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Rewatching the game really brought that out, as I felt going into this season--that it would be the more experienced defense ever to return at Oregon. That has turned out to NOT be the case, and I'll share my observations, and if you have more to add--please do. The secondary has been playing much better, but it leaves me breathless with the amount of young players in there. Davon Benjamin (No. 5) plays a lot giving Finney a break at nickel back, and he has made some great plays as a true freshman. Speaking of a true freshman--Devin Jackson, (No. 22) has been playing safety, and while he has made some mistakes, he has also made some great plays and is clearly a talent on the rise. Then we look at little-used sophomore Na' eem Offord, who is now a starting corner! There were times last year that when he played a little--he got burned. Yet the coaches let his 5-Star talent get playing time to improve, and he has. Some notable plays recently, and yet he hardly has much experience at all. When Benjamin is in for Finney....we have three of the five defensive backs who are either a little-used sophomore in the past, or they are true freshmen! This is pretty extraordinary considering the story that it appeared to be. We recruited some semi-experienced portal DBs who have been passed by these underclassmen, and thus portends good defenses in the future. We have had a ton if youth playing at Linebacker too. Little used sophomore (Last year) Nasir Wyatt (No. 31) is getting an expanded role, and we see Jr. No. 11, Dyan Williams in there often. We also got a great tackle-for-loss by No. 13, Gavin Nix, as he played some LB moments. Much more youth playing on defense that most realize!

Afaik, Akili Smith Jr. has always been mentioned as a pro-style pocket passer not a dual threat QB. Unless his recent development in Eugene has changed his style I'm imagining that he's more Dante Moore rather than Bo Nix. Even his 247 scouting report mentions this: https://247sports.com/player/akili-smith-jr-46134755/ That being said, I do agree that a dual threat QB works better in this offense.

I think Lanning has been trying to think outside the box with going for it on 4th down and two point conversions. He should save those plays for desperate times and spring Akili Smith out of the box with some RPOs periodically and just see what happens. I'd trust that more than running backs handing off to each other out of the wildcat or five yard passes on 3rd and 9.

A B1G QB Mess - In the old (Ryan) days, Louisville QB Lincoln Kienholz would come off the bench to replace Julian Sayin. Now, it's true freshman Luke Fahey who looked lost against Indiana. Sayin is out 'indefinitely,' and the loss at Texas is no longer that great a loss, and with Texas' remaining schedule, it is likely to look worse. Ohio State is off in Week 8, but the remaining schedule is the B1G's most difficult. The Buckeyes play SC in LA in Week 9; will Ohio State be able to score enough points to win this game? Which Oregon backup QB shows up? Good Dylan, or bad Dylan? Will the O-line be able to keep Raiola upright? He is not a dual-threat QB. Will Dante Moore play again this season? To date, Oregon has played the 16th most difficult schedule in CFB, with the remaining schedule ranked the 20th most difficult. $3 million-a-year QB Bryce Underwood has been benched in favor of freshman Tommy Carr. This week against Indiana, we'll see how Carr performs starting against a top-ten opponent. UCLA QB Ty Dieffenbach, who resembles a baby giraffe when he runs, sealed the deal against the Ducks and played well against Wisconsin. The Badgers shut down the Bruins' robust run game. How will Ty fare playing in Minneapolis and Ann Arbor in November? Penn State QB Rocco Becht and his former Iowa State pals are not up to playing in the Power 2. Will the B1G have more than two teams in this season's playoffs? In addition to Indiana, Iowa, Ohio State, UCLA, Northwestern, and USC, two-loss Oregon, Michigan, Nebraska, and Wisconsin are still in the PO hunt. UCLA has the easiest remaining schedule, with USC the only ranked team left to play. Iowa, the second easiest. The SEC is eating its own. The B1G is odds on to do the same down the stretch.

Oregon, Illinois set for 5th matchup in series history https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/10/21/oregon-football-analyzing-series-history-vs-illinois-fighting-illini/92354638007/

Their guy, our questions: Illinois expert answers five questions about Saturday's gameIllinois reporter Jeremy Werner sets the stage for Oregon's game with the Illini this weekend. https://247sports.com/college/oregon/longformarticle/-their-guy-our-questions-illinois-expert-answers-five-questions-about-saturdays-game--291566539/

Whit decides to knock, knock, knock on ... Carr? Good call. On3Michigan benches QB Bryce Underwood, will start Tommy Car...Michigan made a quarterback switch as Kyle Whittingham and crew benched Bryce Underwood for Tommy Carr ahead of this week's game against Indiana,

IMO, it all starts with a running game to open up the pass game. If the offensive line struggles and/or the opposing teams D is pressuring the qb, you need a scrambling qb to offset the o line and get receivers open. We've had qb's that did just that and it worked. Include a few plays with ASjr he could help get a run game going. He's really the only qb we have that can do so. Illinois is starting a frosh qb, but he's dual threat.

Maryland gets crabby, fires Locksley—1st coach to go in 2026. On3Maryland fires head coach Mike Locksley after eight seasonshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj_7Aq5ebkA Maryland has fired head coach Mike Locksley after eight seasons in College Park, sources tell On3. The

Dan Lanning Admits Why Oregon Can’t Overlook Bret Bielema, IllinoisThe Oregon Ducks will look to earn another road win in Big Ten play over the Illinois Fighting Illini. Oregon Ducks On SIDan Lanning Admits Why Oregon Can’t Overlook Bret Bielema...Fresh off a last-minute 17-14 home win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the Oregon Ducks (4-2 overall, 2-1 Big Ten) will hit the road to face the Illinois Fightin

'Put out the fire;' Nasir Wyatt details Oregon's defensive growth https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/10/21/oregon-football-nasir-wyatt-credits-defenses-growth-to-trust-in-scheme/92351327007/

These plays always worked under Kelly because he valued receivers that could block. Go back and watch some of those great Le Michael James highlights and you'll usually see TJ Ward 15 yards down field absolutely blowing up the corner the entire time. The play we hate now was close to one of our unstoppable plays in the Natty against Auburn but with blocking like that in front of it. Big difference.

Oregon vs. Illinois EA Sports CFB 27 simulation: Computer predicts massive game for Jamari JohnsonAutzen ZooOregon vs. Illinois EA Sports CFB 27 simulation: Computer...After picking up a thrilling comeback win over Nebraska, the Oregon Ducks are right back to the grind of Big Ten play, facing the Illinois Fighting Illini in Ch

I always love these offensive line observations Charles. Your insights on the finer points of the position group are very informative. Looking at the depth chart for a general overview. I'd say the main problem may simply come down to the team being in the anti sweet spot of experienced lower ceiling guys vs inexperienced higher ceiling guys battling for positions. I think the team was hoping to get a lot more mileage out of experienced three star guys like Ferguson, Rogers, Bennet and Wilson while the inexperienced 4/5 star guys like Nacho, Tofi, Addison and Utu caught up. I don't think that worked out like they hoped and the younger guys have been pressed to learn on the fly in the trenches against some of the better teams in the country. While USC hasn't won a game against a BIG opponent that's won even one conference game, the only game OBD's opponents have lost excluding us was a close one against Indiana. Throw in the ever dangerous Boise St and the vastly improved Ok St and that is a daunting challenge for newbies to succeed in. I think as the snaps convert to experience, the youngsters will harden into vets and the O line will start looking like the 4/5 star dudes that they could be.

DSC Inside Read 3-2-1: The Answer Might Already Be on Oregon’s Offensive LineThree observations from Nebraska, two questions heading into Illinois and one prediction about Dante Moore as the Ducks search for a sustainable path forward.DSC Inside Read 3-2-1: The Answer Might Already Be on Ore...Three observations from Nebraska, two questions heading into Illinois and one prediction about Dante Moore as the Ducks search for a sustainable path forward.

Stadium Energy at the end of the Nebraska win impresses recruit. Also multiple freshmen receiving reps during the 4th quarter made a good impression. Oregon Ducks On SIFour-Star Recruit Teases a Possible Commitment to Oregon...The Oregon Ducks do not yet hold any verbal commitments for the 2028 recruiting class as of Oct. 20. Their Oct. 17 comeback win over Nebraska, however, got play

You be right but, no offense, I hope you are wrong. This offense has looked disorganized and has underperformed all year. It’s not like they were lighting up the scoreboard before Dante was injured (Portland State excluded). The defense handed them 2 TDs in the Oklahoma State game. While the offensive line has clearly been a major issue, a good offensive coordinator would have realized that weakness early and tried to scheme around it. Joey Harrington said that they used different techniques and plays back in the day because Oregon couldn’t match up physically with better teams. We have finally started to see some adjustments but it took 2 losses and we are halfway through the season. Does anyone think the offense would look this bad under a top OC? Chip Kelly? Lincoln Riley? As some have pointed out, maybe defensive coaches have figured out Oregon’s offense and it has all been too predictable/stale. Perhaps this alone is a reason to make the change.

Thanks for the post. If the NCAA managed a D1 football playoff, decades ago there would have been 24 or more teams in the field. For 'purists' who abhor the idea of 24, try this. It's a 16-team PO with eight on-campus play-in games. Eight meaningful games instead of the teams playing in meaningless bowl games with the best players sitting out the games. No rematches are allowed in the first round's eight games. Eight second-round on-campus games give the fans of the top 8 seeds a chance to watch their team without having to travel hither and yon, and paying jacked-up airfare and hotel prices. None of these naysayers have a plan to keep the Power 4 viable and hold off a Super Conference that, with the consolidation to forty or fewer teams, would 'disenfranchise' millions of CFB fans. If you cannot sell your game inventory, what do you have to sell? Please, do not try to tell me that CFB fans will not watch a PO game rematch of Alabama vs. Tennessee or Ohio State vs. Indiana. CFB fans are hungry for new blood, not watching the same old blue bloods. The Miami vs. Indiana championship game drew millions more viewers than Notre Dame vs. Ohio State. Tony Petitti is not stupid. He helped engineer MLB postseason expansion. Post-expansion, more people have attended regular season games and tuned in to watch the expanded playoffs. At 79 years of age, I can't tell you how often I've heard that expanding the number of teams in the postseason will ruin the regular season. It hasn't happened.

This play has annoyed me for years. The receivers are almost never blocking correctly, the receiver of the ball is always turned sideways or backwards and not going forward and every team ALWAYS has people destroying it. It seems pointless.

QB watch still on Dan Lanning Gets Real About Oregon Ducks Quarterback Competition For Illinois Game

Oddly, unlike Oregon, no 9:00 AM PST, or 8:00 PM PST starts.

In the case of Tosh, DL could step in and lift him up. But on offense there is no such backup for Mehringer. Should the OL and QB performances get sorted out for the most part and the offensive schemes and play calling still show as middling at best, DL needs to demote him back to TE coach at the end of the season and find an experienced OC that's not learning on the job.

I agree. This lets a lot more fan bases have a rooting interest later into the season and actually makes more meaningful games during the season. It worked in Pro football, baseball and basketball. Sorry purists, your ship sailed years ago. Probably means we will always have a ND / usc matchup when the series resumes. And hopefully other cross conference rivalries.

I absolutely think Terry should stay. His past performance warrants that. Plus, this year is only half over and we have seen improvement with a heavy turnover in personel. Mehringer, jury is probably still out. Again, a half season to go. Danning let Tosh struggle and he produced adequate results. But adequate isn't good enough.

I have 1 word for this--its all in the proper- Blocking-