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Thanks, Mike. Insightful and concerning. I leave the Xs and Os to those with more expertise. But I understand attitude. In the two games this season, I've watched more talented players fail to show up and play with an attitude. The whole is not better than the sum of the parts. Yeah, the weather was brutally hot. Big whoop. That's no excuse for 2- and 3-star guys kicking you in the posterior. Forget all of 'The Bad News Ducks Go to Japan' and all the other extraneous stuff; football is about attitude. Less talented players who play harder and with a determined will to win often defeat teams with better rosters. As to money being a problem. Players at Miami, LSU, and Texas are balling out. From Dan Lanning on down, it's time to suck it up, show up, and ball out. Mike, of course, nailed it when it comes to scheme, and I hope Dan is willing to look in the mirror and perhaps reach out to his mentors for their input. Football is about attitude. No matter how good the scheme and game plan, how are you going to respond when you get punched in the 🤬mouth? Talent? Clemson had nine guys drafted last season and won seven games. Get right against Portland State, go to LA, and punch SC in the chops.

I am sitting in Denver on the tarmac making my way back to Eugene from Honduras. Reflecting on what I saw and experienced this past week. I was in the middle of the most impoverished place I have ever seen. The suffering and difficulties the Hondurans endure is heart breaking. Just to travel a few miles through those mountains takes a ton of energy. The loss the Ducks suffered yesterday isn't really registering right now. It sucks and I bought into the pre season hype like everyone else. I haven't watched the games yet, but the Ducks appear to be soft. Good times produce soft men. The Honduran men and women are incredibly strong. The contrast is outstanding.

I like your post and perspective. Thanks. At my house in Eastern Time zone, it’s nearly 1:30. The sun has not yet risen, and I feel like it will be a cloudy week ahead. That’s the problem with dreams and expectations. Sometimes they get crushed. I was looking forward to the next fifteen weeks, but feel that the air has left the room and a rug has been pulled out from under my feet.

Scott Reed @scottreed573049 The interesting reality of my life is that after yesterday’s game, I went to lunch with my wife and then picked up Fiji. While my wife was apologizing, Fiji was oblivious to everything. She just walked. We went on a good four-mile walk around four o’clock yesterday, and it went about how you would expect. On this loop, she took me around a couple of different parks in the neighborhood. We went by a pickleball court. We saw some of her dog friends. They played. It was like any other day to her, and she was overjoyed to be able to take a long walk. It reminded me first of just how precious moments are — and then it took me back to an article I wrote after Oregon’s loss to TCU in the Alamo Bowl. I wrote then about waking up the next morning and discovering that the sun had, in fact, risen. There had been no cataclysmic response to the result of a football game. Life had simply continued, as it always does, and I was reminded that we are fans. Nothing more and nothing less. That does not mean the games do not matter. Of course they matter. There is a sort of tribal or territorial pride involved in college football. We spend our money, we plan our Saturdays around kickoff times, we cheer, we revel in victory, and agonize in defeat. Yesterday hurt because we invest something of ourselves in this thing. But there is also a point where I try to put put myself ahead of the truth. The players and coaches care more about what happened in Stillwater than any of us possibly can. When we got up this morning, our futures were not dependent on the result of yesterday’s game. Most of us will go to work Monday. We will take the dog for a walk. We will eat dinner with our families. We will argue about play calling, recruiting, missed tackles and whether Oregon can still find its way back into the College Football Playoff conversation. For the people inside that building, yesterday follows them to work. That was one of the things I was trying to remind myself of nearly 11 years ago. Wins matter. Losses matter. Coaches are evaluated because of them, players spend enormous pieces of their lives preparing for them, and there is no reason for fans to pretend disappointment is somehow irrational. But it is still a game played by young men. Fiji did not know Oregon had just lost to Oklahoma State. She did not care that a team expected to contend for a national championship had been pushed around for much of the afternoon by a 24-point underdog. She wanted to walk through the park. She wanted to see her friends. She wanted to smell whatever it was that apparently required three uninterrupted minutes of investigation beside one particular tree (it was probably a mouse; she is an excellent mouse hunter). And somewhere during those four miles, yesterday’s game started moving into its proper place. Not forgotten. Not excused. Just placed. That is probably an important distinction this morning because there will be plenty of time to talk about what went wrong. There should be. Oregon was not prepared to play to the standard it has established for itself. The offensive line struggled. The defense was pushed around. There were penalties, communication problems and moments when a team built to compete with the best programs in college football simply did not look like one. Those questions are real. So is this morning. The sun came up again. Fiji will probably want another walk. Somewhere inside the Hatfield-Dowling Complex, players and coaches are already dealing with yesterday far more personally than I ever will. And there is another game coming. There always is. Sunday Morning Sidewalk: The Sun Still RoseThe interesting reality of my life is that after yesterday’s game, I went to lunch with my wife and then picked up Fiji.

"Who you become now, that is up to you" - Obi Wan Yesterday’s loss to Oklahoma State should be a wake-up call for the Oregon Ducks and where their culture is right now. There is no question this team has talent. There are stars returning. There are highly regarded players at nearly every position. There is experience, depth, elite recruiting, tremendous coaching (mostly), and enormous expectations. But none of that guarantees a damn thing. Oregon learned that yesterday. You can bring back stars. You can stack a roster with talent. You can be ranked in the Top 10, Top 5, even #1. You can be favored by more than three touchdowns. And none of it matters if the hunger, discipline, physicality, and attention to detail aren't there on every single play. Oklahoma State didn't care that Oregon was the “Mighty Ducks.” They didn't care about Oregon's ranking, recruiting classes, returning starters, or national championship expectations. They lined up and played football. They hit. They ran. They competed. They believed they could win. And they did. That's the lesson. Teams are NOT going to roll over for Oregon. In fact, the opposite is true. Every team that plays the Ducks is going to bring its best shot. Oregon has become one of those programs where beating the Ducks means something. There is a target on that uniform. So the Ducks have to decide what kind of team they want to be. Having stars doesn't create hunger. Having talent doesn't create toughness. Having experience doesn't create discipline. Returning players doesn't automatically create leadership. Those things have to be earned every week. The great teams don't walk onto the field expecting to win because they're talented. They walk onto the field determined to prove they're better. Yesterday, Oklahoma State played with that mentality. Oregon didn't play like the team that expected to be great. They played like a team that expected greatness to come simply because greatness was already on the roster. That's a dangerous distinction. This loss doesn't mean the season is over. It doesn't mean Oregon isn't talented enough to accomplish big things. But it should eliminate any illusion that talent alone is going to carry this team. The work still has to be done. They need to become more disciplined, more sound fundamentally, more focused. Because nobody is going to step aside and let the “Mighty Ducks” have their championship season. They're coming for Oregon. Now it's time for Oregon to show that it's ready to go after them…OR, they fracture and fall apart and the preseason hype was just that.

Of all the mic drops, this one leaves a crater.

…playing inspired football …playing with reckless abandon …playing with your hair on fire …playing as if there is no tomorrow Cliches? Yes. But, we need some of that sooner - not later.

It is not just USC, UCLA is really good. Look at their schedule, this is potentially a 9 win team. they are doing Cignetti 2.0, and it is going to work. They are a running team that can pass, receivers are not great, but they will be a very disciplined team. The Ducks need to get through the next two after Portland State. Discount the Bruins and you are done.

That was one of the most surprising and disappointing performances by our OBD. After the BSU game I expected them to bounce back with a competitive fire for redemption looking like a top 10 team. Instead, our OBD looked flat and not playing cohesively. Dan Lanning has recruited talented players. I just did not see much play calling that was built around our players skills to move the ball downfield or stall the opponent's offense. I have to think that our Offensive and Defensive Coordinators are in over their heads calling effective plays. I went with many that said "In Lanning I trust" when Lanning hired from within and he didn't look outside for experienced coordinators. I am beginning to think that the common denominator for the disappointing last two games is our OC and DC. Unless they can figure things out quickly, Lanning needs to think about making some coordinator changes.

On top of that he doesn't see open receivers on too many plays. If he doesn't get his act together he wont be going to the next level.

It was not hot and humid at Autzen Stadium again Boise State where we were disappointing so Im not buying the heat issue as the core issue. We have had issues on stopping teams in the red zone for quite awhile.. Our offensive line, as great as they were purported to be last yr, also crumbed against Indiana twice. Donte has been missing wide open receivers, nothing new. (ask Chip Kelly) Donte does not run except to leave pocket too soon.... What we see is what is real. If indeed these 4 and 5 stars are that good, then It seems logical to me that the issue is the coaching. scheme, ?, or something other than talent.. Now we know Dan is a great recruiter and so far has had great success and I am happy he is here. That being said, I never though the offense was as good as when Dillingham was here... We loved to criticize Tosh; from what I've seen we are already missing him.. Is the problem scheme, coaching, or entitled over paid kids or something else or all of the above? I am not there nor qualified to know. But I do know with all this perceived talent, something is wrong. If it is the coordinators, then hire NFL coordinators like many good teams, if it is the player, then don't play him. We have many supposedly highly talented on the the team.. I d like to see Akili play some.. I like to not see all the glam and hype around the NIL pay... Either play or go away.. Next man up regardless of his stars. This is arguably the worst performance (considering stars) I have seen in my 56 years as an avid Duck fan and first yr at school in Eugene. Now to put in plainly, I think our offensive play calling is poor and I don't think Donte has the "It" factor. The defense is obviously either poorly coached or scheme or both. I do not havtere the answers but someone making millions of dollars better. I hope we figure it out before we play in LA or we will not be happy Ducks. Just my opinions. Good teams don't play like bad teams on the way to the National Championship.

During Fall camp Lanning periodically mentioned this team is becoming more player led. I can see how this might tie into changing coordinators and continuity of x's & o's. Might the uninspired play be linked to lack of focused leadership and inspiration in the locker room, sideline and game? Go Ducks!!

A lot of good points here. I certainly hope the Ducks' playing and play calling improve. But I just read that University of Iowa marching band member Derek Phillips died on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, after suffering a heat stroke and sudden cardiac arrest during the Hawkeyes' season-opening football game against Northern Illinois. Kind of puts things in perspective for me.

On the part about Dante not going through his progressions and forcing the ball to a favorite receiver instead of taking the open guy, sometimes I wonder if the NFL gets into these guys’ heads a little. Especially when they know NFL reps are there watching. Maybe there’s some pressure to force big plays or get certain guys their numbers instead of just taking what the defense gives them. Probably a wild theory, but these are young guys and they all want to make it to the next level.

I have 3 different dvr recordings. But the good news? I don't want to rewatch that disaster.

I'm no football mastermind and I appreciate those of you who share your knowledge, but it's quite obvious to me that what we are facing now is a real coaching challenge. Portland State is a cupcake. But after that, like in two weeks, we will be able to better evaluate the calibre of our coaching staff. Do they have what it takes to get the team up off the mat for that USC game and then put them in a position to get into the playoffs? They owe it to every player they placed on their roster as well as to Duck fans.

I think there may be a “continuity illusion” going on with this team. Because Oregon promoted Drew and Hamp from within, it was easy to look at it as continuity instead of what it really was: replacing both coordinators at the same time. Knowing a system and actually running it on Saturday are two very different things. Play sequencing, recognizing what the other team has figured out, knowing when to abandon something, making adjustments on the fly, and anticipating the counter to your counter are skills that only really get tested when you’re the guy making the decisions. That might also explain why Boise looks a little more significant in hindsight. At the time, that game was easy to dismiss as Week 1 rust. Now we’ve seen two straight games where Oregon has looked strangely disjointed despite having more than enough talent. I also think Oklahoma State was almost the perfect opponent to expose it. Oregon wasn’t really playing the same Oklahoma State team they embarrassed last year. Eric Morris essentially brought a new offense with him, along with a huge roster overhaul and a bunch of his North Texas personnel. Morris had one of the best offenses in the country at North Texas. In other words, the helmet said Oklahoma State, but what Oregon was trying to diagnose and defend was something almost entirely different. And they never really figured it out. That’s the part that concerns me more than the loss itself. Oregon kept making enough individual plays to stay alive, and eventually even took the lead, but they never reached that point where it felt like the coaching staff had figured out what Oklahoma State was doing and taken control of the game. My theory is that the 2026 Ducks have the talent, confidence and expectations of an established national title contender, while underneath all of that they’re effectively a first year operation in two of the most important game management positions on the staff. That would explain why they look so weird right now. They’re talented enough to erase mistakes and deficits. They have enough playmakers to rescue possessions that aren’t working. But they don’t look synchronized enough yet to dictate games. Against Boise, the talent was enough to overcome it. Against Oklahoma State, it almost was again. The good news is that if this theory is right, it’s fixable. Mehringer and Hampton may simply be going through the learning curve that comes with actually running their respective sides of the ball, and Lanning has time to help get it sorted out. But that’s what I’m watching now. Not the rankings, not the loss itself, and not whether they blow out Portland State. I want to see whether Oregon starts looking like a team that is anticipating what opponents are doing instead of reacting to it. If that happens, yesterday might end up being the early season punch in the mouth they needed. If it doesn’t, then losing both coordinators in the same offseason may have been a much bigger deal than any of us realized.

Mike, Great post, great and astute observations. My youngest son was at the game and was texting me his thoughts in real time. Michael played college ball as a corner back. He watches the game from an analytical perspective. Here are some of his comments throughout the game: The team has no energy or pop. Not ready to plsy a full 60 minute game. Dante is not hanging in the pocket long enough to hit receivers as they come open. Bailing to soon.... Not always going thru his progressions. Forcing the ball to his favorite receiver. Gatin wide oprn for an easy first down and instead throws into double team coverage. OSU defense knows the plays before the O snaps the ball. The Duck D scheme is being exploited by OSU. Its very predictable. Some players are taking plays off. Not sure why? This game is hard to watch. In fairness, Dad, it is brutally hot and humid. Probably 125 to 135 degrees on the field. No way to prepare for it. I know this game was difficult to watch for us Duck fans. Something hss to change on defense. Let's hope DL and staff figure it out. Even great players cannot excel in a weak scheme. Let's go Ducks.

Routinely...Dante throws short when there were open receivers downfield. This alone keeps drives going, scores points, and wins games. Sigh.

What I can't figure out is; There's always going to be dropped passes. But how is it possible for everyone to drop passes, in the same game???

Many of you know, as I found out, how excruciating a game like this can be following it on ESPN Gamecast and play by play text. The play was painful enough with video telecast!

Starts at the top. The entire season rests on the USC game. On the top side they turn it around. On the downside a loss to USC for the reasons above they go 4-8. UCLA will boat race them. Sorry, time to take the good with the bad. I want to hear about accountability. Where was Dante in the post game presser? I want leadership.

The Dante hype and the Dante reality just don't match. "He could be the first player taken in the draft". But he also has a tunnel vision problem, and a lack of mobility problem and accuracy when pressured problem. OSU's QB was extending plays with his feet, connecting with targets on the run hurdling into the endzone like a Heisman favorite while taking a serious shot. For all the hype this guy gets, who would you have preferred QB the team yesterday? Forget about him vs Herbert, Mariota or Nix. What about him vs Dennis Dixon, Akili Smith. Joey Harrington, Darren Thomas, Vernon Adams, Dillion Gabriel, Bill Musgrave, Chris Miller even Kellen Clemens or AJ Feeley? I think the Ducks pull out a win with any of them at QB. How can you both be a future top pick and yet not crack a recent top 15 at your school's position?

Im very afraid you are right.