Oregon leads nation’s most disappointing teams

It wasn’t too long ago Oregon was a model for programs seeking to embrace tempo, wacky uniform combinations and seemingly every other trend in college football.

Suddenly – or maybe not so suddenly – the Ducks are not an ideal team to copy.

Less than two years after Marcus Mariota hoisted the Heisman Trophy and led his team to the playoff final, Oregon is 2-3 (0-2 Pac-12). It lost at home to Colorado, got blown out at Washington State and could have its season further obliterated when Washington visits Eugene on Saturday.

And Coach Mark Helfrich, who just 20 months ago received a five-year, $17.5 million extension, finds himself under considerable scrutiny after going 10-7 since the second week of last season. That, coincidentally, is as many games as former coach Chip Kelly lost in four seasons. Still, falling short in that unfair comparison is hardly Helfrich’s (and Oregon’s) most worrisome statistic. Consider:

The Ducks last lost three league games in a season in 2007.

Their last four-game losing skid came in 2006.

They haven’t been two games under .500 since a 1-3 start in 2004.

They were last 0-3 in conference play in 1996. All of those streaks would come to an end if Oregon falls to Washington, which demolished Stanford’s imposing defense last week. The Ducks, with their total defense tied for 116th nationally at 490.4 yards allowed per game and a scoring defense ranked 109th (36.2), are an improbable candidate to slow down the Huskies.

There’s a temptation to correlate Oregon’s decline with Washington’s improvement under Chris Petersen. And while Saturday’s game could eventually be seen as a symbolic changing of the guard, the Huskies have gotten good without beating the Ducks on the field. Oregon has won 12 in a row in the series, and last year’s 26-20 triumph was the only one of those victories to come by single digits.

The simpler, and better, explanation is Kelly’s impact in the Ducks’ run of seven consecutive 10-win seasons, whether it was as offensive coordinator, head coach or simply helping to stock the program. But Oregon is now four seasons removed from Kelly, and his residue has faded.

What’s left is a good-but-not-otherworldly offense (No. 16 in total yards nationally but fourth in the Pac-12) after turning to FCS imports at quarterback the last two years and a defense that regressed from solid to sagging to sieve over the last four seasons. Basically, Oregon is unremarkable by Pac-12 standards at the moment.

The Ducks aren’t the only program struggling to an unusual degree. Here’s five other programs off to disappointing starts

Florida State: The Seminoles are 3-2 with a victory over a well-regarded Mississippi team, and if North Carolina’s Nick Weiler doesn’t connect on a 54-yard field goal, this isn’t even a conversation. But it happened, and Florida State is 0-2 in the ACC entering this week’s trip to Miami. Both Louisville and North Carolina shredded the Seminoles’ defense, and that’s a major concern for a team that was expected in the preseason to contend for a playoff berth.

Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish (2-3) piled up 50 points on Syracuse’s hapless defense last week to bounce back from a surprising home loss to Duke. Notre Dame has already fired defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder, and it’s on that side of the ball where there must be considerable improvement if the Irish are to minimize damage the rest of the way.

Southern California: Chalk some of it to the schedule; the Trojans (2-3) faced Alabama, Stanford and Utah in September and lost all three games. Last week’s 41-20 victory over Arizona State was encouraging, and the Trojans face a surprising crossroads game against Colorado this week. The switch to Sam Darnold at quarterback has helped, and it’s still possible Southern Cal ends up in Pac-12 South contention.

Bowling Green: The Falcons graduated plenty of talent from their Mid-American Conference title team and Dino Babers left to coach Syracuse, so a bit of a dip would be understandable. But 1-4 with a home loss to perennial MAC doormat Eastern Michigan and two games of allowing 77 points (to Ohio State and Memphis)? Yikes.

Northern Illinois: The Huskies’ problems started late last season, when they dropped their final three games. Then came a four-game skid to open this season. Northern Illinois (1-4) did beat Ball State in its MAC opener last week, but its six-year grip on the MAC West looks like it will come to an end.

Crunching numbers

Colorado (4-1, 2-0 Pac-12) moved into the Associated Press poll at No. 21 this week, its first appearance in the rankings since Nov. 6, 2005. That absence spanned 173 voting weeks for the Buffaloes according to CollegePollArchive.com, the fourth-longest for a Power Five school entering last week.

The longest active Power Five drought belongs to Indiana, which has gone 368 polls since last appearing on Sept. 20, 1994. The rest of the top 10: Syracuse (236 polls), Iowa State (180), Purdue (147), Kentucky (141), Wake Forest (129), Boston College (122), Kansas (112), N.C. State (88) and Illinois (80).

As Texas turns

A tip of the hat to Texas: Just when it seemed like Louisiana State was the clear-cut winner for administrative dysfunction this season, the Longhorns are making their own push. There will always be hot seat chatter, but this sort of report from SI.com just a third of the way into the season does no favors for third-year coach Charlie Strong.

It also is a reminder that former coach Mack Brown faced this same sort of public intrigue his last couple years on the job. Texas isn’t the only place with plenty of deep-pocketed supporters who both have strong opinions and believe those opinions matter, but it certainly has more than most.

Strong hasn’t been a perfect coach, might not be the long-term answer in Austin and would do just fine with an eight-figure buyout if the Longhorns changed direction after this season. He also hasn’t had a realistic chance to succeed and did manage to fix the Texas offense this year (though the defense regressed and prompted Strong to demote coordinator Vance Bedford this week).

There will never be a shortage of money, tradition and nearby talent for the Longhorns, which is why their job will never lack for suitors. Still, it’s a place where it’s hard to get everyone in line, which will cause a few possible candidates to pause should the gig open up later this year.

Five to watch

No. 20 Oklahoma vs. Texas in Dallas (Saturday, noon, Fox Sports 1): The Red River Shootout Showdown might not be what it usually is; after all, both teams enter their annual encounter at the State Fair of Texas with two losses for the first time since 1998. But this game can help both the Sooners and the Longhorns salvage their seasons.

No. 25 Virginia Tech at No. 17 North Carolina (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN2): The Tar Heels bagged a significant victory at Florida State last week, but their toughest stretch of the season is just beginning. Virginia Tech arrives in Chapel Hill fresh off a bye week, and Miami looms next Saturday for Larry Fedora’s team.

No. 9 Tennessee at No. 8 Texas A&M (Saturday, 3:30 p.m., CBS): It’s a clash of unbeaten teams in the SEC, and the winner will get to face Alabama without a loss on its ledger (Tennessee next week, Texas A&M the following week after an open date). Are the Aggies for real? Can the Volunteers keep up their escape act? There might be more learn from this game than any other this week for playoff purposes.

No. 1 Alabama at No. 16 Arkansas (Saturday, 7 p.m., ESPN): The only SEC West team that has not defeated Alabama since Nick Saban arrived in Tuscaloosa is Arkansas. The Razorbacks will try to change that, but must find a running game if they are to pull off a surprise.

No. 23 Florida State at No. 10 Miami (Saturday, 8 p.m., ABC): Seminoles Coach Jimbo Fisher is undefeated against Miami, but QB Brad Kaaya and the Hurricanes will look to change that and send a signal they have a chance to change the balance of power in the Sunshine State under first-year Coach Mark Richt.