Oregon Holds Players-Only Meeting After Loss to Oklahoma State

The Oregon Ducks have not matched the preseason hype the team entered the season with when they were ranked as the No. 2 team in the nation before Week 1. 

The Ducks survived a 34-27 scare at home against Boise State in Week 1. The Broncos are favorites to win the Pac-12 and earn an automatic bid into the College Football Playoff, so an outcome like that in Week 1 wasn't the end of the world for Oregon.

But a 39-31 loss to Oklahoma State in Week 2, who were defeated by Tulsa the week before, was a cause for alarm for the entire team. 

Oregon held a players-only meeting after losing to OSU. Ducks quarterback Dante Moore told reporters that the team needed to get on the same page before getting prepared to play Portland State on Friday night.

"Just trying to get on the same page with everybody," Moore said, via Rob Moseley of GoDucks. "It was very important because we needed it, and I feel like what we said in that meeting helped carry over into this week, and we've been attacking it every day."

The Ducks needed a wake-up call after their play in the first two weeks. The team has been penalized 17 times in the first two weeks. The defense is nowhere close to the elite unit they were presumed to be this summer. 

Moore believes the Ducks can grow to become a better team.

"These first two weeks haven't been the best weeks we wanted," Moore said. "But I feel like we've been looking in the mirror, finding out who we truly are, and I feel as a team we've grown these past couple of days ever since the game." 

Moore took a big risk by forgoing the 2026 NFL Draft to return to Eugene this season. So far, his draft stock for the 2027 appears to be slipping before the month of October, when the Ducks will be in the thick of their Big Ten schedule.

Oregon has enough talent to be a truly great team, but they're going to have to play with a much more fierce attitude to make the CFP.