Week 2 of the 2026 NFL season gave former Oregon Ducks a mixed bag, and the results split cleanly between a few bright spots and some rough reminders that September can be unforgiving.
Bucky Irving was one of the weekend’s steadier performers. After opening the year with a strong showing in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 33-27 road loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, the former Ducks running back came back with another productive game in Tampa Bay’s home opener against the Cleveland Browns.
That game included a nearly two-hour weather delay at the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter, but Irving kept rolling anyway. He led the Buccaneers on the ground again, finishing with 17 carries for 89 yards in the team’s 23-19 loss.
The 0-2 start is not what Irving or the Buccaneers wanted, and Todd Bowles’ seat has only gotten hotter after a defeat to a Browns team many expect to be picking in the top five of the 2027 NFL Draft.
Irving’s path to the league has already made him a notable success story. After two seasons at Oregon from 2022 to 2023, he was taken No. 125 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft as an overlooked running back prospect. In Eugene, he put up 2,238 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns.
Bo Nix also landed on the winners side of the ledger. After Denver was hammered 31-10 by the Kansas City Chiefs in its season opener on Monday night, the Broncos answered with a hard-fought 20-13 home win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Nix looked far sharper than he did against Kansas City, completing 22 of 31 passes for 288 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He also connected with former Ducks wide receiver Troy Franklin on a spectacular one-handed catch.
Troy Franklin making a TOUGH one-handed catch 👀 🦆 The Oregon connection pic.twitter.com/45sMT2mmNz
For a Broncos team carrying Super Bowl expectations, that response mattered. Denver now turns to a Week 3 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football.
Nix’s Oregon story still sits at the center of his rise, too. After a rocky run with the Auburn Tigers, he transferred to Oregon in 2022, spent two seasons with the Ducks, and became a Heisman Trophy finalist in 2023.
During that stretch, he threw for 8,101 yards, 74 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Oregon coach Dan Lanning played a pivotal role in that development.
Justin Herbert, though, was on the other end of the spectrum. The Los Angeles Chargers entered the season with Super Bowl hopes, but through two games they have not looked the part.
They lost to the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders, two teams that finished near the bottom of the NFL last season, and the offense has managed just 28 points while both losses came by double digits. In Sunday’s defeat, Herbert threw for 192 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions.
The schedule isn’t doing the Chargers any favors either. Their next five games include road trips to the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 27, the Seattle Seahawks on Oct. 4, the Kansas City Chiefs on Oct. 18, and the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 1, plus a home game against the Broncos on Oct. 11.
Herbert has handled difficult stretches before. During his four seasons at Oregon from 2016 to 2019, he led the Ducks to the Rose Bowl in his final year. Now the question is whether he and the Chargers can regroup fast enough to stay in the AFC contender conversation.
In Other News...
Oregon Got Snubbed In A Game That Deserved Bigger Attention
ESPNs choice to take College GameDay to Knoxville for Texas-Tennessee left Oregon-USC in an odd spot, because the Ducks and Trojans were shaping up as one of the weekends most watchable matchups. A Big Ten meeting between two programs with real name value, prominent coaches and the kind of celebrity-heavy fan bases that draw eyes well beyond the conference race should have been enough to make this feel like a showcase game on the national stage.
Instead, Oregon and USC will have to settle for proving the point on the field, even if the spotlight is coming from somewhere else. The game is sold out, which only sharpens the contrast with some of USCs recent home crowds and underscores why this one carried so much appeal in the first place. For Oregon, it is another reminder that the Ducks new Big Ten life is already producing games with major stakes, even when the pregame attention goes elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Just Got A New Quarterback Question Behind Dante Moore
Dylan Raiolas first appearance in an Oregon uniform came in a low-stress spot against Portland State, but it still offered a useful glimpse of why the Ducks were eager to have him back in the mix. Recovering from a fibula fracture, the former Nebraska transfer handled the entire third quarter and looked sharp throughout, finishing 11 for 11 for 124 yards and three touchdowns while showing the kind of rhythm Oregon had been waiting to see.
For Dan Lanning, and for Dante Moore, the bigger takeaway went beyond the box score. Raiolas work in practice and the way he carried it into game action gave the Ducks a credible new option behind Moore, one that adds another layer to a quarterback room already under the microscope. For a team with bigger goals ahead, having another passer who can step in and look this comfortable is the sort of development worth watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
Ole Miss Just Forced A Poll Question Fans Will Love
Oregons 84-0 rout of Portland State gave the Ducks the kind of clean Saturday their resume could afford, but the bigger conversation around the AP Top 25 may have been happening elsewhere. Ole Miss win over LSU turned a packed weekend of close calls and upsets into one of those polls that is suddenly impossible to sort neatly, with Alabama, USC, Texas Tech and Texas A&M all part of the mix shaping what voters do next.
For Oregon, the interest is less about style points than about where the Ducks land when the dust settles and how much room there is for movement above and around them. With more notable games still ahead and a few teams making strong cases to jump into the rankings, the next poll could bring a few surprises that make last weekends scoreboard feel even more consequential than it already does. [Read more 🡒]