Oregon stumbles in the South again

Chip Kelly looks up at the scoreboard toward the end of Oregon's 40-26 loss Saturday.

(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

The Oregon football team sure is a frustrating group to watch these days.

And, get this, the Ducks have a two-game losing streak.

Oregon's vaunted hurry-up offense with the magic play-calling that uses the four-quadrant flash cards did a whole lot of not much Saturday against what looked like a pretty average team in Louisiana State during a 40-26 loss in the Cowboys Classic.

The Ducks wouldn't give the ball to Heisman hopeful LaMichael James on consecutive plays, wouldn't use Darron Thomas as an option quarterback and even forgot to instruct punt returner Kenyon Barner to run toward the other team's goal line ... and hold onto the ball.

When they finally did start running the ball like it was the key to their offense they used freshman De'Anthony Thomas, who is just getting used to college-level defenders and he fumbled away two possessions.

Combined with the loss to Auburn in the national title game last season, the third-ranked Ducks have dropped consecutive games for the first time since 2007, when they lost three-straight games after opening the season at 8-1.

Hello Sun Bowl, here comes Oregon.