By the end on Saturday night, it just felt like what always happens: the championship team shows its pedigree, a talented but inexperienced team made a mistake and the meet was lost despite five strong events. No. 4 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling (1-1) hung with No. 1 Baylor (3-0) for the vast majority of the night of its first real test of 2025, but left with a sour taste in its mouth and a laundry list to address in the bye week — even with the knowledge that the year isn’t close to over.

Here’s what we learned from the Ducks’ second meet of 2025:

Experience matters

The Ducks boast 11 talented freshmen — 22 total underclassmen — on their roster. They’ve been a major part of Oregon’s success through two weeks. Where Baylor separated from Oregon, though, was in crunch time.

The Bears have championship-level experience that comes with time, and these are moments that build that. Oregon didn’t have it on Saturday, and falls and step-offs in the team event showed that. 

“At the end of the day, we didn’t show up,” Oregon head coach Susnara said afterward. “We had a lot of things go wrong, and Baylor came out mentally stronger today and got the win.”

Mental strength is a philosophy that Susnara has been hammering throughout her time in the driver’s seat at Oregon, and it’ll be one that the Ducks must master when this meet rolls around again. Their talent kept them in this meet. Experience flashed when a win in the tumbling event brought them as close as 1.500 points from the leaders. 

“I think that we let a little bit of the nerves get to us, just at the end,” Susnara said. 

If those nerves can be settled, this team has all the tools it needs to knock off the champs.

The pyramid is still a strength

The open pyramid heat was the only one in which Oregon put up a 10.000 score last season. It took four meets to do it in 2024. In 2025, it only took two. The Ducks registered a perfect score in the heat against the Bears — part of a pre-halftime comeback effort.

It came courtesy of a tweak from Susnara and her staff, which rotated the construction of the skill a quarter-turn away from the judges. Teams can compete skills in any direction during a meet, but intentional changes like this one can both highlight the strong facets of the skill and hide potential deficiencies. 

Oregon’s strength in the event, though, is no fluke. The Ducks didn’t register a score below 9.500 in any of the three heats in 2024, and have just one score below 9.75 (9.30, in the synchronized pyramid against Baylor) so far this season. It’s in a crucial position — just before the half — and the Ducks will look to continue to energize their meet with wins in the event.

This season is not over

Losing a top-five matchup at home in any sport would deal a hammer blow to a team’s championship hopes. It’s a missed opportunity that surely would stay with a program throughout a season — especially in ones as short as A&T are.

Baylor head coach Felecia Mulkey’s pre-meet comments, though, brought up a surprising opinion: this meet isn’t as big as it’s made out to be. At least, not this early in the season.

“I think every meet is just a learning opportunity,” Mulkey said. “I think every coach probably sees it that way….quite honestly, this is early in the season for both of us. You know, two meets in for us, [and] one meet for [Oregon]. It’s just really early in the season.”

Yes, it’s an opportunity missed for the Ducks — and a big one. It was their best chance to beat the unbeatable at home, fully healthy and with a strong first meet already in their back pocket. It’ll arguably be more difficult to win against the Bears in Waco.

But it was close, and even though close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, it matters here for Oregon. It knows that it can compete, and that two and a half minutes were all that stood between itself and a win. 

The Ducks get a bye week to drill down on team event issues (particularly falls in the acro portion) that have stymied them through two weeks. Then, they get to re-enter the gauntlet with a schedule that will provide constant opportunities to maintain their position in the top four polling positions.

Then, they’ll get another chance to step onto the mat with the Bears.

No, this season isn’t even close to over. If anything, it’s just getting started.