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'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-

OK I get it, we're half way through the season with significant injuries to key positions. Of course fans are upset and disappointed (myself included), but a mid-season firing would be an act of desperation. That said, we all can see the glaring weaknesses of this team, so if at the end of the season it's more of the same then I would think you would have to make changes. I believe I read that Stein took two of our O-line assistants (Kentucky's line seems to be doing just fine). Maybe more of our past success can be attributed to them than we suspect. Regardless, nothing works for our offense (or any offense for that matter) without good line play. If changes have to be made then that's where I'd start, and since Poncho is gone next year we better sell our soul for some elite linemen.

I love the expansion to 24 teams.

This is USC's current string of consecutive TV games: 4:30 is obviously 7:30 pm ET 4:30 – NBC - Oregon 4:30 – NBC - Washington 4:30 – NBC - @ Penn State 4:30 – NBC - @ Wisconsin 4:30 – NBC - Ohio State - will be USC's 6th NBC game this season @ Indiana

The most interesting stat on this sheet is the opponents’ offensive rank—Oregon is #1. That means Oregon has played against the best set of offenses in the country. Their unadjusted stats aren’t that impressive, but when adjusted against the competition, they are pretty dang good.

According to this defense efficiency rating, which I believe adjusts for the quality of opponents, Oregon defense is ranked #6. BCF Toys2026 DFEI Ratings — BCF Toys

It's hard to fire anyone when your 2 best receivers are out as well as your starting, projected high 1st round draft pick QB is out. Not sure any team in the country would do as well with half their offensive production on the sideline.

No. I did not write that. I wrote that if they were not....here is why, and I gave that explanation. We were not at practice or in the meetings.... If things are as many on this forum believe---then yes, they will be fired. But we are all just spouting opinions at this point; we are all just observers without a TON of background information.

I know they do a LOT of cross training for linemen. In theory that means they are more flexible and able to rotate in and out of the lineup. However, I think what is happening here is that the coaches really don't know where some of these guys truly fit in the line. That amount of rotation is probably ok for spring where they are figuring out where guys fit and then the start of fall camp where they narrow down the positions they can play... but by the end of fall camp they need to know who their guys are and that's still not the case half way into the season. The pursuit is to put the best five on the field and maybe that was the case in those early lineups. Maybe those were the best five individuals but they weren't playing in their best roles. In your other post Charles you said that you don't expect Mehringer and Terry to be fired at the end of the season (Edit: I misinterpreted this! sorry). I wouldn't be entirely surprised if that were the case to be honest but maybe they need to change the way they train and prepare their linemen so they can be elite specialists in their positions rather than generalists who are mediocre all throughout the line. They didn't seem to mess with the transfers too much in 2025. They really did just bring in World at left tackle, Harkney at right and Pregnon at left guard as a plug and play group. They took these players and put them where they had already proven their success.

Thats a lot of snaps

I always have to wait a few days to rewatch the game with more analytical eyes, versus just wanting us to win and keeping up with the game. I focused on the offensive line, and was pretty stunned at what I saw both positive and negative at times. First, we kept Gernorris Wilson (No. 78) at right tackle, and Fox Crader (No. 59) at left tackle the whole game, and that was helpful for them. But being an Ol' offensive lineman in high school....switching sides is a lot harder than you would think, I was a right tackle, and I HATED any reps at left tackle; it was not the same, and I was not as good on that side. Fox Crader began at LT last year, switched to RT for a ton of games, and now was back at LT. My friends, this can really mess you up with remembering all the fine points of each side. Knowing who to look for as you slide off your double-team and where that player is coming from is huge. Many times we missed a safety crashing low because our blocker did not see him in time....and that fraction of a second means the difference between a three yard gain, versus an eight yard play. What floored me in the end was how I did not see Dave Iuli the entire game, and this means he must have reinjured something, and that loss is massive. Between losing him, and then losing Trent Ferguson for the entire year--we lost any slack built within the offensive line that needed experienced players. Instead what we saw was at right guard....Douglas Utu, No. 55! He has been playing on the left side, and now is on the right side? He is a big-boy but first time doing this will not be as good. And who replaced him at left guard? No. 58, Ziyare Addison! He has been playing left TACKLE, and now was playing left guard? What a mess. Then, just four minutes into the third quarter....they pulled Addison out at left guard, and took the No. 80 TE jersey off Tommy Tofi, and had him put on his No. 77 and play left guard! That lineup remained that way for the rest of the game. Thank Goodness We Have Poncho! Negatives: I've never seen this at Oregon before, and it SHOUTS desperation in the trenches. We are doing anything we can to field a decent offensive line, and the massive changes will not yield as much success as a permanent lineup, as it also shouts how we are still experimenting to see what group works best together. But going from left to right, or tackle to guard are significant handicaps to overcome. We are lucky to get what we have.... Positives: They missed a lot, but also had quite a few more good plays than last game. The real-game time experience is starting to pay off, and I noticed that their sealing blocks on counters were much better. There were times where we just did two double-teams with the center and guard taking the DT, and the tackle and tight end taking the DE and blowing them off the line and not worrying about the linebackers or safeties. It gave us the forward drive to get us 4-5 yards often enough. In the first half....the offensive line was getting blamed for poor QB play. We had players open, and enough time in the pocket to complete the passes, but they were badly thrown. It is quite possible that drives would have stayed alive with a different QB, and success throwing the ball would have backed up the LBs and Safeties and thus helped the run-game as well. We have a long way to go, but the raw material is there, the talent is there, and playing time will improve it. We actually had a much bigger jump in O-Line technique than most would have thought from the game. When you consider that we had only ONE experienced offensive lineman all game, (Poncho) then what we did was certainly a step-up. With a great QB and receivers....we could score a lot more points, IMHO. Still....I've never seen such moves on the O-Line before, and again, I am both disgusted at how desperate we are, and yet proud of the progress made from before. With a half-season to go--these offensive linemen could end up being pretty good by fall of '27! Dylan Raiola and Tommy Tofi...