5 takeaways from Oregon's embarrassing 17-15 loss to UCLA Bruins
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Losing to the UCLA Bruins isn't embarrassing. They are a well-coached team with strong players, and they're undefeated for a reason.
Losing that way, though, at home, coming off a bye week, is downright inexcusable.
It was another tough day for Oregon Duck fans in Eugene, as Dan Lanning's squad once again failed to live up to preseason expectations, this time falling 17-15 to Bob Chesney's team at home. The offense, under backup quarterback Dylan Raiola, was worse than stagnant, and the play-calling was suspect, to say the least. On the bright side, the defense played its best game of the season, but even senior Teitum Tuioti will tell you it wasn't enough in the end.
We aren't even halfway through October, and the Ducks' season feels like it's on life support. With a 3-2 record and a handful of tough games on the schedule over the next month, Oregon will have a chance to get back on the horse, but it's safe to say that their destiny no longer belongs to them. Before we dive into the potential fallout from this loss, though, let's dive into what transpired and our biggest takeaways from the game:
From Mountaintop to Bench
Football sometimes offers a pretty stark look at reality. It was just 14 days ago that Oregon Ducks backup quarterback Dylan Raiola was on top of the world, soaking in what was left of the California sun and breathing in the Los Angeles air after leading his team to victory over the USC Trojans behind 289 passing yards and 3 touchdowns in relief duty.
Today? That air probably felt pretty chilling as he walked off of Rich Brooks Field, head slumped, and his brother Dayton's arm on his shoulder.
After infusing the Oregon fanbase with life in Week 4, Raiola brought it crashing down in Week 6, turning in one of the worst performances of his career in an upset loss to the Bruins. Raiola completed just 6-of-19 passes for 43 yards, threw two interceptions, and no touchdowns before ultimately getting benched at the end of the third quarter.
To his credit, Raiola sat in front of the media after the game and answered for his performance, but that didn't change what transpired over the several hours leading up to it.
"Sometimes the ball doesn't go your way," Raiola said after the game. "I was reckless with the ball today, and you can't win football games like that. I thought we were prepared. I thought our coaches prepared us, and we just lost. They were the better team today."
"Losing" would be an understatement for what the Ducks did on Saturday. While the margin of defeat was just two points, this was the worst that an Oregon offense has looked in the Dan Lanning era, and the team finished with 272 total yards and 12 first downs — 156 yards and eight first downs came in the fourth quarter with Brock Thomas under center.
When Raiola was leading the offense, the Ducks punted six times and turned the ball over five times — two INTs and three fumbles. The longest sustained drive during that time was just four plays long, and the only points that were scored came after the defense recovered a UCLA fumble at the 1-yard line.
I genuinely respect Raiola for coming out to give an interview after the game; we could have seen him skip it, but he stepped up and took the heat. Kudos to him. However, I also understand anyone who has serious questions about where Oregon goes at QB over the next few weeks. Dante Moore's return is still in question, and after what we saw on Saturday, the Ducks might be in real trouble while they wait for him to get back.
Let's Talk Drew Mehringer
I'm not sure what the answer is, but I'm getting more and more confident that Drew Mehringer isn't it. I will admit that I am a fan of Mehringer, as he is someone who has treated the media in Eugene with a lot of respect, which isn't something that is often seen from members of the Oregon coaching staff. Heading into the 2026 season, I was cautiously optimistic that his time as the offensive play-caller would be fruitful for the Ducks.
But after five games, I'm ready for a new plan.
Oregon's offense has looked like a shell of itself all year long, and that's with a former Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback running things, surrounded by skill talent that could start on 95% of rosters in the nation. Despite all of that, the Ducks have faltered, averaging just 30 points per game against FBS schools this year, a number that puts them about 50th-best in the nation.
I asked Lanning after the game how he evaluates that showing, and whether or not a change at play-caller could be coming down the pipeline. His non-answer may be answer enough.
"I have to definitely evaluate the game first," Lanning said. "Go back and look at it. We didn't have success on offense, so I think you have to look at all things, right? You have to look at all things. Was it the calls? Was it the way we operated in practice? Certainly wasn't the way we operate in the games, but everything has to be up for evaluation."
Maybe that means that Mehringer's time as the play-caller in Eugene is over after five games, and the Ducks hand things over to someone new — maybe AC Rashaad Samples? — next week vs. Nebraska. Maybe Mehringer keeps the reins, turns things around, and Oregon's offense starts to look like what we imagined before the season started. At times this year, we've seen some really good things schematically, but more often than not, the Ducks have looked like a shell of themselves with the ball in their hands, and when you have the level of talent that they do, that's not acceptable.
About Those "Work Weeks"
A couple of years ago, when Dan Lanning was asked about how his team was using the bye week to rest up and prepare for the remainder of their schedule, he made a quip that resonated with fans. It was something along the lines of, "We don't call them 'bye weeks'; we call them 'work weeks' because we're focused on working hard and getting better."
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that whatever the Ducks are doing during these "work" weeks isn't working very well.
In 2026, Oregon had a "work" week leading up to this UCLA game, and the result was the worst offensive performance we've seen in the Lanning era. Last year, Oregon had a "work week" ahead of the regular-season loss to the Indiana Hoosiers, and a couple of years before that, they had a "work week" ahead of the regular-season loss to the Washington Huskies. Since the start of the 2023 season, Dan Lanning is 3-5 in games where he has had extra time to prepare for a matchup, including blowout losses to the Ohio State Buckeyes and Indiana Hoosiers in the College Football Playoff.
The three wins came against the UCLA Bruins in 2024, the Iowa Hawkeyes in 2025, and an ugly win against the James Madison Dukes in last year's CFP.
"I would say in each one of those situations, we've done different stuff each bye week and different ways to prepare," Lanning said. "So I thought our prep was good, and obviously it wasn't good enough going into this game because we didn't have success."
It's becoming a theme. Whether it's practice injuries — starting safety Aaron Flowers missed this game due to an injury after playing in the last game vs. USC — or simply overthinking an opponent, the Ducks officially have a "work week" problem, and it's something that needs to get fixed.
There's the Defense
Shall we get positive for a moment? Just a second? Alright.
That's the Oregon defense that we've been waiting to see all year long, isn't it? In a game where the Ducks were unable to move the ball or find any type of success on offense, they had a chance to win at the end of the game because the defense kept them in it.
All in all, Oregon had seven tackles for loss, two sacks, two interceptions, and a fumble recovery. They gave up just 345 total yards and allowed the 7th-best offense in the nation to score only 17 points. In reality, that should be enough to win a game, assuming that Oregon's offense looks like what we expect Oregon's offense to look like.
Of course, Teitum Tuioti did not agree, and it was a performance that did not meet the standards that they hold themselves to. That's fine; I have no problem with that unit wanting more from themselves. But on a day when seemingly nothing went right for the Ducks, I came away impressed by the defense. Should the other side of the ball ever get things back on the right track, there's a nice little tandem that can be built here.
That QB Situation
Two weeks ago, Oregon fans were — justifiably — claiming that they have the best quarterback room in the nation, and that any other team should be envious of the passers up in Eugene. Fast forward to Saturday night, and there are a lot of questions about where the Ducks go from here.
We've already talked about Raiola and his shortcomings in this game. As far as Dante Moore goes, it's incredibly unclear when, or if, he will return to the team this season. Brock Thomas looked decent coming off the bench once Raiola got the boot in the fourth quarter, completing 11-of-15 passes for 156 yards and a touchdown, but he also had a back-breaking fumble on his first drive, and there are questions about his abilities in a full game of action.
So, as I said, there are questions.
And there isn't a ton of time to find answers, either. A week from today, the Nebraska Cornhuskers come to town, eager to get back on the horse after a tough loss to the defending champion Indiana Hoosiers. Will it be Raiola who gets the call again and is offered a chance at redemption against his former team? Will Moore be back and healthy enough to play? Or will it be the local Eugene kid in Thomas who takes on the role of David against the Goliath of Nebraska?
Those are all questions that we don't have answers to, and probably won't know fully until next Saturday. One additional question after watching Raiola beat USC: How the hell did we get here?
Bonus: The CFP Path
I wrote an article earlier this week laying out the potential paths to the College Football Playoff for the Ducks, detailing which games they needed to win, and how many losses they could afford while still having a good shot to make it to the CFP. I didn't think I'd have to be harking back to it quite so quickly.
At this point, the Ducks do not control their own destiny. However, I think that they still have a good path toward the playoffs, so long as they don't lose another game going forward. That means beating Nebraska next week, defeating the red-hot Northwestern Wildcats at home, and going on the road to beat the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus next month. It also means wins over Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, and Washington.
Talk about a lack of wiggle room.
The season is not yet over for Oregon, but it is certainly on life support, especially if they continue to look this ill — pardon the metaphor — offensively. We won't know until the CFP rankings start to come out in November, but to say that the Ducks are fighting an uphill battle from here on out is an understatement.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: 5 takeaways from Oregon's embarrassing 17-15 loss to UCLA Bruins
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