The sting from Oregon’s 39-31 loss to Oklahoma State is still fresh, and it has already pushed the Ducks into an uncomfortable place in the early bowl picture.
After entering 2026 with national championship hopes and a No. 2 ranking, Oregon is now 1-1, sitting outside the top 20 and no longer projected into the 12-team College Football Playoff bracket. ESPN’s latest bowl projections from Kyle Bonagura and Mark Schlabach both have the Ducks headed to the Alamo Bowl after Week 2.
Bonagura slots Oregon against Kansas State, while Schlabach projects a meeting with Houston. It is hardly where Ducks fans expected to be after the return of quarterback Dante Moore and several other key players who chose to come back instead of entering the NFL.
The setback looks even bigger because of who beat Oregon. Oklahoma State had not beaten an FBS opponent since Sept. 14, 2024, and came into the game off a 24-10 loss to Tulsa. That’s why this result could carry major CFP consequences, even if Oregon drops only one more game, finishes 10-2, and still misses the Big Ten championship game again.
The manner of the loss is adding to the concern. Oregon gave up 554 total yards, a rough number for a team that was supposed to have one of the nation’s best defenses. The Ducks did get a pair of first-half red-zone interceptions, including a 96-yard return by linebacker Devon Jackson, and without those plays the final margin could have looked much worse.
The schedule still gives Oregon plenty of chances to recover, but the margin for error is thin. The Ducks have three marquee top-25 games left: No.
12 USC on Sept. 26, No.
6 Ohio State on Oct. 31, and No. 19 Michigan on Nov.
- The USC and Ohio State games are on the road, and Oregon will likely need to win two of those three to reach the CFP for a third straight season.
Even that may not be enough if the Ducks stumble elsewhere. Road games against Illinois on Oct. 24 and Michigan State on Nov. 20 could turn into trap spots.
For now, Oregon turns to Friday night’s home game against Portland State at Autzen Stadium. The Ducks have a chance to reset against the FCS Vikings, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. PT and the game airing on the Big Ten Network.
The Alamo Bowl would not be unfamiliar territory for Oregon, though the history is mixed. The Ducks have played there three times and are 1-2, with the lone win coming on Dec. 30, 2013, against Texas. Their last appearance came in 2021, when they lost 47-32 to Oklahoma under former coach Mario Cristobal.
There is also the Alamo Bowl game Oregon fans would rather not revisit: the Jan. 2, 2016, collapse against TCU. The Ducks led 31-0 at halftime before falling 47-41 in triple overtime, a defeat that marked the beginning of the end of the Mark Helfrich era in Eugene. The next season, Oregon finished 4-8.
In Other News...
UCLA Snap Trends Reveal Who Bruins Already Trust Most
Through the first two weeks of the UCLA football season, the snap counts have already shown where the Bruins are most comfortable leaning. Brian Rowe has been a key part of the passing game, appearing in more than half of the offenses snaps, while the offensive line has settled into a clear rotation built around heavy usage from Schmidt and Jordan Davis. The early signs point to a unit that has found stability up front, especially in run blocking, which is often where a coaching staffs trust shows up first.
On the other side of the ball, Hartford has become just as important in the secondary, working nearly every defensive snap and helping cover for the absence of an injured teammate. Those usage patterns say a lot about how UCLA is sorting out its core pieces this early in the season, but they also raise a familiar question for any staff trying to build depth: how long can the Bruins keep asking the same players to carry so much of the load before the rest of the rotation has to answer? [Read more 🡒]
UCLAs 2-0 Start Comes With One Clear Concern Fans Cant Ignore
UCLAs 2-0 start has the kind of early-season polish any team would take, especially after a 28-10 win over San Diego State in Week Two. The defense again did plenty of the heavy lifting, with linebackers Jalen Woods and Sammy Omosigho standing out and Hartford helping keep the Aztecs from getting much going through the air. Woods also came up with a key interception, another reminder that the Bruins have had no trouble finding impact plays on that side of the ball.
The bigger question sits on offense, where Nico Iamaleava has not yet had many chances to settle in as a passer and has already thrown a costly interception. With the receiver group dealing with injuries, Semaj Morgan has been asked to step into a larger role and has responded, but the passing game still looks like the place where UCLA has the most room to grow. A 2-0 start gives the Bruins breathing room, but it also makes the contrast easier to see, and it is the one concern fans are unlikely to ignore for long. [Read more 🡒]
UCLA Fans Have A New Reason To Watch The 2027 Class This Week
UCLA fans checking in on the 2027 class got a nice reminder this week that the Bruins are already collecting defenders who can swing a game. Linebacker commit Mike Davis Jr. turned in a huge outing for Mater Dei, finishing with eight tackles, three tackles for loss and a sack in a tight 10-9 win over Corona Centennial, the kind of performance that shows why he has become such an intriguing part of UCLAs future.
Davis also delivered the play that changed the shape of the night, coming up with a fourth-quarter interception that helped set up Mater Deis game-winning touchdown. He was hardly the only UCLA commit making noise, either, with other pledges coming off strong recent performances as the Bruins 2027 group continues to build momentum, and there are more chances ahead with another slate of games on the calendar for those recruits this week. [Read more 🡒]