Oregon coach Dan Lanning should call Marcus Freeman this week and pick his brain. Whatever Freeman did to resurrect Notre Dame in 2024 following a stunning Week 2 loss, Lanning needs to borrow the formula after his No. 6 Ducks fell 39-31 at Oklahoma State on Saturday. It's the early frontrunner for most stunning upset of the college football season after Oregon entered as a 23.5-point favorite.
Oklahoma State finished 1-11 last season and carried a 21-game losing streak against FBS opponents into the game. The misery continued in Week 1 with a 24-10 loss at Tulsa in Week 1 before the Cowboys shocked college football by becoming the first team in the sport's history to snap a 10+ game losing streak by defeating a top-10 opponent, according to ESPN. It's a devastating and humiliating defeat for Oregon, which began the season at No. 2 in the AP poll and beat Oklahoma State 69-3 last season.
Now, the Ducks will have to play their cards right and make the loss what Notre Dame's loss to Northern Illinois in Week 2 of the 2024 season was for the Fighting Irish. Ranked No. 5 at the time, Notre Dame suffered a stunning 16-14 defeat against the Huskies and plummeted to No. 18 in the AP poll. The Irish rattled off 13 straight victories and reached the national title game.
That's the hope if you're the Ducks. But getting there will require navigating some uncomfortable realities for a program that entered the day 36-0 against unranked opposition under coach Dan Lanning. What seems clear now is the extent to which Lanning relied on two coordinators who left after the 2025 season to take Power Four head-coaching jobs.
Tosh Lupoi, now at California, coordinated Lanning's first four defenses. Will Stein coordinated the offense for three years before Kentucky hired him as its head man. Lanning promoted Drew Mehringer (offense) and Chris Hampton (defense) from co-coordinator gigs to replace them.
It seemed like a natural way to keep the momentum going for a program coming off consecutive 13-win seasons. But there are serious flaws to address on both sides of the football. If not for two devastating interceptions that led directly to 14 Oregon points, the Cowboys wouldn't have needed an Oregon fumble with under two minutes remaining to secure the outcome.
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