Well, the coaches definitely didn’t pull any punches. Oregon drops 12 spots from No. 6 to No. 18 after the loss at Oklahoma State.

Honestly, it’s hard to argue too much with the drop. Losing 39–31 to an unranked Oklahoma State team, especially one coming off the kind of stretch they’ve been on, is a bad loss. Oregon started the year No. 2, slipped to No. 6 after an unimpressive win over Boise State, and now they’re sitting at No. 18. Two games into the season and essentially all of the preseason benefit of the doubt is gone.

The interesting part to me is everything happening around them.

Texas jumps to No. 1 after knocking off Ohio State, while OSU only falls to No. 6. Indiana is all the way up to No. 4. USC has quietly climbed to No. 11, Penn State is No. 15, and Michigan went from unranked to No. 19 after beating Oklahoma.

Washington, meanwhile, is barely hanging on at No. 24 despite being 2–0.

For Oregon, some of those moves could actually become important. The Ducks still play No. 11 USC, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 19 Michigan and No. 24 Washington. So as ugly as No. 18 looks right now, the schedule gives them plenty of opportunities to repair the damage.

The USC game in two weeks suddenly looks enormous. Take care of Portland State, then go into LA and beat an undefeated No. 11 USC team, and this conversation changes pretty quickly. Lose that one and Oregon is 2–2 with the really difficult portion of the Big Ten schedule still ahead.

There’s also a weird silver lining to Ohio State losing. Going into Columbus and beating an undefeated No. 1 Ohio State would obviously have been the dream résumé win, but they’re still No. 6 and very much a marquee opponent. Michigan getting back into the poll helps Oregon’s future résumé too, assuming they keep winning.

So No. 18 sucks. There’s no sugarcoating it. But Oregon isn’t remotely out of anything yet. At this point the preseason ranking is irrelevant. They have to earn their way back up, and fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, the schedule gives them every opportunity to do exactly that.

Beat USC and we’re having a very different conversation on September 27.

Edited 5 hours ago5 hr by Krsmqn

Oops, I jumped to conclusions. That's the coaches poll, not the AP. Corrected

21 in the AP

Agree with the potential road ahead. But that hinges on a ton of stuff being fixed very quickly. Biggest obstacle right now is whether the coordinators grow up in 2 weeks. Right now it feels like a really tall order for them.

13 minutes ago, Log Haulin said:

21 in the AP

Both feel generous right now, given how they have played. Let's hope for the best moving forward.

How in the world are the Ducks ranked higher than Michigan who just beat a currently ranked team?

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. That said, we're lucky to be ranked at all the way we've played.

1 hour ago, Log Haulin said:

21 in the AP

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.

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.

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.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by noDucknewby

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

Reality check…at this point who are we better than on our schedule other than Portland State? Never thought I would ask that question.

35 minutes ago, DuckFan93 said:

Yay, we're now underdogs playing USC.

Good, another L for Riley in a game he is supposed to win.

As you can tell, I am drinking heavily from my half full glass.

4 hours ago, Steven A said:

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.

Wish I had put money on Boise St. I knew it would be a close game.