Anyone who watched the Oregon Ducks' debacle against the Oklahoma State Cowboys last Saturday could've come up with a handful of things that went wrong for the Ducks. Subpar execution. Uncharacteristic play from Dante Moore. Drops from the receivers. Offensive line not holding their blocks. Defensive line getting pushed back. Secondary not being sticky enough.
But at the heart of it all in head coach Dan Lanning's mind was something much more serious and pressing. It was something that struck the core of the team and should've acted as a wake-up call for everyone in the organization.
"I tell you, at this point, there's been a lack of leadership. Myself included," Lanning said on Monday night. "It starts with accountability, but it's got to show
up. So again, you can't talk about it. You've got to see it, right? You have to see it, and we haven't seen it to this point."
The 2026 Ducks having a lack of leadership despite being ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP poll and coming off of an appearance in the College Football Playoff Semifinal? You wouldn't think it could be, but it's precisely what it appeared both in Eugene against the Boise State Broncos in Week 1 and in Stillwater in Week 2. In both games, momentum plays for the opposition snowballed.
The Ducks were able to emerge with a victory against the Broncos, but that wasn't the case against the Cowboys. Linebacker Devon Jackson, in his fifth year with the program, let his thoughts be known about Lanning's comments and how the Ducks can correct them as a collective.
"It's not good to hear, you know, hurts a little bit," he said on Tuesday. "But again, we gotta go back to the basics. Starts with everybody. Starting with, you know, everybody as a senior on this team. You know, anybody that can make an impact on this team, like it starts with us as players, who we want to be as the 2026 Oregon Ducks, and you know we don't have a lot of conversations and reevaluations of who we want to be, but you know it starts with us, and then we got to really show who we want to be."
Jackson was one of the lone standout players for Oregon against Oklahoma State, as he hawked down Cowboys quarterback Drew Mestemaker, saving a touchdown and ran back a 96-yard pick-six to help keep the Ducks in the game. While it's still tough for his leadership to be questioned, it could be even tougher for a player who underperformed in Stillwater to face the music.
But for quarterback Dante Moore, learning from the past and moving forward as better leaders is the goal.
"Yeah, this whole summer we've been attacking that as players," he said. "These first two weeks haven't been the best weeks that we wanted, but I feel like we've been looking in the mirror and finding out who we truly are. I feel like, as a team, we've grown these past couple of days ever since the Oklahoma State game. We've been more vocal and more connected. These things happen in life, and you appreciate them because they mold you and make you better as a team."
Center Iapani Laloulu, a starter for the last three seasons, chimed in as well, noting that he attempted to right the ship last week, but to no avail.
"I kind of during last week's practice, you know, I kind of got on the mic and kind of got on the guys," Laloulu said. "You know, there's some kind of lackadaisical going on, and it showed up in the game. You know, whatever you do in practice is going to lead up into the game. So the habits that you create in practice is going to show up right there on Saturday."
The habits certainly showed up come game time in Week 2. But with all their 2026 goals still attainable with just one loss on their resume, the ship has to be righted soon. Maybe, this was the kick in the behind that everyone in the organization needed to reclaim focus and move forward without the expectations that come with being ranked No. 2 entering the season.
The first step to finding out will come on Friday, when the Ducks take on the Portland State Vikings at 7:30 p.m. PT. Beyond that game against a middling FCS opponent, the USC Trojans loom in Week 4, where the true colors of Oregon will be revealed in primetime.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Oregon players take ownership after Dan Lanning calls out leadership
