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Oregon journalists, fans react to Ducks’ seismic, wrenching loss to Washington

matt zemek
·5 min read
26

Oregon fans and anyone who covers Oregon football have been here before.

It happened in 2011 against USC. It happened in 2012 against Stanford. It happened in 2019 against Arizona State. It happened in 2021 against Utah.

Oregon had a legitimate shot at the BCS National Championship Game or the College Football Playoff and let it slip away.

What hurts more than those other instances from past years is that on this occasion, Oregon’s bitter rival, the Washington Huskies, did the job against the Ducks.

How are Oregon fans reacting to and processing this? You’ll find out.

Our friends at Ducks Wire have been covering the heck out of Oregon football this season. The guys there do a fantastic job. Ducks Wire staffers are unhappy about the loss to U-Dub, but you can at least give them some pageviews by reading their stuff. We’ll share some links and some Oregon fan reactions as well:

THE IMAGES TELL THE STORY

Ducks Wire has this great photo gallery live on the site. Rich, clear images make this game come alive.

MAJOR TAKEAWAYS

Here are Ducks Wire’s key takeaways from the Oregon-Washington game.

BROKEN EGO

From Zachary Neel of Ducks Wire:

While Dan Lanning and his squad may have entered this game against the No. 25 Washington Huskies with all of the bravado in the world, they left with a broken ego and the realization that this Oregon defense has some real issues that will likely limit how far they can go this season.

LUPOI GETS ROASTED

More from Neel:

The Oregon Ducks have too many great defensive minds on the coaching staff to be this bad on defense. Of course, the players on the field are the ones who are needed to step up and perform when all is said and done, but at this point in the season, the defensive coaches need to take accountability.

That means defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi and head coach Dan Lanning.

EYE-POPPING QUOTE

“I think we got a little comfortable, all around,” Oregon safety Bennett Williams said after the game.

STILL PLENTY TO PLAY FOR

From Neel:

With a pair of wins in the next two weeks, Oregon can make it to the Pac-12 Championship Game. A win in Las Vegas, and they can make it to the Rose Bowl. A win there, and we can officially declare Lanning’s first year one of the most impressive in Oregon history.

PAC-12 RANKINGS

Ducks Wire re-ranked the Pac-12 after Week 11. Is USC No. 1 or No. 2?

SPIN ROOM

More from Neel:

It could be a better end result if the Ducks were left on the outside looking in, going instead to a Rose Bowl game with a chip on their shoulder rather than facing another potential blowout loss to Georgia or Ohio State.

THE FLAWS

More from Neel:

This Oregon team has some real flaws if you care to look past the explosive offense, Heisman Trophy-caliber quarterback, and dominating rushing attack. A few minutes of focused attention on the other side of the ball will make that very apparent.

MORE DUCKS WIRE COVERAGE

Ducks Wire had a story on Oregon coach Dan Lanning taking full responsibility for the loss and his team’s performance.

LANNING REACTS

“Well, certainly not the result we had hoped for. I think our guys played the entire game. They certainly didn’t quit, they didn’t throw in the towel. I think you have to give Washington credit, they played a complete game and we made more mistakes during the game that hurt us. This game 100% falls on me, right? Our players gave phenomenal effort. They tried really hard. We shot ourselves in the foot a few times in the first half, but we were able to move the ball much better in the second half. You know, that being said we weren’t able to get a stop defensively so things that we have to attack moving forward.”

ILLEGAL TOUCHING PENALTY ON OREGON IN THE FINAL SECONDS OF THE GAME

Lanning:

“I was told the guy went out of bounds and I’m anxious to hear more of an explanation but just that he went went out of bounds, came back and touched the ball first.”

LANNING ON 4TH DOWN GAMBLES AND THE ONSIDE KICK

“I mean, you know, we’ve sat in this room and talked about it when they worked out and now we’re sitting in this room and talking about when they didn’t, right? The onside that’s, you know, that was my decision. And you know, the guy moved a little bit where it wasn’t there, when we thought it was there earlier in prep. You know, fourth down you fall and slip and it’s gonna be hard to convert in that situation. But we knew that we were going to that situation, you look back and you could say in retrospect, we should punt there,  have a chance. But you also feel like hey, you get that first and got a chance to go win the game.”

DUCKS WIRE ON OTHER RANKINGS SHAKEUPS

Ducks Wire has this item on ESPN’s new rankings.

LANNING'S INEXPERIENCE

Ducks Wire had this story on Dan Lanning’s lack of experience, and why it mattered in the loss to Washington.

OREGON FAN REACTIONS

WILD STUFF

THIS IS SERIOUS

Story originally appeared on Trojans Wire