Oregon’s first two games have delivered the same uncomfortable message: the Ducks can’t keep digging early holes and expect the comeback to save them every time.
After barely surviving Boise State in Week 1, Oregon took a far bigger hit on Saturday, falling to unranked Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Drew Mestemaker accounted for three total touchdowns as the Cowboys knocked off the No. 6 team in the country, and the result only sharpened the questions already hanging over Dan Lanning’s program.
The problems have shown up in almost the same shape both weeks. Oregon has started slowly on offense, and the defense has given too much back.
Against Boise State, the Ducks trailed 17-7 in the first half before Dante Moore settled in and helped flip the game. He finished with 378 yards and three touchdowns, but Oregon still spent too much of the night playing from behind.
Saturday followed a similar script, only with a worse ending. Oklahoma State led 17-7 and then 24-14 in the first half, while Moore again went through the opening two quarters without a touchdown pass. One of Oregon’s first-half scores came on a pick-six, which says plenty about how hard the offense had to work just to stay in range.
By the time Moore got going against the Cowboys, throwing two touchdown passes in the second half, Mestemaker was already rolling. Oregon was left trying to chase a quarterback who had found his rhythm and a game that had already started slipping away.
Moore’s final line was also a concern: he completed just 48.3% of his passes against Oklahoma State. For a team with Oregon’s talent, that kind of inefficiency is hard to ignore.
The Ducks have also been hurting themselves with flags. They were penalized 10 times in Week 1 and seven more times against Oklahoma State, giving them 17 penalties through two games.
But the defense is the biggest alarm bell of all. Oregon has now allowed 34 points to Boise State and 39 to Oklahoma State, both unranked opponents.
Maddux Madsen threw three touchdown passes against the Ducks, and Mestemaker followed with two through the air and one on the ground. Over two games, Oregon is giving up an average of 414 yards.
There’s also the reality that this is still a team working through changes on both sides of the ball. Oregon brought in two new coordinators under Lanning this offseason, after both of the 2025 coordinators left for head coaching jobs.
Drew Mehringer is now the offensive coordinator. He had been Oregon’s co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach from 2022-25 before getting the promotion.
Mehringer, 38, played quarterback at Rice and has worked on staffs at Houston, Rutgers, Texas, Florida Atlantic and New Mexico. His first full-time OC job came at Rutgers in 2016.
On defense, Chris Hampton took over after serving as co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach. He joined Oregon in 2023 after a second stint at Tulane as defensive coordinator. Hampton played safety at South Carolina and has also coached at Duke, McNeese State and Georgia Tech.
The departures that created those openings were significant. Tosh Lupoi, Oregon’s defensive coordinator from 2022-25, left to become California’s head coach. Will Stein, the Ducks’ offensive coordinator from 2023-25, took the Kentucky job in the 2026 cycle for his first head coaching position.
The numbers from the opening stretch are hard to spin. Oregon has scored just 10 first-quarter points across two games, gone 0-6 on fourth down, and is still searching for cleaner starts and sharper execution.
The schedule does not offer much room to breathe. Oregon hosts Portland State on Sept. 18, then heads to USC on Sept.
- The Ducks also have UCLA, Nebraska, Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Washington still ahead.
In Other News...
Oregons Loss Just Put Dan Lannings Staff Under Real Pressure
A loss to Oklahoma State would have stung on its own, but the way Oregon got beat made it feel bigger than just one bad afternoon. The Ducks were outgained and outworked, and when a team comes away looking second-best in multiple phases against an opponent that had been on a long losing streak, the questions tend to land on the sideline fast. For Dan Lanning, the concern is not just the result, but how clearly it pointed back to the coaching operation around him.
The pressure is sharper because Oregon already spent the offseason replacing both coordinators after the 2025 season, then elevated internal options who had not run a staff at this level before. On paper, continuity was supposed to help smooth the transition. On the field, the Ducks looked disjointed enough to make the staff look like the bigger issue than the roster, and now the challenge is whether those promotions can hold up when the margin for error is gone. [Read more 🡒]
Georgia Tech Just Got Pulled Into A Brutal Week 2 Debate
Week 2 did more than reshuffle the college football conversation for a few teams, it created a list of people who suddenly look as if they are carrying some of the early season blame. Georgia Techs rough opening stretch, Rutgers slow start under Greg Schiano, John Mateers uneven showing for Oklahoma, Ohio States inability to close against Texas under Ryan Day and Oregons flawed performance under Dan Lanning all fed into a broader debate about who took the biggest hit when the games got real.
For Oregon, the frustration is less about one bad afternoon than the way the Ducks have already invited scrutiny around a roster that was supposed to set a tone early. Dan Lannings group came out of Week 2 with more questions than a team in its position wants, and in a season where September judgments can linger, that kind of performance travels fast. The bigger issue now is whether this was a one-off stumble or the first sign that the Ducks margin for error is thinner than expected. [Read more 🡒]
Kenyon Sadiq Just Sent Oregon Fans A Familiar Reminder
The early buzz around Kenyon Sadiq got a jolt right away Sunday, as the former Oregon tight end made his first NFL drive count in a way Ducks fans know well. Drafted by the New York Jets, Sadiq reached the end zone on a rushing touchdown against the Tennessee Titans and added a 7-yard catch, a quick reminder that his game has always carried more than the usual tight end profile.
What stood out most was how naturally he seemed to fit into the offense with Geno Smith, a promising sign for a rookie still carving out his role. Oregon supporters remember Sadiq as a highly ranked recruit who stacked up both receiving and rushing production in college, and his first professional snaps suggested the Jets may already have found a creative way to use him. [Read more 🡒]