I'm sure most Oregon fans want to turn off the television and put away the newspaper at this point. But unfortunately, there's still a large problem at hand.

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Just where is this Oregon program? Is this the beginning of a bigger problem? Is it just a bad game? Perhaps it's just not going to be the season most had hoped.

Two of Sports Illustrated's most respected analysts, Pete Thamel and Thayer Evans looked a little deeper into the Utah debacle.

While it's too early to bury Oregon this season and beyond, the string of losses, 117th-ranked scoring defense and pedestrian quarterback play have coaches who have faced Oregon forecasting this Duck dip as more of a trend than a blip. Are the Ducks entering a downward cycle like Texas did after reaching the BCS title game with Colt McCoy in January 2010? Or do they merely need a year to recover after losing Heisman winner Marcus Mariota and two elite players on defense—lineman Arik Armstead and shutdown corner Ifo Ekpre-Olomu? "It looked [like] it unraveled against Utah in all phases," said a veteran Pac-12 coach familiar with Oregon. "There haven't been many nights like that for Oregon in the last 15 years."

The article also included some quotes from anonymous coaches that are familiar with Oregon.

The Inside Read spoke to five coaches who have played or studied Oregon recently, and there's varied optimism. One coach pointed out there's still a chance that the Ducks can win the Pac-12 North, which is seemingly wide open. Multiple coaches pointed out that No. 10 Utah, which also dominated Michigan, could just be really good. But many also say Oregon's flaws are too glaring to overcome this season, and the Ducks' listless defense may force Helfrich to make changes to his staff. The main criticisms of Oregon were in three areas: poor quarterback play, an overmatched defense and how those two factors are feeding off each other to produce lopsided results. Helfrich is 26-6 in his third season as head coach, with half his losses coming in the last five games. The most direct criticism of Helfrich is that he failed to have an adequate replacement for Mariota, the No. 2 pick in last April's NFL Draft, ready this season. Several coaches told The Inside Read that Mariota is the best college quarterback they've ever seen. "He covered up a lot of things," says one assistant. The transfer of quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. from Eastern Washington made for an intriguing off-season story, especially the drama of whether or not he'd be eligible come August. But for coaches who compete against the Ducks, the necessity of an elite program to have to rely on an FCS transfer to be the team's starting quarterback was viewed as irresponsible. "That shocked me," said one coach.

The problems with Oregon seem to start on the defense. As early as last year several coaches identified flaws in the system.

A similar pattern emerged in the 42-20 loss to Ohio State, as the Buckeyes closed the game with 21 unanswered points. "They need that offense to be elite to help their defense, which is average," said a head coach familiar with the Ducks. "Their defense isn't very good, especially their secondary and inside linebackers. And I thought schematically they were pretty vanilla." The concern for the Ducks this season runs deep, as the defense was anemic against Eastern Washington (42 points) and Georgia State (28). Oregon has given up an average of 40.8 points per game, 117th in the nation. Last year, the Ducks ranked No. 30 in scoring defense, yielding nearly half as many points (23.6). "Their defensive scheme is really unsound," said an assistant coach whose team faced the Ducks. "They got away with it in the past because they were always so far ahead on the scoreboard, but I've always said, 'Put them in a tight game because they're not going to be able to hold up defensively.'" Oregon is No. 114 in pass defense, and the Ducks spent much of Saturday testing different secondary lineups with little success. The linebacking corps is average and the defense's only star, 6' 7" end DeForest Buckner, is easy to double-team because of the lack of playmakers elsewhere. "They're not very good in the secondary," a Pac-12 assistant says. "They've had to try to help out in the secondary by playing more two-man or two- and four-drop more than they probably want to. The amount of two-man they've played is ridiculous. If you're able to keep them in two-man or two-high situations, you'll be able to run a little bit and still be able to take advantage of some of their cornerbacks." Translated loosely, that means Oregon's run defense suffers because the pass defense needs so much help. Around the Pac-12, it's easy to see the SOS—Oregon is on the ropes and no one is sure if the Ducks have the personnel to turn things around.