Kirk Herbstreit encourages Oregon to ignore national attention: 'Get focused on work'

After escaping with a pair of lackluster wins in the first two weeks of the season, Oregon fell from No. 3 in the AP Top 25 to No. 9. During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit explained why the Ducks can’t allow outside noise to distract them.

“They definitely have enough time to get it right,” Herbstreit said. “Bo Nix meant so much to that team. You can never underestimate what a great leader can mean to a football team’s focus. And there’s been so much preseason hype with Oregon, I’m sure Dan Lanning is doing his best to get these guys to lock in, to respect the opponent.

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“But they don’t look like they have the same fight that they had last year. It’s only two games, but I think they should stop listening and reading their press clippings and get focused on work… They kind of played with a chip on their shoulder all year long. They couldn’t get it done against Washington twice, but they had a bit of a nastiness about him. I haven’t seen that yet from this team in these first two games.”

Oregon narrowly defeated Idaho 24-14 in its season opener. With six minutes left in the game, Oregon only led by three points before finally creating separation between itself and Idaho. Nonetheless, the game was too close for comfort for many Ducks fan.

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Oregon gave its viewers another nail-biting finish in Week 2 in its 37-34 win over Boise State. Broncos running back Ashton Jeanty had his way with the Ducks’ defense, tallying 192 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

Oregon’s offense also looked far from perfect, committing two pivotal turnovers. Herbstreit believes the team must rediscover its hard-nosed attitude from last season to achieved its lofty goals in the 2024 campaign.

“They look like they’re more about, ‘Hey, we’ll turn it on when we get to whoever.’ And that’ll eventually catch up to them unless they get this thing turned around,” Herbstreit said. “They have the ability. They could win as many games as they want, but they got to get their mind right.”