Saturday Night Five (plus one): Coaching woes for Oregon and UW, the Big 12’s bully, SEC success and Heisman frontrunners

Instant reaction to Week 2 developments on the field, with a bonus item …

1. Oregon and Washington: double yikes

It’s awfully early for the forecast to turn bleak in the Pacific Northwest. But eight days into the 2026 season, Oregon and Washington don’t look good enough for the Potato Bowl, much less the College Football Playoff.

Week 1 was successful but hardly impressive.

Week 2 was downright gruesome.

The 19th-ranked Huskies escaped with a victory Saturday afternoon, although repelling Utah State 16-14 qualifies as the most hollow of wins.

The sixth-ranked Ducks were beaten outright, as 24-point favorites, by a team that had not won a major college game in two years.

Their 39-31 loss at Oklahoma State — and to be clear: it wasn’t that close — marked the first time a team with 10 consecutive losses broke its losing streak with a victory over a top-10 opponent, according to ESPN.

“We got our a** kicked,” Ducks coach Dan Lanning said.

It was the only thing he got right all day.

And so the bitter I-5 rivals, which opened the season with grand designs and gifted rosters, are now scrambling to solve a barrage of problems before entering the meat of their schedules.

For the moment, let’s focus on a single problem that ails both teams: The state of their coordinators, or lack thereof.

Lanning lost both of his playcallers from last season, Tosh Lupoi and Will Stein, who accepted head coaching jobs at Cal and Kentucky, respectively.

Instead of hiring savvy veterans from outside his Eugene comfort zone, Lanning promoted from within: Chris Hampton was picked to run the defense; Drew Mehringer, the offense. Both have limited experience as playcallers and zero experience as playcallers at Oregon’s level.

Handing the tactical keys to a $40 million roster to coordinators with ultra-light resumes was a massive gamble by Lanning. Thus far, it’s not working as planned.

The Ducks have been outplayed at the line of scrimmage by both Boise State and Oklahoma State despite massive advantages in raw talent.

They have looked confused on defense — Oklahoma State gained 554 yards — and completely discombobulated on offense.

They aren’t sharp. They aren’t prepared. They aren’t anywhere close to the team we expected to see and they expected to be.

Of Oregon’s four touchdowns Saturday, only two were the result of sustained drives. The others came as the direct result of turnovers: a Pick Six and an interception that set up a 1-yard touchdown.

And to be clear: This is not a hasty reaction to one game in blistering heat with an early kickoff half a country away.

The Ducks were not crisp in the opener against Boise State, when they committed 10 penalties, were 4-of-15 on third and fourth down and needed a fourth quarter touchdown to survive.

All in all, Oregon has been outscored 66-65 by teams that were underdogs by 48 (combined) points.

The situation isn’t much better in Seattle, but it’s definitely more nuanced because the Huskies don’t have an offensive coordinator.

Coach Jedd Fisch calls the plays, and we are past the point of wondering if that’s the optimal approach.

Sure, they have been hit hard by injuries at tailback and have tweaked the line and lack a receiver the caliber of Denzel Boston.

But UW’s issues on offense are deeper than the subpar effort against Washington State in the opener.

They are deeper than the weak showing Saturday afternoon against Utah State.

This is about the totality of the past two seasons.

In 2025, the Huskies hammered opponents that lacked equivalent talent, but they struggled to score when matched against equal or better personnel: six points against Ohio State, seven against Michigan, 14 against Oregon.

Now here they are, one year later — with quarterback Demond Williams Jr. in his second season as a starter — and the offense appears to have regressed.

The defense, under coordinator Ryan Walters, is the sharper of the two units, by far.

The Huskies cannot protect, throw-and-catch or run the ball with the efficiency needed to beat middle-tier teams in the Big Ten, much less the true title contenders.

In two games, they have three touchdown drives of 50 or more yards.

They are 10-of-29 on third down.

They are averaging just 6.8 yards per pass attempt.

And before anyone credits the opponents, know this:

The Huskies scored 16 points against an Utah State defense that gave up 29 to Idaho State last week, and they scored 24 against a Washington State defense that gave up 34 points to Kansas State today.

Should Fisch relinquish play-calling duties? Does he need a veteran coordinator whose sole focus is breaking down film, installing the gameplan and calling the plays?

The demands on head coaches — their time, their energy, their attention — are exponentially greater in the era of revenue sharing and the transfer portal.

It’s too late for an overhaul this season, and there’s no obvious candidate to elevate. But Fisch should seriously consider the change for next year.

And if this sideways season continues in Eugene, then Lanning might be forced to rethink his staff situation, as well.

2. SEC vs. Big Ten: The best and worst

The sport’s most powerful conferences went head-to-head on three occasions Saturday, with match ups that spanned the competition spectrum and helped identify where the respective strengths and weaknesses lie.

One showdown featured the best of the best: No. 1 Ohio State at No. 4 Texas.

Another matched teams that are on the second tier in each league: No. 11 Oklahoma at Michigan.

And the third was a duel of lower-level members: Mississippi State at Minnesota.

The Big Ten won the collision in the middle, as the Wolverines held off Oklahoma 17-10 in a sloppy (20 penalties) defensive struggle.

But the SEC was victorious in the other two, with Texas edging Ohio State 24-23 on a late touchdown. The most anticipated non-conference game of the year more than met the moment as the Longhorns rallied from a 20-point deficit.

The most telling result of the three unfolded in Minneapolis, where the Bulldogs, projected to finish near the bottom of the SEC, obliterated the Golden Gophers, pegged for the middle of the pack in the Big Ten.

Final score: MSU 38, Minnesota 13.

The score lends additional evidence to the Hotline’s view of the two heavyweight conferences. The Big Ten might own the past three national championships, but the SEC has vastly superior depth — more meat and less fat.

3. BYU as the bully

Two games down and 10 remaining, it’s abundantly clear to the Hotline that BYU should be considered the frontrunner in the Big 12.

We suspected as much back in January, after the transfer portal closed. But the Cougars’ performance against Arizona, combined with a handful of results elsewhere, offered real-time proof.

They trailed by three points at halftime, then dominated the second half and rolled to a 28-17 victory with superb balance: run-pass balance, offense-defense balance and talent-tactics balance.

Compare that to what we have seen across the Big 12 thus far:

Arizona State’s quarterback play is a tad too wobbly for our liking.

Arizona doesn’t quite have enough at the line of scrimmage.

Houston’s defense is porous.

Oklahoma State’s talent is matched by its inconsistency. (How else do you explain losing to Tulsa and then beating Oregon?)

And Texas Tech? It should be clear to anyone who watched the Red Raiders struggle to beat back Oregon State that they are not as stout defensively as last season.

All of which is to say: BYU looks like the most complete team, with the possible exception of its arch rival.

It’s tough to find fault with Utah’s performance through two games under new coach Morgan Scalley.

4. Clarity in the Group of Six

Several results were instructive as we begin to project ahead to College Football Playoff selection process and the spot reserved for the best team from the Pac-12, American, Mountain West, MAC, Sun Belt and Conference USA:

— One week after matching Oregon tackle for tackle, Boise State took a carving knife to Memphis, rushing for 357 yards in a 38-20 victory. We are increasingly convinced the Broncos are the best team in the Group of Six. It’s simply a matter of which Broncos.

— The Western Michigan Broncos regrouped from the controversial, gut-punch loss to Michigan and hammered Monmouth. They will be a formidable opponent for Boise State when the teams meet Sept. 26 in Kalamazoo. The winner will be exceedingly well positioned for the Group of Six bid.

— Another team to watch: North Texas. The Mean Green, which lost coach Eric Morris and quarterback Drew Mestemaker to Oklahoma State, walloped UNLV 44-6 to announce their candidacy for the CFP.

— As for the Rebels, well, their season is effectively over. Yes, they can win the Mountain West. But the goal under coach Dan Mullen was to make the CFP, and that door has slammed shut after losses to Memphis and North Texas.

5. Scoreboard watching

The Hotline is keeping close track of games matching the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC against each other (and Notre Dame).

With one Saturday remaining before league play begins in earnest, here are the records in the power conference vs. power conference matchups:

SEC: 7-2
ACC: 5-6
Big 12: 4-6
Big Ten: 4-7

It’s worth noting that the SEC only has two games left against the other three leagues and is guaranteed to finish with a winning record — with the best record of the quartet, in fact.

The CFP selection process doesn’t include a metric that specifically reflects success in inter-conference play. It’s designed to assess teams, not leagues.

But there is a subjective component, and the SEC’s dominance over its peers could play a role.

You can be sure ESPN’s talking heads will highlight the SEC’s success during the weeks-long ramp to the first Sunday in December.

6. Early Heisman look

With the exception of Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, the Heisman Trophy preseason favorites have performed to expectations.

The Hotline has a Heisman vote and maintains a working list of 10 or 12 players worthy of consideration.

Here is our current top five:

1. Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith. He was the best player in the country as a freshman and a sophomore, and nothing has changed now that he’s eight months away from being the first pick in the NFL Draft. Recorded a paltry eight catches for 164 yards against the uber-talented Texas defense.

2. Texas quarterback Arch Manning. The Heisman is all about meeting the moment, and Manning cleared that bar with ease Saturday in the biggest game of the month: He was 16-of-23 for 135 yards and one touchdown in the second half, leading the Longhorns’ remarkable rally.

3. Miami receiver Malachi Toney. The best playmaker in the country who doesn’t reside in Columbus already has five touchdowns in two games and is averaging 21 yards per catch. His biggest obstacle? Hurricanes quarterback Darian Mensah could take votes away from Toney.

4. Mississippi State quarterback Kamario Taylor. The sophomore played sparingly last season but is a massive talent who could turn the Bulldogs into one of the SEC’s biggest surprises.

5. USC quarterback Jayden Maiava. His efficiency is off the charts (10 touchdowns, one interception), albeit against second-tier opponents. If he approaches that success in conference play, Maiava has a shot to reach New York City for the ceremony.