Oregon’s loss to Oklahoma State came with another concern attached: the status of starting tight end Jamari Johnson.
Johnson did not dress in full pads and was sidelined for Saturday’s game, forcing the Ducks to start Andrew Olesh at tight end instead. After the upset, coach Dan Lanning gave a short update on Johnson and left the door open on when he might be back.
"Yeah, Jamari really got banged up in the last game, and we'll see where he's at this week in practice."
That puts Johnson’s week-to-week status in focus as Oregon moves on to Portland State and then into its first Big Ten Conference game of the season, a road trip to No. 14 USC. With the Trojans next on the schedule, Johnson’s availability could loom large for a Ducks offense that struggled badly against the Cowboys.
Johnson had already shown what he can bring to the passing game against Boise State, when he caught four passes for 57 yards and scored a key touchdown for quarterback Dante Moore. He finished 2025 with 32 receptions for 510 yards and three touchdowns while playing behind former Ducks tight end Kenyon Sadiq. His choice to pass on the 2026 NFL Draft and return to Eugene may have been overshadowed by other return decisions, but his absence was still felt in the Oklahoma State loss.
Oregon’s offense managed just 281 yards against Oklahoma State, while the Cowboys piled up 554. Dakorien Moore and Evan Stewart each found the end zone through the air, but no Oregon pass catcher reached 100 receiving yards. Freshman Messiah Hampton was third on the team with 31 receiving yards.
The ground game never found a rhythm either. Oregon finished with 90 rushing yards and averaged 3.0 yards per carry. The Ducks also hurt themselves with penalties, committing seven for 66 yards while Oklahoma State was flagged just twice.
Lanning said the Ducks have to clean up the way they practice and adjust more quickly once games start.
"We didn't execute well enough. I think there has to be a higher temperament in practice, a higher level of focus in practice for us to be able to execute.
And then we have to be faster making adjustments throughout the game. People are going to play us differently at times.
They did a great job on both sides of the ball of playing us a little bit differently, and we have to make adjustments quickly."
Oregon’s defense did give the offense chances by forcing turnovers and creating short fields, but the Ducks could not build enough momentum to erase the deficit and avoid the upset.
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On the other side, Oregon coach Dan Lanning spent the postgame sorting through a game that never felt clean for his team, from defensive issues to execution problems to the difficulty of playing in that environment. From Oklahoma States perspective, the broader takeaway is even more interesting than the final result: the Cowboys did not just beat a ranked opponent, they appeared to discover something about what this offense can be when the pieces are in the right place. The next question is whether that newly sharpened identity shows up again when the schedule demands it. [Read more 🡒]
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Oklahoma State Just Delivered The Kind Of Win Cowboys Fans Needed
Week 2 across the Big 12 had its share of statement results, but Oklahoma States stood out for a different reason: it finally gave Cowboys fans a win that felt like proof of life against a major opponent. The league was full of lopsided games and hard-fought finishes, yet the Cowboys were the ones who walked away with the kind of victory that can change the tone around a program, especially after the frustration of recent seasons against Power Four competition.
The matchup with Oregon carried extra weight because it came against a ranked opponent, and Oklahoma State handled it in a way that suggested more than just a lucky afternoon. The Cowboys were able to lean on a productive ground game and enough overall balance to keep Oregon under pressure, leaving the bigger question now centered on whether this can be the start of something more stable rather than just one uplifting result. [Read more 🡒]