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Sep 18, 2026; Eugene, Oregon, USA; Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning shakes the hand of Portland State Vikings head coach Chris Fisk after a game at Autzen Stadium.
Whether they’d say it out loud or not, the 2026 college football season is championship or bust for Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks.
Unfortunately for Lanning and company, the start to the season erred more toward the “bust” part of that equation, with a narrow victory over Boise State to start the season and then a loss at Oklahoma State, which in turn was coming off of its own loss to Tulsa.
Oregon righted the ship slightly on Friday night thanks to a game against in-state FCS foe Portland State, and the Ducks refused to take their foot off the gas, scoring a program-record 84 points in a shutout victory.
Oregon Embarrassed Portland State For No Good Reason
Generally speaking, I am of the belief that if you sign up to play a game, then whatever happens in those 60 minutes (or more) is fair game.
However, with the fast-growing gap in resources in college football, these sorts of buy games have become dangerous for the lesser team in recent seasons. In fact, we’ve even seen a pair of games shortened due to monumental blowouts.
Not this time around. The Ducks led 28-0 after the first quarter and 49-0 at half. But they didn’t take their foot off the gas. Oregon continued to run an uptempo offense and scored 21 points in the fourth quarter, including a touchdown with 29 seconds remaining to set a program record for points in a game in the modern era.
It’s clear that Lanning wanted to make an example out of the outgunned and undermanned Pilots, and college football fans were not happy about it.
An 84-0 win is just what Dan Lanning expects when Oregon plays up to its standard 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/EVRSzugcle
— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) September 19, 2026
Dan Lanning, the biggest fake tough guy out there. https://t.co/jSonN7wVl1
— LW (@LW_1407) September 19, 2026
If you are an Oregon fan you should reconsider after watching them tonight.
This is flat out disgusting.
You are rushing to the line up 77 points – using 10 seconds on a 40 second play – clock?
Is this real life? Dan Lansing is a sad, sad man.
— THE PREMIUM (@GamblersDream) September 19, 2026
You want proof that Dan Lanning is a douche bag?
Oregon dropped another touchdown on Portland State with :29 seconds left on the clock. pic.twitter.com/5qTZuN1YmS
— Lloyd Cole (@LloydColezone) September 19, 2026
What do you think? Is running the score up fair game? Or was Lanning out of line? Let us know in the comments below.