Instead of disappointing me with a soul-crushing defeat late in the season, this year Oregon football did it early

The title of this blog post is the only bright spot I can come up with after #6 Oregon lost to unranked Oklahoma State 39-31 in Stillwater, which has to be one of the happiest places on Earth right now — given that this was the first time in FBS history that a team which had lost ten games in a row defeated a top 10 team.

Oregon was a three-touchdown favorite. They were lucky the score was this close, since 14 of the Ducks’ 31 points came courtesy of the defense. Oregon was outplayed in every aspect: offense, defense, coaching, quarterback. Oklahoma State even played “Shout” after the game was over, a Ducks tradition between the 3rd and 4th quarters.

I bet Oklahoma State outdanced Oregon players. It was that kind of game. The photo above shows the Oklahoma State quarterback leaping into the end zone for a touchdown over an Oregon defender. Perfect illustration of how the game went.

Thankfully, Oregon State looked great in narrowly losing to #13 Texas Tech. Oregon State is on an upward trajectory, while Oregon is in a football free fall. Having wasted three hours of my life watching the Oregon – Oklahoma State game today, I don’t want to spend additional time bemoaning how horrible the Ducks are playing.

So I’ll let a talented Oregonian sportswriter, Bill Oram, say what I’m feeling in words that are way more skillfully crafted than anything I could come up with. Here’s what Oram said in “The charmed coaching life of Dan Lanning takes a bit hit with loss to Oklahoma State.” Wonderfully said, Mr. Oram.

The next time a person declares, “Stranger things have happened…”

This is the thing they are referring to.

The next time someone utters, “That is why they play the games…”

This is what they mean.

And the next time anyone claims that Oregon has its best team ever and that this year, finally, is the year the Ducks will win it all…

Run.

Don’t fall for it.

The Ducks can’t be trusted.

This time, they just didn’t wait until January to tell us.

The most-heralded team in school history, the most expensive and most expectant, just suffered the most inexplicable loss in 132 years of football at the University of Oregon. One week after opening the season ranked a program-best No. 2 in the country, the Ducks fell flat on their face, losing 39-31, against Oklahoma State.

It was like they had 11 doormen playing defense. And something other than a Heisman Trophy candidate at quarterback.

Next week’s opponent, Portland State, is licking its chops. Because if Oklahoma State could do that, then why can’t the Viks?

Kidding. I think.

This, after all, was the same Oklahoma State that had lost 12 straight games and 21 in a row to Football Bowl Subdivision opponents.

The one that Oregon humiliated 69-3 a year ago in Eugene.

That entered the day as 24 ½ point home underdogs.

That managed only 10 points a week earlier in a loss against Tulsa.

But believe it or not, this is not about Oklahoma State. It is about the Ducks and the systemic issues that consistently lead to disappointment, even if that disappointment has never looked quite like this.

Through his four-plus years at the helm at Oregon, Dan Lanning has seemingly had a guardian angel. He has narrowly dodged disaster at Texas Tech and Wisconsin, at home against Boise State twice and once against second-tier Idaho.

How did the Ducks beat Penn State last year? How in the world did they beat Iowa?

Lanning has stacked so many wins — Saturday was expected to be his 50th — while managing to limit his losses primarily to teams that play for national championships, that he has been immune from the criticism that is typically part and parcel for coaches who are consistently embarrassed in playoff moments.

Lanning has sidestepped that by avoiding losses precisely like the one he took on Saturday.

One has to wonder if what we witnessed at Boone Pickens Stadium was not just a horrific loss, but also the breaking of Lanning’s spell.

Bippity, boppity, oops.

There is no rational explanation for the Ducks’ being so badly outplayed by a mediocre opponent that doesn’t begin with the Ducks being unprepared.

It is undeniable at this point that he is a better hang than a gridiron tactician.

Add Oklahoma State’s wunderkind head coach Eric Morris to the list of coaches who have outdueled Lanning, a list that includes not just Ryan Day (and his offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly), Curt Cignetti and Kalen DeBoer, but also Jonathan Smith. I’d add Spencer Danielson, Jason Eck, Kirk Ferentz and Joey McGuire to that list, as well, even if they came in losses.

The Ducks’ shortcomings are a reflection of more coaches than just Lanning, of course, but he is responsible for those he hires.

The decision to internally promote inexperienced coordinators as his top lieutenants will go down as his most analyzed call — even more so than the bonkers things he does on fourth downs.

Drew Mehringer and Chris Hampton so far are not filling the shoes of Will Stein and Tosh Lupoi, who parlayed their success at Oregon into power conference head jobs.

Turns out, they got out just in time.

You would be hard-pressed to find a more stunning upset between power conference teams. And you won’t find a worse loss in the history of Oregon football. The 1994 Ducks lost at Hawaii the year they went on to make the Rose Bowl, but the expectations then were not what they were coming into this season.

Nor was the investment.

This is a gut check moment for Oregon, top to bottom. For the coaches, the administration and, most critically, the boosters fulfilling the ever-expanding demands for greater resources under the guise that it will buy success.

College football right now is the most transactional sport that has ever existed, much more so than professional sports.

Here you are supposed to get what you pay for.

Oklahoma State spent a reported $7 million on Drew Mestemaker — ironic given Mike Gundy’s belly-aching over Oregon’s NIL investment leading into last year’s matchup — and in the biggest game on the Cowboys’ schedule, he was worth every penny, beating the Ducks with his feet, arm and mind.

Oregon’s highly touted defense gave up 554 yards of offense, including 353 yards in the first half. If not for a pair of spectacular individual efforts on interceptions by Devon Jackson and Matayo Uiagalelei, the Ducks would have been blown out.

This extravagant roster, loaded with NFL talent, already looks like a bad investment and I wonder if Phil Knight isn’t holding his checkbook a little tighter today.

Playing behind a leaky offensive line, Dante Moore almost certainly wishes he had taken the $50 million in compensation for having to play for the New York Jets.

Unimpeachable quarterback play has been the key to Lanning’s success. Talented as he is, Moore is not the reliable presence that Bo Nix was. Nor is he as poised as Dillon Gabriel.

And no matter how this season turns out, next year’s roster will cost even more. And it will go up again the year after that.

Those invoices are all reasonably justified when the returns are there, but what happened on Saturday exposes the whole operation. Oregon spends like a top-flight program but is not delivering top-flight results.

That was just as true when they trailed Ohio State 34-0 in the Rose Bowl, or when they were losing by 40 to Indiana in the Peach Bowl, as it was when they were getting pushed around by the team picked to finish ninth in the Big 12.

Oregon is not a championship team.

Not today.

Almost certainly not this season, unless the Ducks enjoy a run like Notre Dame went on two years ago after losing to Northern Illinois.

Is that possible? Could the Ducks gather themselves, navigate a schedule that includes matchups with USC, Michigan and Ohio State, and reach the College Football Playoff?

Hey, stranger things have happened, right?

After Saturday, I can think of only one.