If you ask any football writer that gets paid based on fan engagement and website readership, they will tell you the second loss of a season is often viewed as a dreaded thing.
The first loss is not always terrible, since fans often head to the internet to try and figure out what happened, and why their team didn’t look as they expected. The second loss, though, is when a lot of people start to tune out and look ahead to the next season with championship dreams no longer attainable.
That second loss came for the Oregon Ducks this past week.
While there is still a great deal ahead for Dan Lanning and his team, including a potential Pac-12 championship and Rose Bowl appearance, I actually don’t want to discourage you from looking ahead to next season (so long as it doesn’t stop you from opening up Ducks Wire for the latest news each and every day this season).
This is a good time in the year, with two regular-season games still ahead of us, to take stock in what we’ve seen so far and ask some questions about what could be ahead for the Ducks.
Based on what we’ve seen from Oregon in 2022, there’s plenty of evidence to suggest that Lanning has this program heading in the right direction. Over the next few weeks we are going to learn more about what type of recruiting class will be finalized in his first full year in Eugene, as well as who some of the players are going to be that return for another go around with the Ducks, or head off to bigger ventures in life.
Let’s take a look at some of the biggest future-related questions for the Ducks over the few months.