The Oregon Ducks‘ first five weeks went about as well as they could’ve wished for. They had an average margin of victory of 34.4, completely demolishing several opponents.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys were those demolished teams, as the Ducks came away with a 69-3 home victory. Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy poked the proverbial bear during the week, lamenting Oklahoma State’s NIL fund compared to Oregon’s, among other complaints and appeared shots towards the Ducks program.
Gundy survived for two more weeks before being let go — albeit one being a bye week. A 19-12 loss to Tulsa led to his firing, combined with the dispiriting defeat to Oregon in Week 2.
Fast forward three weeks later, and two more Ducks opponents have fired their head coaches.
The Oregon State Beavers were first, as Trent Bray was let go after leading his team to a 0-7 record. That included a 41-7 Week 4 loss at the hands of Oregon in which Oregon State was outscored by 34 points after tying the game at seven in the first quarter.
Then, the biggest one.
The Penn State Nittany Lions appeared to be a contender even in the aftermath of their 30-24 double overtime home defeat to the Ducks. After all, it was a hard-fought matchup between two teams harboring Big Ten and national championship hopes.
But after consecutive demoralizing losses to the UCLA Bruins and Northwestern Wildcats, marking three straight overall and an 0-3 start to Big Ten play, head coach James Franklin has been fired.
Though Oregon suffered their first loss of the season in Week 7 against the Indiana Hoosiers, their early season dominance can be reflected by the trail of fired head coaches that fell to the Ducks.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Three of Oregon Ducks’ 2025 opponents have fired their head coaches
