This was supposed to be the year.
The Oregon Ducks started the 2026 college football season as a consensus top-five team under head coach Dan Lanning. They brought back Dante Moore and added Dylan Raiola, a former starter at Nebraska, as a backup quarterback. They had a highly-paid roster full of former top recruits, along with impactful transfer portal additions. They were coming off back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances with a combined 26-3 record across the regular and postseason in 2024-2025.
Some suggested it was the best team Oregon’s ever had. Almost immediately, however, the Ducks started taking on water. Boise State nearly pulled off the upset in Eugene in week one. Then Oklahoma State finished their upset bid in week two behind a dominant offensive performance.
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DAN LANNING BLASTS USC AFTER OREGON’S WIN, AS LINCOLN RILEY OFFICIALLY ENTERS HOT SEAT IN LA
After an 84-0 shellacking of Portland State, the Ducks went into Los Angeles for a pivotal game against USC at the Coliseum and finally seemed to turn the corner. When Moore left the game after an awful hit from a USC linebacker, Raiola stepped up and looked even better. Moore went 19-25 for 289 yards and two touchdowns, helping secure a 41-27 win to seemingly save Oregon’s season.
Lanning took the opportunity after the win to make a statement about the Ducks’ program and where their focus lies.
“I guess if you’re interested in winning football games and you’re from this area, you should go to Oregon,” Lanning said, referring to high school players from the Los Angeles and Southern California area. “If you want to go to a Chris Brown concert, you should go here.”
Fast-forward two weeks and Lanning’s words immediately came back to bite him.
Oregon head coach Dan Lanning stands on the field during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Southern California on Saturday, Sept. 26, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
The Ducks on Saturday hosted UCLA under first-year head coach Bob Chesney. The Bruins, after years of mediocrity, have looked dramatically improved thus far in 2026, though against overmatched opponents like Cal, Purdue, and Maryland. Saturday marked their first test, a road game in one of the toughest environments in college football, against a team with aspirations of reaching and winning the College Football Playoff.
For Lanning, it was an opportunity to back up his statement, that if you want to play winning football, you come to Oregon. They lost.
The Ducks played one of the sloppiest games from any program in recent memory, somehow managing to turn the ball over an incredible seven times. They had five lost fumbles, and recovered the ball on a sixth fumble. Raiola was so awful, going 6-19 for 43 yards and two interceptions, that Lanning benched him for third stringer Brock Thomas.
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Quarterback Dylan Raiola of the Oregon Ducks throws the ball in the first half against the USC Trojans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Sept. 26, 2026, in Los Angeles, Calif. (Getty Images)
Oregon’s first quarter on offense was remarkable. Four plays for 22 yards and a punt, a one-yard touchdown drive after a Nico Iamaleava fumble, three plays for zero yards, and four plays for 20. 12 plays for 43 yards, and it got worse from there. Much worse.
Here’s the drive chart for Oregon’s second quarter:
- 3 plays for 27 yards, fumble
- 3 plays for 1 yard, fumble
- 3 plays for 4 yards, punt
- 3 plays for -5 yards, punt
- 3 plays for -4 yards, interception
- 1 play for 2 yards, end of half
16 plays for 25 yards, two punts, two fumbles, and an interception.
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The Ducks did pick up more yards in the third quarter though, going three plays for two yards, four plays for 22 yards and a fumble, and two plays for seven yards and another pick. That’s 31 total yards and only two turnovers instead of three. Progress!
While Oregon did have a better run in the fourth quarter, working around another fumble to kick a field goal and finally score their second touchdown of the game with 2:16 remaining, the two-point conversion attempt to tie the score at 17-17 failed.
Fittingly, the game ended on Oregon fumbling while trying to run a series of laterals down the field as time expired. As Lanning said, “If you care about winning games, and you’re from LA, come to Oregon.” Or apparently UCLA.
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It’s hard to imagine an uglier game and result, for any team, let alone one that started the season in the top-5 with realistic hopes of winning a National Championship. Obviously, Moore being out hurt the Ducks’ offense, but seven turnovers? Only 272 yards, at home, against a UCLA team that unquestionably has inferior talent?
At one point, Oregon went six straight drives without picking up a first down. At one point, excluding the end of the second quarter, the Ducks turned the ball over on six out of nine drives. That is … remarkable.
Head Coach Dan Lanning of the Oregon Ducks prepares for a play as his team takes the field during the second half of the game against the Boise State Broncos at Autzen Stadium on September 5, 2026 in Eugene, Oregon. (Photo by Ali Gradischer/Getty Images) (Ali Gradischer/Getty Images)
From 2023-2025, Lanning built Oregon into one of the most consistent teams in the country. They were 38-5, and went undefeated in their first season in the Big Ten to secure the number one overall seed in the 2024-2025 playoff. For most of that run, his teams were seen as well coached and disciplined.
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Yet it’s impossible to watch a team commit seven turnovers and lose a game, at home, in that fashion, and come away with the impression that they’re well coached. How the USC game played out the way it did seems to be a serious indictment of the job Lincoln Riley and Gary Patterson did in Los Angeles. But for recruits or the unfortunate fans at Autzen Stadium, maybe they should have gone to a Chris Brown concert instead.