This won’t be fun.
We haven’t had to grade the Oregon Ducks football team after a loss since Week 1 to Georgia. A lot of that had to do with just the Bulldogs being better than Oregon.
But in the 37-34 loss to Washington, the Ducks had the game in their hands and let it slip away due to some questionable coaching decisions and a quarterback that was able to make them pay for a below-average secondary.
Micheal Penix, Jr. threw for 408 yards and burned the Ducks on a few long passes, two that went for big second-half touchdowns. Even with those miscues, Oregon still had a chance to win in the late stages.
Unfortunately, the loss will tend to overshadow some heroic efforts by the offense. Bo Nix showed out before he was banged up, Bucky Irving was nearly impossible to tackle and the offensive line, also banged up, did yeoman’s work up to the very end.
But we have to grade everyone and for the first time, the coaching staff will be involved.