The AP poll was released on Sunday morning. The Oregon Ducks, a mainstay in the poll, were not included.
The program from the Pacific Northwest with a $50 million roster and a roughly $200 million indoor facility being built, along with numerous other luxurious, world-class facilities is now in unfamiliar territory. The Ducks are now among the 113 other FBS programs that will enter Week 7 unranked.
Future Hall of Fame NFL wide receiver Steve Smith Sr., now an ESPN analyst, has taken to calling underperforming players "Just a guy" — a JAG. In effect, the Ducks are now the team version of that: Just a team, unranked like a majority of college football.
It's just the second week under head coach Dan Lanning that Oregon has gone into a week unranked,
with the only other time coming in his first loss in 2022, a 49-3 defeat at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs.
Oregon is unranked in the AP Poll for the first time since September 6, 2022 — Dan Lanning's first loss of his career, 49-3 vs. Georgia. https://t.co/Jkwt7wCSpf
— Zachary Neel (@zacharycneel) October 11, 2026
Oregon responded in 2022 by putting together a relatively successful season, winning 10 games including the Holiday Bowl against Drake Maye and the North Carolina Tar Heels. At that time, the 10-win season was just two years removed from a Covid year in which the Ducks went just 4-3. While they weren't competing for a national title, heading into Week 3 unranked after the loss to Georgia negated those expectations quickly.
Fifty-one wins and two College Football Playoff appearances later for Lanning and the Ducks, things are very different this time around. Oregon went into 2026 ranked No. 2 in the AP poll, among the leaders in betting odds to win the national title.
A month and a half later, and those hopes are just about up in smoke. A Holiday Bowl victory was the rebound result in 2022. Four years and over 50 wins later, that will be much, much less appreciated in 2026.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Oregon Ducks unranked in AP poll for first time since 2022
