EUGENE -- Last season, Oregon started the college football schedule with two losses in September for the first time in 11 years.



Now it's happened in two consecutive seasons.



The Ducks' 41-38 loss to 10-point underdog Colorado at Autzen Stadium on Saturday marked the program's first back-to-back losses in the same season since 2007, and leaves 2-2 UO winless to start Pac-12 Conference play.



The reaction locally and nationally followed two tracks: Has Colorado finally broken through after four moribund seasons under coach Mike MacIntyre?

And if the Buffaloes are ascending, are the Ducks going the other direction?



Before Saturday, Colorado had been one of Oregon's easiest targets on the schedule, losing to UO by an average of 38.5 points per game since 2011. Colorado also had not won in Autzen Stadium since 1967. And consider that the quarterback who led the unexpected victory, Steven Montez, had never started before stepping into the huddle on the Autzen Stadium sideline, before he promptly went out and gained 468 yards (333 passing, 135 rushing) and accounted for four touchdowns.

Oregonian columnist John Canzano's take: The loss was a wake-up call for coach Mark Helfrich, whose seat is warming.



National reaction to Oregon's defeat agreed that UO finds itself in a precarious season entering next Saturday's road game at Washington State:



Gary Barnett, former CU coach (1999-2005), who now works the team's radio broadcasts, in an interview with The Oregonian/OregonLive:



"For (MacIntyre) it's a huge relief to see all this work and this hole he's tried to climb out of, that he was put in when he got this job. That was a deep hole. To see him take a step like this -- and it's a step, they're not out of the hole -- but it's a step up. To do it the way he did it, with two kids he lost for the year last week; for that kid (Montez) who played so poorly last week, but when they gave him a chance to prepare and build up his confidence and then he turns in a legendary performance. To put all that work in and have it finally blossom, it's just so critical for a coach. He's going to be so excited he won't sleep."



Washington Post's Chuck Culpepper: "We might have assumed that Colorado, 5-40 since joining the Pac-12 in 2011, wouldn't go to Oregon and win with another debuting quarterback, but it went to Oregon and won 41-38 with Steven Montez, and now one of only four coaches ever to reach the newfangled College Football Playoff National Championship Game, Oregon's Mark Helfrich, might be fodder for those populous sorts who like their coaches hastily dismissed."

You have to feel good for Mike MacIntyre. You also have to wonder what is happening at Oregon. — Dennis Dodd (@dennisdoddcbs) September 25, 2016

USA Today's Dan Wolken: "The Ducks' slide back into mediocrity in the Pac-12 continued Saturday with a 41-38 loss to Colorado at home. Not to take anything away from the Buffaloes -- it's Colorado's first win vs. the Ducks since it joined the league in 2011 -- but the magic of past years seems to be gone. And the Oregon defense is a problem. Mark Helfrich's tenure at the top is going to get tricky now."

This too. And I would advise the bigwigs at Nike not to let this thing get too far gone because it will be real hard to get back. https://t.co/QS08i5gFq8 — Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) September 24, 2016

Eval: #Oregon is young on OL, Def struggled at LOS, young secondary & pass game is not threatening right now. Have team/staff 2turn around — Yogi Roth (@YogiRoth) September 25, 2016

CBS Sports' Ben Kercheval: "The Buffaloes aren't going to win the Pac-12 South ... I don't think. Then again, that division is up for grabs and stranger things have happened. But that's not the point; the point is Colorado isn't in college football's cellar right now after a 41-38 victory against Oregon in Autzen Stadium. After blowing a 33-17 lead, it looked as though the Buffs had run out of gas, but an insane catch by wide receiver Bryce Bobo put Colorado back on top. Now 3-1, Colorado finally might have turned a corner as a program, and it has been a minute since that's happened."

Colorado is going to win at Oregon with its backup QB. That's a great sign for the Buffaloes, and another bad sign for the Ducks. — Pat Forde (@YahooForde) September 25, 2016

Oregon lost at home to Colorado, and the Chip Kelly era feels like a long, long time ago. Two brutal weeks in a row for Mark Helfrich. — Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) September 25, 2016

Receiver Darren Carrington watches as a Dakota Prukop pass falls just out of reach in the third quarter of UO's 41-38 loss to Colorado in Autzen Stadium.

College Football Talk's John Taylor: "What should concern the Ducks the most, perhaps, is that the Brady Hoke-directed defense allowed a first-time starter at quarterback throw for 333 yards and three touchdowns, one week after the same defense allowed three touchdown passes in the loss to Nebraska."

The only thing worse than throwing a fade is throwing a line drive on a fade with the game on the line. — Matt Brown (@MattBrownCFB) September 25, 2016

SBNation's Alex Kirshner: "Things are sort of terrible now for the Ducks. The Ducks lost last week by three points at Nebraska, which stunk because they missed four two-point conversion attempts. Now they're 2-2 and pretty well out of the College Football Playoff hunt before the season has really heated up. What will probably heat up, instead, is Mark Helfrich's seat."

Bleacher Report's Brian Leigh: "How far has Oregon fallen? How far might it still have to fall? Both are fair questions after Colorado beat the Ducks in Eugene. Last year's 62-20 loss to Utah was a nadir in its own right (and probably still more damaging), but Saturday's upset felt different. It felt sort of...unremarkable."