It's the season of the streak breaker in college football. We started the season with UMass ending their FBS-worst 16-game losing streak by upsetting Rutgers. It was their first win against FBS opposition in 23 games. Then Week 2 saw another futile program downing in losses finally come up for air. The Oklahoma State Cowboys inherited that FBS-worst losing streak at 12 with 21-straight defeats to FBS teams, then ended it with a shocking victory over No. 6 Oregon.
Rutgers' loss felt like one of the more monumental upsets in ages. The fact that it was so quickly eclipsed is pretty wild. And make no mistake, it was eclipsed by what happened in Stillwater on Saturday.
Oklahoma State has represented P4 futility of the last two years
The only grace Oregon gets is that Oklahoma State is a power conference team. They just hadn't been playing like it for the better part of two seasons. Just the week before, the Cowboys were taken down by Tulsa, a G6 team that went 4-8 in 2025 but still managed to beat their in-state rivals that year too. Oklahoma State went 1-11 last year, with their only win coming at the beginning of the season over FCS UT Martin. The year before, they went 3-9 while losing nine games in a row to end the campaign.
The team you were last year or the year before isn't necessarily the team you are now. More on that in a bit. But Oklahoma State had already given us evidence that this rebuild isn't going to happen in an instant.
Oregon's deficiencies are a huge red flag for title hopes
This game felt much more linked to Oregon's weaknesses. Dante Moore completed just 14-of-29 pass attempts for 191 yards. While he threw two touchdowns, he took four costly sacks. The run game managed just 90 yards against a defense that allowed 134 to Tulsa. Star receiver Dakorien Moore dropped multiple passes. The Ducks were 5-of-14 on third down and 0-of-3 on fourth.
The offense's inability to put points on the board isn't represented by the scoreline. Of their 31 points, 14 came almost directly from the defense. There was a pick-six and another interception that set Moore and company up at the one-yard line.
Here's the main difference between Rutgers' embarrassment and Oregon's: No one expects all that much from Rutgers to begin with. Their goal this season was bowl eligibility. Oregon's is a national championship. They are supposed to have one of the most dangerous offenses in the country. They are supposed to have one of the most stacked defenses in the country. They haven't looked close on either count in either game this season.
So, yes, Rutger's loss was bad. Oregon's was worse. And Dan Lanning has to answer for that.
Eric Morris could help Oregon's loss look better by end of season
This year's Oklahoma State team is very different from the two that were so hapless before them. Head coach Eric Morris came over from North Texas and completely rebuilt the roster from the ground up. Out of the Cowboys' 105 players, 91 are new to the program between transfers and freshmen. Of 60 transfers, 20 followed Morris from North Texas.
So maybe this team is different. Maybe that game against Tulsa was a fluke or a look-ahead letdown.
Hosting Oregon was supposed to be their toughest game of the season. The rest of the schedule is full of games that they could win, assuming they keep playing like they did against Oregon.
- Murray State
- at West Virginia
- UCF
- at (22) Houston
- Colorado
- at Iowa State
- at Kansas State
- (13) Texas Tech
- at Arizona State
- Kansas
Oklahoma State had a win total projection of 5.5 coming into the season. They've got one. If they're bowl eligible by the end of the season, Oregon will have less to answer for. If they overachieve, that's music to the Ducks' ears.
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