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I enjoy hearing the perspective of former Oregon football players and coaches, and I find George Wrightster is knowledgeable and fair when it come down to evaluating the team. The below video includes his instant reactions from the Oregon-UCLA game. Some of the highlights: • The Oregon defense finally showed up. The Oregon offense gave UCLA great field position all game and Oregon’s defense held their own. After the first drive, UCLA got the ball in Oregon territory on the next four possessions and Oregon’s defense held UCLA to zero points. UCLA also averaged ~3 yards per play. It was good enough to win most games. • Oregon’s offensive line was terrible. If Oregon had a decent showing, up front, we would have just run the ball and won the game. • George Wrightster was not a huge fan of the Dylan Raiola signing and this game was what he was concerned about. If Dante Moore played, even with the bad offensive line play, Oregon would have won the game. He thought that Brock Thomas should have started the second half and maybe even then Oregon would have won the game. • While he didn’t like some of the play calls (e.g., the decision to run the ball up the middle on the last 2 point attempt, when we haven’t been able to run the ball between the tackles all year, the option play with Oregon’s RBs was “too cute”), he doesn’t believe that this is all on the OC and is not sure someone else could do better with the offensive line playing this bad and the poor QB play. He claims that there were receivers open and Dylan did not see them. • The loud but few people who are calling for Coach Lanning’s head are crazy. With the exception of a few programs (e.g., Georgia, Indiana, Miami), most programs would fire their head coach to hire Lanning in a heart beat. A University of Texas fan posted on his thread, please fire Coach Lanning so they can replace Sark. LOL. • Oregon now needs to run the table and beat Ohio State at the Shoe. Thoughts?

Happy, they were practicing two point conversions and trying to turn Jordan Davison into an option quarterback. Thanks (sincerely) for your hypothesis.

Brock Thomas earned the start. If Dylan was injured, he should have pulled himself. Brock #1, Akili #2, GO DUCKS!

IMHO, the lackluster play by the entire Duck Offense carries the blame, not just DR. What did the offensive coaches do dur9ng the bye week? The Duck D came ready to play. Why didnt the Duck offense?

This Duck fan is not ready to throw away or give up on DR. One bad game is not enough for me to make that harsh of a decision. As painful as it was to rewatch the game, it was obvious that the entire offense played poorly. The O line was standing up when the ball was snapped. If it was going to be a pass play they immediately lost their leverage. The Bruin D line was 2 yards deep into the protection pocket on their initial rush. DR or any QB needs time to step into their throws. The receivers had little time to get separation. I feel uncomfortable laying all the blame on just DR. I ask mys3lf, why did Thomas have a better pocket to thow out of than DR? Also, DR or any QB has nothing to do with the lack of rushing production. Who's responsible to create running lanes? The O line is! This game was a poor performance by the entire offensive unit, not just DR. Their was no balance between rushing and passing to keep the Bruin D off balance. I wonder what the coaches were seeing in practice? I ask myself how could a unit be so lackluster and unprepared? Coming out of a bye week...... The Duck Defense came prepared and played a great game. What happened? Something is not right with the 2026 squad and I hope DL and staff can figure it out. Go Ducks......

Maybe as a stopgap for the rest of the season, and if they're available and interested, bring in Jeff Tedford and Steve Greatwood as offensive analysts.

Kiffin might be available pretty soon.

It ws my greatest concern pre-season, and it is worse than I feared.

On another site, a knowledgeable poster wrote that it has to be Raiola, and that yesterday was not enough for Thomas to start instead, and noted that Thomas' proven record was insufficient. It wasn't Thomas' first rodeo. Thomas stepped in as the backup quarterback after Dante Moore was injured, leading the Ducks to a 21-7 victory. He completed 4 of 4 passes for 46 yards and one touchdown in that game. Yesterday, he completed 11/15 when he came in and when they knew we had to throw. Riaola's scoring drive was half a yard. Dylan Raiola completed 6 of 19 passes for 43 yards, with 0 touchdowns, 2 interceptions, and he also lost a fumble before being benched in the fourth quarter during the game against UCLA. George Wrightser noted Raiola throws what he called subway sandwiches, and I call balloons. Wrightser noted that he isn't afraid. That might sound like a good quality, but he should be afraid of throwing soft, arching passes that are easy to defend, and he was inaccurate as well yesterday. The Nebraska fans told us what we were getting. I was very optimistic after the USC game, but there were warning signs. The long TD pass to Dakorien was floated high and short of the open Moore, who saw that before the USC player and went back for it. Wrightser said that he had not been enthused about Raiola coming to Oregon based on what he had seen at Nebraska. Combine all of that with the fact that he is slow and with an inadequate offensive line. Dante has poor pocket presence and escapability, but he isn't slow. Forget that. Raiola was a Five Star. His size, name, and high school. DB competition got him the stars. He shouldn't have been a five. I will wonder if Raiola starts whether the staff made that decision because they don't want to admit that they wasted big NIL money. Thomas is the better player.

Auto correct 🤣 Mehringer maybe his O is just all fluff. Mari and Meh lol

I believe there are issues with both coaches and players across both offense and defense. One week the offense shows up, the next week the defense shows up. We just have no offensive identity. As another poster observed, our passing game has no connection to our running game. We are not scouting ourselves and I believe defenses STILL know exactly what we're doing. Quarterback play (between the ears and experience) has fallen off dramatically since Nix and Gabriel. Our OLine struggles have been well documented. I think coaches have tried to install too much playbook, when we haven't been able to establish the basics. We have two running backs with two very different running styles and I don't think either of them has established themselves as an every down back. Neither of them have looked comfortable at all this season. Sometimes, 4/5* talent doesn't translate into football IQ, nor the demonstrated ability to adapt and overcome when pressure mounts. When Dante Moore is cleared for contact, I think one change that could benefit both he and the team is if they removed his red no-contact jersey in practice. Dante needs to become comfortable and continue to execute the offense under pressure. I have no idea what's happening with our offensive staff and we learn nothing from the press conferences. Every week it's the same thing. Right after the game, "we need to go look at the tape first." Two days later, "we're moving on to our next opponent." If our coaches don't understand what's wrong by the end of the game, how on earth are they ever going to make mid-game adjustments? Sad. The worse part about promoting coordinators from within, is that Lanning (possibly) never got to hear outside perspective on how Oregon's offense and defense could have improved. It feels like a waste that all this talent was not afforded the most experienced coaching staff available. We didn't need continuity, we needed improvement to finally get over the hump. I think we'll rebound for a respectable season. This has been an unexpectedly difficult schedule to begin the season with FBS opponents' record of 20-3. Those same four team could end the year at something close to 40-8.

Nebraska coaches and fans are not happy about a 10 PM body clock kickoff on Fox. https://cornhuskerswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/cornhuskers/football/2026/10/11/nebraska-football-oregon-ducks-kickoff-time/92204659007/ Fox has Indiana kicking off at 11 AM local. A double whammy for the number of eyeballs watching Big Ten football this Saturday. Thank goodness the must-watch UW at Purdue game kicks off at 8 Eastern Friday night on Fox.🤪 https://cornhuskerswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/cornhuskers/football/2026/10/11/nebraska-football-oregon-ducks-kickoff-time/92204659007/

Curt Cignetti on Nebraska: "They're a really good team." https://cornhuskerswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/cornhuskers/football/2026/10/11/nebraska-football-indiana-hoosiers-head-coach-curt-cignetti/92199239007/

Lol…I stopped counting, and refused to look at the stats of this game…just my way of not letting a game ruin an entire weekend.

Concerning 2026, it all starts with the decision made with the OL in the offseason. The new Duck OC could be bad; but, a lot of stuff should still be working with a decent OL (and we should just be complaining about the new OC for overall lackluster numbers, rather than the collapse we have seen). The Duck OL looked confused at times last year with a 6th year senior, a 5th year senior, a 5th year senior, a 4th year junior, and a 3rd year sophomore (with 15 starts). What did it expect to see throwing in a bunch of young guys: Addison, Crader, Utu, Ferguson, Wilson, and veteran backup Rogers (a group with two career starts and very few overall meaningful snaps)? To make this move, the staff must have had a sky-high a degree of confidence in them before making that decision (which in hindsight seems even more odd given the Spring game struggles on the OL with the clear star of the day being a true freshman). Given the lack of portal interest in OL from Oregon, clearly a decision was made there was full confidence the young guys were ready to be at least a decent quality OL for a Top 10 team. I thought the Yale kid at first (since he was about the only OL target) might have been an Ajani Cornelius type (who was one of the FCS's most highly regarded young players before Oregon); but, no, he was just more veteran depth and insurance in the mold of a Nisad Strother (who arguably actually saved the OL in 2024 so is why a staff does such things). There was some buzz maybe it wasn't the greatest OL classes in the portal this year. Even if true overall, it doesn't mean there weren't a number of decent guys out there. In this case, veterans with experience in solid programs, which would have given the OL a massively higher floor. You give the Ducks the often maligned healthy pair of Harkey and World back, and I am pretty confident the Ducks are 5-0. Portal experienced talent that was available for 2026? Just among the top of one list: Jordan Seaton (JR/Colrado) : 22 starts (now LSU) Jacarrius Peak (5th SR/NC State): 31 starts (now SC) Lance Heard (SR/Texas): 24 starts (now UK) Coleton Price (5th SR/Boston College): 30 starts (now UK) Xavier Chaplin (5th SR/Auburn): 37 starts (now FSU) Melvin Siani (SR/Wake Forest): 27 starts (now Texas) Tegra Tshabola (5th SR/Ohio State): 29 starts (now UK) E'Marion Harris (5th SR/Arkansas): 24 starts (now Okla) Joe Brunner (5th SR/Wisconsin): 24 starts (now Indiana) Aliou Bah (5th SR/Maryland): 24 starts (now LSU) Emmanuel Poku (5th SR/E. Carolina): 26 starts (now SC) Now, obviously the Ducks couldn't have gotten them all; but, some? A couple? Kentucky found a way to sign 3 of the top 8. We seen the struggles at LG all season? What happens if instead Oregon had Tshabola plugged in there? I know he was a bit of a controversial figure at tOSU, but his 29 career starts and a bunch of big games, I am sure elevates what we have seen at that spot so far almost immeasurably. Instead, Oregon went for a high profile backup QB, a high profile safety (who at least so far hasn't had the expected impact for the defense), a backup DL (who hasn't played much), and a backup WR (who hasn't played at all). Stein faced a similar huge question mark on his OL and went out and got four portal OL starters (which often is considered a recipe for complete disaster); and, have surprised everyone starting 5-1 with its OL being singled out as a huge reason for its success (reading a couple articles). Oregon fans are not only left wishing for Kentuckly level OL play, we probably are wishing for Oregon State or Oklahoma State (built with North Texas transfers) level of OL competence (which we likely probably will only continue to dream about the rest of the way).

Imagine that D on a consistent basis with any of the Oregon offenses under Stein or Dillie...

It would have been interesting to see how the game would have played out had the ball been correctly placed and Oregon would have tied the game. The correct placement of the ball on the half yard line was announced after explanation of the penalty, and Lanning seemed to be arguing with officials about the ball subsequently being placed on the one and a half yard line. I don’t understand how this mistake was made.

I don't know if they actually lied to us. I would surmise that they were drinking too much of their own kool-aid and not looking at things from a wider perspective. This is where having an outside hire for OC could be of enormous benefit.

Oopsie!

MY BAD - Ducks -6.5, not the Huskers.

Never put the game in the hands of the officials, just as 'Bama.

I look forward to seeing if they can contain The Manhunter next week. I believe they will.

They said Meh' was a genius. Called him Einstien. It bothers me that they lied to us fans. With a straight face. It had to be a lie. The alternative is that nobody on this team has a clue and I don't buy that for a second

Someday we just might get the D and the O to pay great on the same day.

https://x.com/bigten/status/2109392557830447453/photo/1 Potentially starting the second rushing attempt closer to the goal line might have resulted in a tie-game and overtime.