Oregon’s football season took another bad turn on Saturday in Eugene, as the Ducks turned the ball over seven times in a home loss to UCLA, a team playing its first game of the year against a ranked opponent under new head coach Bob Chesney.
The loss comes just two weeks after Oregon head coach Dan Lanning made pointed comments aimed at Los Angeles-area recruits following a win over USC. “I guess if you’re interested in winning football games and you’re from this area, you should go to Oregon,” Lanning said at the time, referring to prospects from the Los Angeles and Southern California region. “If you want to go to a Chris Brown concert, you should go here.”
Oregon entered the 2026 season as a consensus top-five team, returning quarterback Dante Moore and adding Nebraska transfer Dylan Raiola as a backup. The Ducks were coming off back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances, going a combined 26-3 across the regular season and postseason in 2024 and 2025. Under Lanning since 2023, Oregon had built a reputation as one of the most consistent programs in the country, finishing 38-5 and reaching the number one overall seed in the 2024-2025 playoff.
But the season has been shakier than expected. Boise State nearly upset Oregon in Eugene in week one, and Oklahoma State pulled off the upset in week two behind a strong offensive showing. The Ducks rebounded with an 84-0 win over Portland State and then beat USC 41-27 at the Coliseum in Los Angeles, a game in which Moore left after a hard hit from a USC linebacker and Raiola stepped in, going 19-for-25 for 289 yards and two touchdowns.
Against UCLA, Oregon’s offense unraveled. Raiola struggled badly, completing just 6 of 19 passes for 43 yards with two interceptions, prompting Lanning to bench him in favor of third-string quarterback Brock Thomas.
The turnover total included five lost fumbles plus a sixth fumble Oregon managed to recover. In the second quarter alone, the Ducks ran 16 plays for 25 yards while punting twice, fumbling twice and throwing an interception. Oregon went six straight drives without a first down at one point, and turned the ball over on six of nine drives excluding the end of the second quarter.
Oregon’s lone offensive touchdowns came on a one-yard scoring drive in the first quarter, set up by a fumble recovery, and a late score with 2:16 remaining in the fourth quarter. A two-point conversion attempt to tie the game at 17-17 failed. The game ended with Oregon fumbling during a series of desperation laterals as time expired.
Oregon finished with just 272 total yards at home against a UCLA team that had beaten Cal, Purdue and Maryland this season but had not yet faced a ranked opponent.
