It's been a tough week in the world of Oregon Ducks football.
A team with national championship aspirations and expectations has played eight quarters that have subverted standards, and a 39-31 loss to the unranked Oklahoma State Cowboys last Saturday offered the biggest punch to Dan Lanning's program that we've seen in his time at Oregon.
The defeat, partly due to the triple-digit heat on the field and the lengthy pre-game delay, came days after Lanning brushed off the forecast and suggested his players "drink more water." It ended with some of his best players missing key moments due to exhaustion, and his star quarterback absent for post-game interviews because he was dehydrated and cramping, leading to him receiving IV treatment in the locker
room.
It was the second game this year where execution was the main problem for a team that returns double-digit starters from a year ago, where focus and discipline became buzzwords for veterans like A'Mauri Washington, who has an early habit of committing pre-snap penalties on 4th downs this season. It was the second week in a row where receivers dropped open passes, and a Heisman-contending quarterback struggled to see the field, missing players streaking open while a three-man rush closed in around him.
It was another game where fans had to ask themselves questions that they never saw coming, at least not this early in the season.
Does this team care about winning as much as we do?
Is Dan Lanning adequately getting his program ready to win games?
Are the off-season coaching hires already proving to be a bad call?
Is Dan Lanning's vaunted culture in Eugene starting to crack?
That last one is the toughest. Throughout his time in Eugene, it's hard to argue that Lanning has been better at anything than getting players to buy in and wholeheartedly offer themselves up to the culture.
Connection, toughness, growth, sacrifice. Four words that ring out at the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex multiple times a day, dozens of times per week, hundreds of times per season. The pillars of the program, and up until a week ago, the reasons for a fan base to believe that an elusive championship trophy was not far away.
So, why are there questions now? What changed? Why are words like 'accountability' and 'effort' coming up? Why, after Lanning professed this offseason that he had the most player-led team he's ever seen in Eugene, are there call-outs about leadership happening in Week 2?
Eugene has had reason for doom and gloom over the past few days. If you want to be pessimistic and claim this season is lost before October comes, I don't think many people would stop you. If you fall on the other side of the line, though, I think you still have a nice little window.
The season is young. There are massive games ahead. There's time and opportunity.
Be optimistic; it costs the same.
That's a quote that I try to live my life by, and it's something that I think a lot of Oregon fans can take to heart this week.
Each of the past two seasons — and a handful of seasons over the past two decades — has ended in heartbreak. But like clockwork, Oregon fans get back on the horse. At this point, the phrase "I'm ready to get hurt again" is as much a part of the Duck fan's lexicon as "It never rains in Autzen Stadium." Why is it any different at this point?
The first two weeks hurt for fans to watch. High expectations weren't met through the first eight quarters of the year. Is now the time to put up walls and protect against potential disappointment and pain, or is it a chance to lean in further?
Culture cracks? Down on the mat? If you want to look at it that way, few people could blame you. You can also view it as a proving ground. A chance for the culture to show how strong it is. What's the saying that Lanning always goes back to? FEBU?
Well, it may be time to put that one into high gear. Nobody believes in his program right now, and everyone has already counted them out. "Forget" them, right?
An optimist would look at this situation and feel relief that it happened so early in the season. If Oregon were to have a moment this year where they got knocked to the ground and had to start back at square one, isn't it good that it happened in Week 2? Before season-defining games at USC and Ohio State? Before the College Football Playoff window technically closed?
"Every single goal is still in front of us," Lanning said after the loss on Saturday. "We control our destiny."
Factually correct, but utterly meaningless unless something drastic changes. Everyone in the program needs to take a long, hard look in the mirror this week and figure out what they want the 2026 season to be remembered as. Was it a group of talented players that fell short before October and let the opportunity pass them by, or was it a championship roster that learned early just how deep it needed to dig in order to reach its ultimate goal?
The talent? It's there. Leadership? According to Lanning, it's been there in the past. Time for it to show up again.
In just over a week, Dan Lanning will facethe biggest test of his career with a top-25 matchup on the road against the USC Trojans. It's a game that will, in large part, define his young legacy at Oregon and truly test the culture of the program he's built.
Will it hold strong?
Be optimistic; it costs the same.
Maybe it won't, and perhaps the pessimists will be right as we turn the calendar, forced to face the reality of watching two more months of lifeless Oregon football instead of building toward a College Football Playoff run. Maybe this year is shrouded in "what ifs" and crumbled dreams, and Lanning enters the 2027 season with a bit of fire under his seat.
Or maybe not. Maybe this was the wake-up call the program needed, and they come out in two weeks looking like the championship-worthy roster we saw back in August. At this point, we won't know until September 26, when the Ducks kick off in the Coliseum.
Right now, the question is the culture. Time to decide which way you think it will go.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Column: Culture cracks? Dan Lanning's Ducks enter prove-it mode
