Oregon spent the opening stretch of the season looking like a national title machine. The Ducks built one of the priciest rosters in college football, and Dante Moore passed on a chance to be a top-10 NFL Draft pick so he could come back for another run at the College Football Playoff.
Now, less than two months later, that picture has completely flipped.
After a 17-15 loss to No. 21 UCLA, Oregon has a strong argument as the most disappointing team in the country. The Ducks’ margin for error is gone, and the path forward is suddenly razor thin.
The game itself was a mess from the start and only got worse. Backup quarterback Dylan Raiola, who had sparked Oregon in the Week 4 win at USC, was 6-of-19 for 43 yards with two interceptions before being benched in the second half.
The ground game never got going either, with Oregon averaging just 2.7 yards per carry. The Ducks managed only one conversion on 12 third-down tries and coughed the ball up seven times.
Even with all of that, Oregon still had a shot to force overtime. After a facemask penalty on UCLA, the Ducks got the ball with a chance to tie on a two-point conversion with just over two minutes left.
They needed one yard. Instead, Oregon’s offensive line got driven backward and Jordon Davison was stopped for no gain.
That ending fit the whole afternoon.
Raiola’s rough night was especially jarring because the setup had looked so promising. Moore was out with a concussion, but Oregon still had what looked, on paper, like the best backup quarterback in the nation.
Raiola had looked sharp against USC, completing 75% of his passes for 289 yards and two touchdowns in just over two quarters. With an open date to prepare for UCLA, the Ducks had every reason to feel good about the position.
Instead, the same issues that haunted Raiola at Nebraska showed up again. He was loose with the football, forced too much on several snaps and finished with two interceptions and a fumble while completing less than 33% of his throws.
Dan Lanning now has to answer for how an experienced quarterback looked so unready in his own stadium.
There’s at least one immediate benefit for Oregon: when Moore returns, the quarterback conversation should settle down. The Ducks are hoping that happens next week. If Moore is still unavailable, though, Lanning may have to turn to Brock Thomas, a senior and former three-star recruit.
The bigger question is whether the season can still be salvaged at all.
Nobody expected Oregon to be sitting at 3-2 on Oct. 10.
With the talent on this roster, losses to Oklahoma State and UCLA were not on the radar before Week 1. But that’s where the Ducks are, and if they want any shot at the College Football Playoff, they now have to run the table the rest of the way.
That means seven straight wins, starting with Nebraska next week. The Cornhuskers are coming off a crushing loss of their own, and Oregon follows that with games against Northwestern and Illinois - matchups the Ducks should win even if they’re not playing their best.
Here’s what remains on the schedule:
Oct. 17: vs. Nebraska
Oct. 24: at Illinois
Oct. 31: vs. Northwestern
Nov. 7: at Ohio State
Nov. 14: vs. Michigan
Nov. 20: Michigan State
Nov. 28: vs. Washington
If Moore gets healthy and looks like himself again, Oregon still has enough talent to overpower most of those opponents. Michigan has struggled to move the ball, and Washington is 3-3 after being hammered by Iowa.
That leaves the Nov. 7 trip to Ohio State as the hinge point. Right now, Oregon has shown nothing that suggests it can go into Columbus and beat the Buckeyes.
But the talent is there. At least in theory.
In Other News...
Nebraska's New-Look Roster Already Faces A Big Ten Readiness Test
Nebraskas revamped mens basketball roster got its first real look in an exhibition against St. Louis, and the night offered a useful reminder of how much the Cornhuskers still have to figure out before Big Ten play arrives. With eight newcomers joining seven returnees, the mix was still taking shape, even as freshman Jacob Lanier led Nebraska with 15 points in a 79-74 loss that gave Fred Hoiberg an early baseline for where his team stands.
The stat sheet was close enough to suggest the Huskers can compete, with both teams grabbing 41 rebounds, but Hoiberg said afterward that Nebraska was out-toughed. That kind of edge is exactly what exhibition games are supposed to expose, and for a roster built almost from scratch, the challenge now is turning individual promise into the kind of physical, connected play that travels in conference games. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Let Another Big Opportunity Slip Away Under Matt Rhule
Nebraska had another chance to turn a promising moment into something bigger Saturday, and again the chance slipped away. The Cornhuskers fell to No. 7 Indiana, 20-17, in a game that fit too neatly into a familiar pattern for a program still trying to climb back into the national conversation. The loss extended Nebraskas losing streak against top-25 opponents to 31 games, a run that underscores how hard it has been for the Huskers to cash in when the opponent is at its best.
For Matt Rhule, the frustration is starting to take on a historical edge. Nebraska has not beaten a top-seven team since 2015, and Rhule is still searching for his first win over a ranked opponent since arriving in Lincoln. The broader story around this team remains the same: competitive enough to stay in the fight, but not yet able to land the kind of signature victory that changes how the season is viewed. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Let Another Winnable Game Slip Away Under Matt Rhule
Nebraska had a real chance to leave Indiana with a result that would have felt like a statement, but the Cornhuskers let a winnable game slip away in a tight contest decided by a handful of fourth-quarter plays. The loss also snapped Indianas 22-game winning streak, a reminder that this was not some throwaway opponent or empty Saturday, but the kind of game Nebraska has to be able to finish if it wants to keep building under Matt Rhule.
Instead, the late moments belonged to Indiana, and Nebraska again found itself on the wrong side of a one-score game. It is the sort of defeat that lingers because the opportunity was there, the margin was thin, and the details in the final period made all the difference, leaving the Cornhuskers with another frustrating lesson about how small the gap is between progress and disappointment. [Read more 🡒]