The Oregon Ducks are in trouble early in the season as Saturday brought a shocking loss to Oklahoma State on the road in Stillwater. The entire game made it look like Oklahoma State was the team worthy of being ranked No. 6 in the country, while Oregon looked like the caliber of team that would lose to Tulsa.
There's no sugarcoating it: the Ducks got outclassed in every facet of the game, which Dan Lanning admitted after the game in the press conference. Oklahoma State embarrassed the Ducks regardless of the 8-point margin, and now Oregon has to try to find a way to fix major issues on the fly with just one game left before Big Ten play.
The 5 maddening stats from Oregon's embarrassing showing vs. Oklahoma State
534 to 281 yards
Every Oregon fan would've known before the game that the Ducks lost if you told them that the defense allowed 534 yards. Anything that Oklahoma State tried in this game worked, as the Ducks didn't find any adjustments to slow the Cowboys down. Allowing 534 yards with the absurd talent the Ducks have stacked on defense is inexcusable, especially when you consider what the offense did.
The entire first half, Oregon couldn't get anything going on offense as Dante Moore struggled to find consistency passing. When the defense clearly doesn't have its A-Game, you expect and need the Heisman Trophy-caliber quarterback to lead the offense, and in this game, Moore didn't have enough to carry the team to a win.
7 penalties for 66 yards
Last weekend, mental mistakes and penalties played a major role in allowing Boise State to hang around against the Ducks. Before the game, Dan Lanning told the College GameDay panel that it was his biggest concern and the issue that the team needed to clean up. In this game, the team clearly missed the memo as the Ducks committed 7 penalties for 66 yards, including several that extended Oklahoma State drives and some that ended Oregon drives.
23:06 to 35:54
Oregon's offense struggled to find a rhythm, and the defense struggled to get stops; the biggest issue may be the fact that the two units did not help each other. The Ducks' offense was only on the field for 23:06 as they struggled to sustain drives, and the running game only averaged 3.0 yards per attempt. You can't expect to win games when you can't sustain drives or you can't get stops, and in this game, Oregon didn't do either thing well.
14-for-29 passing
This team was always going to go as far as Dante Moore took them, and when he started the game with a 5-for-15 showing in the first half, it was clear Oregon was in trouble. Moore finished the game going just 14-29 for 191 yards with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. The entire game, Dante Moore struggled to find a rhythm, and he can't struggle the way that he did if Oregon is going to win games.
4 sacks to 0
The strength of Oregon's defense is supposed to be the monsters on the defensive line in Matayo Uiagalelei, A'Mauri Washington, Bear Alexander, and Teitum Tuioti. Instead, it was the Oklahoma State defensive line that looked like game wreckers as they racked up 4 sacks while the Ducks' front failed to get home. Oklahoma State's defensive line gave Oregon trouble the entire game, and in a game where Drew Mestemaker attempted 43 passes, failing to record a sack is a problem.
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