely more disappointed than sad. After all, we have multiple millionaire "students athletes" playing ball, just killing time like a typical NFL game. This wasn't and won't be first such performance, unfortunately. College football is dead as we knew it. ☹️ It was actually much more entertaining watching the Beavers trying to beat No. 13 team and almost did it. Can't believe it, but I was actually rooting for the Beavis!

I believe it was playing in hell. I can be happy for my brother's wife who had a horrid year as a passionate OSU fan.

That twelve men on the field is a penalty we haven't achieved yet, although it is still early in the season.

ESuckingPN! Monopoly is never good.

At this point, I hate to admit, but Mario was probably the coach who could best get us that elusive natty. DL is good, but being too young limits his ceiling. He gambles too much, is not wise picking staff, fails at motivating players for big games (and small) or making halftime adjustments. It sucks that last week's USA Today piece was proven right...

Mike - Is this is what you were touching on? According to this, teams know exactly what Oregon is going to do before the ball is even snapped:

Truthfully I did not feel good about this year. There are teams that get close to the top but never seem to close the deal and they start to decline. We may be at that point for all the reasons discussed. Not that we can’t climb to the top but things just don’t feel right. We seem off. I will say Both Boise and Ok. State are far better than most would have thought. The biggest issue as far as just mot right is the DL play. All NFLers, over 5 mil in NIL and they have been a big zero thus far. I get the inexperience of the OL, but not the DL. Effort, coaching, scheme…who knows. At SC we either continue the spiral downward or we rise up and beat the daylights out of them. Hopefully Lanning has the ability to fix things.

With the game going so badly for the team, it took me quite a while to notice that the Ducks didn't suddenly switch to their skirt uniforms.

Did you not see the loss to Ohio State 2 years ago? Or last season's 2nd loss to Indiana?

Yeah, I would love to dream it into existence. I think the frustration is really comes from this program being the best program in America that has yet to win a national title, we've come so close...so many times...and every year the program hypes itself up, and then the fall flat on their face at some point. It doesn't help (at least for me) that Indiana just basically comes in and wins a title within 2 years of being relevant. Lanning's losses have been absolutely abysmal. Either he's getting blown out in games where he isn't even competitive, he's losing to a rival making bone headed coaching decisions, or now losing to a team that hasn't beaten a FBS team in 21 tries. There are ways to lose, and he's falling way short of them. I think the one loss where I felt okay was the Pac-12 championship game, at least there we showed some heart to try to come back, just got outplayed there. I appreciate the humor though Charles.

I think you're right about MC, but with Lanning I wonder how involved he is with the defense, how much is he controlling what the game plan is, how much input does he give for play calls on defense. The defense has been the weaker link in all his teams, it should be his trading card. I wonder if he should have more direct control over it. I'm a bit concerned as well that LBs which should be the position that Lanning knows the most about have consistently been our worst unit on the team each year, this year of course it looks like the O-line. Our LBs are not near what they need to be to play this type of defense, you look at the LBs at Georgia during their championship years and they were 1st round talent, we haven't come near a first round talent...basically ever.

Mike, you have company - Larry Brown SportsEveryone said the same thing about Dan Lanning after Oreg...The Oregon Ducks suffered the most shocking loss of the young college football season on Saturday, and the knives were out for coach Dan Lanning. Oregon

What was YOUR reaction to the title? A snort? A grumpf in disgust? A smile because you KNOW Mr. OBD? It was an attempt at humor to lighten this very heavy day of opinions and analysis by so many on this forum. Personally, I am still processing it all, because it was so opposite to what I expected. I understand the negative thoughts here, and I think there has been some superbly reasoned takes on our current state. This kind of discussion is what a forum is for… P.S. It is FINE to discuss player performance failures, just don’t go personal. Stick to their play, good-and-bad, and the same applies to coaching decisions.

With all the angst accumulation over the game results and the many problem it exposed, I'd just like to take a moment to recognize the greatness of Devon Jackson yesterday. A 75 yard run on the opening OSU play to the three was not a 78 yard touchdown because of his epic chase down tackle. The ensuing bullet dodging stop at the goal line should have been the wake up call the team needed. Nope. Another offensive three and out then a 70 yard OSU drive to the 10. Jackson then grabs a tipped ball, eludes a couple tacklers, gets to the sideline and was gone 95 yards! At that point the score was OSU 3 Jackson 7. The Ducks should have been down 0-14 but Jackson wasn't having it. At that point, overcoming the horrible start was quite possible. It's a shame the Ducks couldn't convert this source of great energy into a win. At least one guy deserved a W yesterday.

"Not as Good as Hoped for" When have I also felt this way? Quite a few times, actually. (going by memory, might be wrong on some details) 2011 vs LSU Last two losses in playoff games that bad loss in late 2019 which kept Ducks out of playoffs (they could have done something in playoffs that year) first two Boise St losses, especially with the Legarrette Blount meltdown. the loss to the beavs a few years ago And probably the biggest one: Lanning's first game vs Georgia Flip the script, what about unexpected wins that pumped us up? Oklahoma 2006 USC 2008? Ohio St when CJ Verdell broke free on that long TD run But this loss feels worse in one special way. With the others, it was just one thing to fix like we need better linemen, or stop playing down to inferior talent, get the players motivated and up for the game, or stop calling bad plays, etc. This one feels 'unexplainable'. How did this team with same coach and such great recruiting go from a powerhouse to mediocre so fast? So I think it feels worse than most of the others. They outgained Boise St but made mistakes and won. OK, they fix the mistakes and all should be well. Ok st made the mistakes this time that kept Oregon in the game. Ok st drastically outgained and handled the Ducks. Ok st is Colorado 2.0 with all the transfers. How did a team with a new coach and all new players have it together so much better than Oregon with all its returning talent? This makes it kind of tough to deal with. I am still optimistic that Oregon will eventually recover and climb back on top and be a top 10 or top 5 team again. But it might take some time. I have seen Oregon recover from the bottom of the pit so many times that I have to believe it will happen again. I thought these kinds of games were over when Cristobal left. This game is kind of like when USC lost to the beavs in the 2 thousands. It should not have happened. I'm going to spout off my 'wild theory here'. Dan Lanning is too loyal to his players. When they are not playing great, he stays with them. If this is indeed true, I hope that situation changes. Perhaps he could have been too loyal to his coaching staff as well? And is Lanning too loyal to his schemes when college football changes each and every day?

AP Poll - 9 SEC/ 7 B1G/ 4 ACC/ 4 B12/ Notre Dame Other B1G teams receiving votes - 26 UW, 35 UCLA Boise State - 28; Oklahoma State 29 On3College Football Rankings: AP Poll Top 25 after Week 2 re...The latest AP Poll Top 25 rankings are here after Week 2 of college football and we had quite the scenes around the country.

About the defense, or lack thereof.... The inability to harass the QB despite the presumed high quality of Oregon's DL is concerning. My impression was that the Cowboys' receivers were getting open because they had so long to run their routes. (Nobody can cover forever.) I faintly recall thinking that they may have double-teaming Matayo, but I could be wrong. Perhaps the emphasis on "caging" rather than sacking the QB is part of what Happy's son thought was too predictable. I don't recall seeing Wyatt playing much. Admittedly, there is limit to how much I saw. I did not see any of the game after 4:00 EDT because ESPN decided to show women's tennis, which, come to think of it, may have been a blessing. Evaluations for high school seniors are interesting, but performance on the field is what counts. I am not here to call out individual players. Let us say for the sake of argument that Perich and Finney are all-star players. How confident are you in the coverage provided by the other three secondary spots? This may be too much inside baseball for some, but there are visitors to this site who could speak to this, and it may be relevant. I thought that in a MINT defense there are supposed to be three DLs playing no wider than the inside shoulder of the offensive tackles. The idea is supposed to be to force runs outside where the RBs will be dealt with my the new age LBs, or not old-style Dick Butkus run-stuffers but guys who can run like safeties, such as...Bassa and Boettcher. Yesterday, Oregon had four men at the line of scrimmage on all down except third and long. They do not seem to be positioned "tight" as in a MINT, unless I am missing something. Is Oregon still playing a MINT? If not, what? For what purpose? Is it working? If not, what are the alternatives with the personnel we have?

Would we have won if QB #2 played the second half, or even the 4th quarter? Seems like in the old days, a QB that was underperforming the way DM was yesterday would be pulled at least for a series to give him a chance to get a different perspective on leading the offense. DL seems too concerned about fragile egos to occasionally stir the pot.

And realize your poop smells just like the other teams.

Early season polls are pretty much a joke, it sucks that they still have any bearing (yeah I know not officially, but they still are a factor). Last year the domers were still ranked at 0-2. We're lucky to be ranked at all the way we played on Saturday. The only thing the BCS got right was to release their initial rankings at the midway point of the season. I'm scratching my head over this one, DL appears to have a real problem on his hands. Sure the O-line issues can explain some of the offensive problems, but wth is going on with the defense, especially the D-line? As Duck fans we've been through plenty of turmoil over the years and I'm certainly not giving up on my team, but if DL can't get it figured out then we may be elimated from playoff consideration in September.

With that loss, we probably have one Mulligan left to make the playoffs. Jeez, I wish I had put the mortgage on under 10.5 wins.

Still in the AP Top 25? Thank goodness for Boise's beatdown of Memphis. Oregon dropping to 18th in the Coaches Poll and 21st in the AP makes sense, but Ohio State dropping to sixth in both polls after a 1-point loss on the road? Indiana at No. 4 validates consuming three cupcakes OOC, all on the home field. SC is 3-0 with wins in LA vs. San Jose State, Fresno State, and LA-LA. A 10-2 SC is a PO certainty. No excuse for the pathetic showing in Stillwater, but the series never should have been scheduled. AP College Football Poll 2026 Week 3 Rankings Released wi...There's a new No. 1 team in the Associated Press Top 25 after Texas completed an improbable comeback against Ohio State on Saturday night.

So, you're picking Portland State?