Dan Lanning has a mess on his hands, and the timing could hardly be worse.
Oregon walked into Stillwater as a 23.5-point favorite and walked out with a 39-31 loss to Oklahoma State, a result that landed as one of the most shocking upsets of the college football season. The Ducks were supposed to be past this kind of afternoon. They began the year No. 2 in the AP poll, had crushed Oklahoma State 69-3 last season and entered Saturday 36-0 against unranked teams under Lanning.
Instead, they were stunned by a Cowboys team that finished 1-11 a year ago, carried a 21-game losing streak against FBS opponents into the game and had already opened this season with a 24-10 loss at Tulsa. ESPN said Oklahoma State became the first team in the sport’s history to snap a 10+ game losing streak by defeating a top-10 opponent.
For Oregon, that makes this more than just a bad loss. It is a wrecking ball to the Ducks’ College Football Playoff hopes unless they respond the way Notre Dame did after its own early-season shocker in 2024.
Marcus Freeman’s Irish were No. 5 when they lost 16-14 to Northern Illinois in Week 2, dropped to No. 18 and then ripped off 13 straight wins on the way to the national title game. That is the blueprint Oregon now has to chase.
The problem is that the Ducks already showed some real warning signs in the first two weeks, and Saturday only made them harder to ignore. The staff overhaul matters here.
Lanning lost Tosh Lupoi, who coordinated his first four defenses before taking the California job, and Will Stein, who ran the offense for three years before Kentucky hired him as its head coach. In their place, Lanning elevated Drew Mehringer on offense and Chris Hampton on defense.
That move looked like a clean handoff for a program coming off back-to-back 13-win seasons. It did not look clean in Stillwater.
Oregon’s offense never really settled in. Dante Moore, who passed on what would have been a likely top-10 selection in the 2026 NFL Draft, finished 14 of 29 passing. A week after Oregon barely survived Boise State while converting just 4 of 15 on third and fourth downs, the Ducks were just 5 of 17 on those critical downs against Oklahoma State.
The Cowboys controlled the game more than the score suggests. They nearly doubled Oregon in total yards, 554-281, and held the Ducks to only one trip inside the red zone. Oregon got 14 points directly off two Oklahoma State interceptions, and even that wasn’t enough to avoid a late mistake of its own, with a fumble under two minutes left helping decide the finish.
There were other cracks, too. Oregon’s offensive line, billed as one of the best in the Big Ten and maybe the country, gave up four sacks to an Oklahoma State defense that had not recorded one against Tulsa in Week 1. Moore had not completed fewer than 60% of his passes in any game last season, even while dealing with injuries around him, but this time he never found a rhythm with a deeper receiving group and a returning backfield.
That also puts his decision to return under a brighter spotlight. The source of the question is simple: should he have entered the draft instead of coming back for a new play-caller and a 2027 quarterback class that looks stronger?
That debate can wait. Right now, Oregon has to deal with the damage from Saturday.
And the road ahead does not offer much comfort. The Ducks still have road games at No.
14 USC and No. 1 Ohio State, a season-ending matchup with No.
19 Washington, and a Nov. 14 home game against unranked Michigan that suddenly looks tougher after the Wolverines beat No. 11 Oklahoma on Saturday.
Those games could be salvation, or they could turn this into a season that slips away fast.
Brad Crawford’s CFP outlook was blunt: Oregon’s loss at Oklahoma State could be fatal to its playoff chances if the Ducks drop multiple Big Ten games, especially with so little margin for error and so many issues to clean up on both sides of the ball. The Cowboys entered the day after losing to Tulsa, so this gives Oregon a résumé blemish with no upside at all. If the Ducks do not fix things quickly, their playoff path may be gone before November.
In Other News...
Oklahomas O-Line Gets Another Michigan Test Bill Bedenbaugh Must Solve
Oklahoma heads into its Week 2 matchup with Michigan with a familiar mix of relief and uncertainty along the offensive line. Starting center Jake Maikkula is back after recovering from a knee injury, and sophomore Ryan Fodje is set to return at left tackle, giving the Sooners some much-needed stability in front of the quarterback.
Still, the group is not whole. Michael Fasusi is expected to miss the game because of a shoulder injury, which pushes true freshman Noah Best into a start at right guard and leaves Bill Bedenbaugh once again sorting through the pieces. The line coach has already earned praise for the way he has managed the changes, but Michigan presents another early test of just how well those adjustments hold up. [Read more 🡒]
How Much Has Really Changed For OU Since That Michigan Loss
Oklahomas season has already moved well beyond the sting of that loss to Michigan, but the matchup still lingers as a useful marker for how far the Sooners have come. Since then, Brent Venables team has climbed to a 10-3 finish and earned a College Football Playoff berth, with wins over Tennessee and Alabama helping define a year that looked nothing like the uncertainty that surrounded the program earlier.
Michigan, meanwhile, has been sorting through its own next chapter with first-year quarterback Bryce Underwood at the center of it. His debut season gave the Wolverines a new direction, and Oklahomas side of the ledger only makes the question more interesting as both programs head into 2026: how much of that meeting actually still matters, and how much has changed since then? [Read more 🡒]
Sooners Protection Plan Just Changed Ahead Of Michigan
Oklahomas offensive line picture looks a little steadier heading into the Michigan game, with Jake Maikkula and Ryan Fodje expected to be available after sitting out the season opener. That matters for a Sooners offense that needs as many healthy pieces as possible in front of the quarterback, especially with the schedule tightening and the competition level about to jump.
Michael Fasusi, though, is not in the same spot after re-aggravating a shoulder injury, so the protection plan is still not fully settled. There is some good news elsewhere on the depth chart, with Danny Okoye expected back on the defensive side and Parker Livingstone cleared through concussion protocol, but Oklahoma will still be sorting through the implications of those line changes before facing Michigan. [Read more 🡒]