Kirk Herbstreit: Oregon Ducks Football Missing the 'Same Fight' as Last Year

The famed analyst and football commentator revealed his thoughts on the Oregon Ducks Football team after declaring he thought the Ducks would win it all before the season started.

The Duck mascot pokes fun at Lee Corso's and Kirk Herbstreit's hair during taping of ESPN's Game Day in 2010. / Chris Pietsch/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK

During the offseason, the hype for the Oregon Ducks Football team was through the roof. Many professionals in the sports media field even took the leap to say the Ducks could win it all in the brand new 12-team College Football Playoffs. 

One of the most notable talking heads to declare Oregon’s talent this season is famed football commentator and College Gameday analyst Kirk Herbstreit. During week zero for the Gameday broadcast, Herbstreit even picked Oregon as his National Championship winner.

But on Sept. 12 on the Pat McAfee show airing on Youtube and ESPN, Herbstreit had some critical words regarding the Ducks. Towards the end of his appearance on the program, Herbstreit was asked by show member Tone Digz if the Ducks would be ready to face Ohio State in Autzen Stadium on Oct. 12 after their near wins against Idaho and Boise State. His answer sounded less resolute than his original thoughts on Oregon before the season kicked off.

“I think, Tone, they definitely have enough time to get it right,” Herbstreit said. “I don’t know… Bo Nix meant so much to that team. You can never underestimate what a great leader can mean to a football teams’ focus and there’s been so much preseason hype with Oregon.”

Herbstreit shared that he thinks Oregons’ recent shortcomings in games is due to a mindset problem among the athletes, and assured that Oregon coach Dan Lanning is doing his best to get his Ducks on track.

“I’m sure Dan Lanning is doing his best to get these guys to lock in, to respect the opponent,” Herbstreit said. “Boise is a dangerous team anytime you play them. 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 the press clippings and get focused on work.”

Last year’s team with starting quarterback Bo Nix had quite the hype around it, as the Ducks ended the 2023 season 12-2, having only lost to Washington in Seattle and at the PAC-12 Championship. However, Herbstreit says that this hype was grounded in a type of grit that he thought would carry over to this season. Herbstreit mentioned the Colorado game as an example of the Oregon attitude he’s looking for in the current team.

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning reacts to a call as the Oregon Ducks host Colorado in the Pac-12 opener Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023, at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. / Ben Lonergan/The Register-Guard / USA TODAY NETWORK

“Remember when they played [Colorado] early in the year last year and Dan got some negative press from some people, not us, but some people because he said ‘they’re about clicks and we’re about…hitting people’ kind of thing? I just thought that’s who they were. 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 them. I haven’t seen that yet from this team in their first two games,” Herbstreit said.

However, the analyst does not believe that all hope is lost for the Oregon program. Herbstreit believes that once Oregon stops playing down to their opponents, they’ll be able to be the Oregon team people raved about in the off season. For Herbstreit, the Ducks have the talent, they just need to execute.

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

We’ll see what other takes Herbstreit has for the Ducks this Saturday when Gameday opens week three at Gamecock Park in Columbia, South Carolina, for the South Carolina and LSU game. 

Oregon’s next game is against the Oregon State Beavers in Reser Stadium this Saturday at 12:30 P.M.

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