Oregon came into this season carrying all the weight of a national title favorite, and the roster looked the part. Dante Moore, A'Mauri Washington and Matayo Uiagalelei all passed on the NFL Draft to chase a championship run, and the Ducks backed that up by going all-in on retention, recruiting and the Transfer Portal.
That’s what makes the 3-2 start sting even more. After the embarrassing home loss to UCLA, Oregon’s playoff path isn’t mathematically closed, but the margin for error is gone. The Ducks would have to run the table from here, and based on what they’ve shown so far, that feels like a brutal ask.
This isn’t a talent problem. Oregon has the pieces. The issue is how those pieces have been used, and that starts with Dan Lanning.
Lanning had two coordinators leave for head-coaching jobs this offseason, which always puts a staff in a tough spot. But with this much talent on hand, Oregon could have gone shopping for one of the best offensive coordinators available to help Dante Moore. Instead, Lanning chose to promote Drew Mehringer from within.
That kind of move has worked before under Lanning, but this time it hasn’t come close to matching the impact of the hires that brought in Kenny Dillingham and Will Stein. And right now, it’s the clearest reason this roster has underachieved.
The offense has had trouble getting out of the gate all season, and after the bye week, that problem showed up again. UCLA is a team that can run the ball at will, so Oregon needed a sharp start.
Instead, the only early spark came when the defense recovered a fumble at the 1-yard line. Otherwise, it took 49 + minutes for the Ducks to score on offense.
The bigger concern is that Mehringer either doesn’t know how to get his best weapons involved, or doesn’t press the issue enough to do it. Dakorien Moore is plainly Oregon’s most dangerous player after the catch, yet there was no real push to feature him early. Jamari Johnson is the kind of matchup problem defenses have to work around, but the Ducks didn’t get him the ball until the 58th minute.
Even then, Oregon still had a chance to drag the game to overtime. The Ducks scored a late touchdown with their 3rd string quarterback, but one earlier decision came back to haunt them.
Because Oregon had already gone for a 2-point conversion earlier in the game, it needed another one just to tie it. Two uncreative play calls left the Bruins still in front.
Maybe Mehringer eventually finds a rhythm as a playcaller. But Oregon may not have that kind of time. Dante Moore, A'Mauri Washington, Matayo Uiagalelei, Evan Stewart, Jamari Johnson and plenty of others are set to move on after this season, and replacing that level of talent is no easy job.
In Other News...
Big Ten Weighs In On Controversial Ending To UCLAs Biggest Win
UCLAs 17-15 road win over Oregon already had the feel of a game that would linger, mostly because the Bruins leaned on their defense and left the Ducks chasing a result that slipped away in the fourth quarter. The finish turned on a sequence that had everyone in Autzen looking twice, as Oregon came up short on two separate two-point tries while trying to keep pace in a one-possession game.
The postgame conversation only grew louder once the Big Ten acknowledged an officiating error on the spot of the ball for the second conversion attempt and released a statement saying it had reviewed the play and remains committed to consistent rule application. For Oregon, that does not change the result, but it does add another layer to a loss that will be replayed for a long time whenever the Ducks look back at how close they came. [Read more 🡒]
Oregons Biggest Early Problem Starts With A Troubling Offensive Line Miss
Oregons early-season offensive problems have been easy to see and even easier to trace back to the front five. The Ducks have not gotten the run game going the way they expected, and the pass protection has been shaky enough to make life harder on backup quarterback Dylan Raiola, even with talented backs in the room. It has left a roster that should be able to move the ball looking out of sync in the one area that usually gives a team its identity.
Dan Lanning has already acknowledged the evaluation miss, saying the staff believed too much in its in-house offensive line talent after losing key pieces and did not lean enough on the transfer portal to patch the group. For Oregon, that is the uncomfortable part: this is not just about one bad game or one bad stretch, but about a foundational issue that can ripple through everything the Ducks want to do on offense. The line has to stabilize first, and until it does, the rest of the attack is stuck waiting. [Read more 🡒]
Nebraska Has A Dylan Raiola Reunion Brewing With One Big Catch
With Dante Moore still in concussion protocol, Oregon is heading into its matchup with Nebraska with the quarterback picture unsettled, and that naturally puts Dylan Raiola back in the spotlight. The backup arrived with plenty of buzz and has already shown the range that comes with being thrust into a bigger role, following a strong showing against USC before a rough night in the loss to UCLA.
Raiolas next chance could come against the school he once called home, which gives this game a little extra weight even before the kickoff. For Oregon, it is less about the reunion angle than the practical question of who will be under center, and that uncertainty leaves the Ducks waiting on a decision that could shape the way this trip unfolds. [Read more 🡒]