Penalty woes and a stinging loss to Oklahoma State landed Dan Lanning’s Ducks on ESPN’s "Bottom 10" list, sparking urgent questions about Oregon's identity and offensive DNA.
The sky might not be falling in Eugene, but the view looks eerie and cloudy for the Oregon Ducks after the first two weeks.
Oregon could have been forgiven for their Week 1 performance against Boise State. After all, with no preseason in college football, the first week often has flukes that are corrected when players gain in-game experience. Beating a Pac-12 favorite by a touchdown was good enough.
But the blemishes in that, especially the penalties, were magnified by the Ducks' 39-31 loss to Oklahoma State in Week 2. Oregon had an opportunity to sniff the smelling salts before playing the Cowboys.
Instead, the Ducks are looking for answers in Week 2.
Ryan McGee of ESPN placed Oregon No. 5 on his list of the "Bottom 10" college teams this week, suggesting the coordinator changes have taken a toll.
"I was in Kentucky last weekend, and I thought it was a little suspicious when I saw some of the Jurassic Park scientists with Barbasol cans sneaking around behind Wildcats coach Will Stein trying to snatch hair off his head," McGee wrote.
"Now I realize they'd been sent by Dan Lanning to see if he could steal back some offensive DNA from his old OC and sneak out of the Coveted Fifth Spot."
It would be easy to blame a coordinator change for Oregon's problems. But elite programs deal with coordinator changes all the time. The Ducks have experience on their side, something which Dan Lanning bragged about during the Big Ten media days.
Now, Lanning wants to pivot, saying the games have to be played before we know who the best teams were.
That's always been the case, but the backtrack by Lanning points to a bigger problem for the Ducks. Oregon isn't capable of just revving its engine and showing the college football world what a College Football Playoff contender looks like.
The Ducks should get back on track against Portland State on Friday night. The real test comes on Sept. 26, when Oregon travels to Los Angeles to take on USC.
If they lose that game, that bottom could fall out for Oregon before October.
