Oregon nearly leapt inside the top 10 in the Associated Press poll after consecutive wins over Cal and then No. 7 Washington last month. Two weeks later, and they've tumbled all the way out of the poll after demoralizing road losses at Washington State and Arizona.

The loss in the desert was particularly putrid. The Ducks seemed outmanned by a previously bumbling Wildcat team, and were beaten soundly from start to finish, receiving the worst beating of the Mario Cristobal era 44-15. A once promising season, which featured Pac-12 title aspirations, is now at a crossroads. One path leads to a strong finish and a respectable bowl and the other leads to a November crumble.

The team is striving for the former. Doing so has required taking a deeper look at themselves, head coach Mario Cristobal said during his Monday press conference.

“[The team's psyche] is the first thing that we wanted to get to the bottom of [on Sunday]," he said. "I think we did. I think we all know. The highlight was that we’re 14 days from playing our best football. We’ve worked just as hard. Our regiment and processes have remained intact."

Players met as a team on Monday and with coaches one-on-one earlier in the week. The aim, according to veteran wide receiver Brenden Schooler, was to problem solve.

“We met as a team [Monday] and with our coaches individually and we just said ‘what’s the problem?’ What’s going wrong? Let’s come together and fix it’," he said on Tuesday.

“We came together as a family, because that’s what families do, when there’s a problem, you’ve got to come togehter and fix it. That’s what we did [Monday]. The mood is better [on Tuesday]."

Sophomore cornerback Deommodore Lenoir described the process as a "regroup" period. It not only required coming to terms with the shortcomings, but also a return to working on little things like communication and playing fundamental football.

“Mostly we just got back to the basics of doing what we know best," Lenoir said. "We’re going to go out there, and we’re going to win."

That includes improved practice habits. Although each player interviewed for this story said the practice leading up to the Arizona game was good, Schooler said there was some sense of complacency throughout that week.

“I think maybe we were getting a little complacent of where we were," Schooler said. "You can’t get complacent in this league. Last week was crazy with all the teams that won and lost. You never know what’s going to happen if you don’t come out ready to play. We’ve just got to come out each week like we’re fighting for our season and play with our hair on fire."

Sophomore wide receiver Jaylon Redd says the offense required an identity check. After leading the Pac-12 in most offensive statistics for the first six weeks of the season, the Ducks have dipped back to the mean over the past two games. The Ducks have averaged just 17.5 points per game in the last two compared to 43.0 for the first six, and gained just 299.0 yards per game compared to 482.8.

“We’re trying to get back to what we were putting on the field the first couple weeks," Redd said. “Our offensive confidence I would say, needs to get back, after these past two losses. We haven’t been able to put up as much stats the past two games.

“I think we lost touch of the type of ball that we’ve playing on gameday. That’s what we’re trying to get back to right now."