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It's not about if they beat PSU by 100 points or whatever... it's about how they do it. Regardless they will not prove anything. But it could be a sign of hope if they go out there and just play physical and disciplined that is a step in the right direction.

Terrific, well-reasoned post. Thank you. Before he was hired by LSU, Saban had head coaching experience at Toledo and Michigan State. When he was hired Dan had no head coaching experience. OK, it's an excuse. But on Saturday, Oregon should have been in Autzen Stadium playing San Jose State. Mullens screwed the pooch with his 2026 OOC scheduling, beginning with scheduling Boise State. OOC, SC played San Jose State, Fresno State, and LA-LA, all games played in LA. SC goes 10-2 and is in the PO. OOC, Indiana plays three donut holes at home. Go 10-2, and Indiana returns to the PO. Ohio State would make the same media revenue if it played Ohio U at home on Saturday instead of Texas, and would have cashiered home game revenue. Based on what happened to 9-3 Texas last season, Ohio State better go 8-1 the rest of the season to ensure a PO invite. With today's roster turnover, manning up OOC is senseless. Nine B1G games provide enough schedule strength. Enough said on OOC scheduling. --- Dan is 15-8 vs. Top 25 competition. Dan is 5-4 vs. Top 10 competition, and 3-3 vs. Top 5 competition. Ryan Day is 27-11 vs. Top 25 opponents, 16-10 vs. Top 10, and 8-7 vs. the Top 5. The winning percentages are similar. Day has a title; Dan does not. Why? Because in 2024, after losing again to Michigan, Day's team played to its potential and won four consecutive games to capture a crown. If Day had lost the 1st-round home playoff game vs. Tennessee, would he still be employed by Ohio State? Then, there's the GOAT - Alabama Crimson Tide On SISnapshot of a Coaching Giant: Nick Saban's Record Against...Nick Saban's success against ranked opponents, including at No. 1, stands out in college football historyAmong current head coaches, at the P4 level, Curt Cignetti's two-year winning percentage against top competition is phenomenal. Even if he continues to win like this against top competition, he doesn't have the longevity to catch Saint Nick. Your post today and Charles's post are reasoned looks at Dan's record. The most disappointing thing about the loss on Saturday was the Ducks, especially on defense, going down with a whimper, as happened in the Rose and Peach Bowl losses. Rick Neuheisel was far from the first person to reference the Jimmies and the Joes. https://medium.com/an-idea/the-magic-recipe-for-success-2f112c1d5f7d Dan has built top CFB rosters. He shouldn't lose often to unranked opponents, and he doesn't. What coach out there can recruit to Eugene like Dan? If Dan were canned, he'd have a top CFB job in a matter of days that would likely come with a bump in pay. One layup and then nine B1G games left. It's not how you start that matters; it's how you finish. BTW, if you think Nick Saban was the only CFB coach pre-NIL bending the rules, I've got a bridge to sell you.

And that's a bit of a problem.

You can scheme around less than elite O lines. But the QB has to be able to move and not tighten up when he gets pressured.

That's what I have been saying, they are soft. If they beat PSU 100-0 won't change anyone's mind about that

"Dan Lanning Doesn't Lose to Unranked Opponents." The team and the coaches were mentally weak going into this game, as the upset had just never happened to Oregon under Lanning. We will see a very different team and coaches the rest of the season!

The O line has to get a whole lot better for any of this to come to pass.

The Jimmies and Joes were the only reason the game was close in the fourth quarter... or at any point in the game. Jackson putting their QB out of bounds on a long QB run saved a touchdown and the defense held them to a field goal. Jackson's pick six actually put Oregon up 7-3. Uiagalelei's interception enabled the Ducks to get a quick touchdown for 14 points right there. Stewart and Dak Moore both had long TD catches... there's 14 points there. There's 28 points that came strictly off talent. This isn't a talent problem ... its a teamwork and mentality problem.

Which I guess, tells me, that the coaching was sub standard that day. Not willing to take it too far yet.

100%, They thought they were playing the same team as last year. Surprise! This loss is 85% on the coaches. Maybe it helps them the rest of the season maybe were going to do a Penn State.

I was thinking about Rick Neuheisel's famous comment that most Duck fans are familiar with: "It's not the X's and the O's, but the Jimmies and the Joes that make the difference." Seeing how we had a clear talent advantage with our Jimmies and Joes last Saturday, perhaps "The Weasel's" comment needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Nowhere was this more apparent than along the defensive front. I'm flabbergasted that the Cowboys were able to do what they did to the NFL-quality talent we have assembled on our defensive line. The upperclassman group you'd expect to create havoc was rendered absolutely ineffective. This is all the more befuddling when you compare last year's Oregon/OSU game to this year's (211 yards of total offense vs. almost 600). Which leads me to question: Is it still the Jimmies and the Joes that make the difference, or has today's game morphed to where a schematic shift in philosophy can gain an advantage over even the most talent-loaded opponents? (Last year OSU ran a traditional spread offense; this year they installed a simpler Air Raid approach). I'm no expert when it comes to X's and O's, but I'm guessing our coaches are probably installing some new schemes for our Jims & Joes this week!

Dante's Tuesday comments. Everything Dante Moore said about Oregon’s struggles, leadership and responding to Oklahoma State loss Again, Just Do It

While I understand that the point spread, and the relative positions of the two teams were highly discussed and pronounced--I think another ancilairy element may have played a big part in all of this. Dan Lanning in FOUR YEARS has NEVER lost to an unranked opponent. This wasn't any non-ranked opponent...this was an opponent who had not won in a long time versus a P4 team, and just lost to TULSA for crying-out-loud? The fans, the coaches, and the team knew that Lanning never loses to an unranked opponent. They knew we would easily take care of business, and they were mentally on cruise-control. Now add it being 140 degrees on the field....who wants to be in that game with a such a lowly opponent, and dealing with such vicious heat? EVERY coach loses games he shouldn't, and we have been spoiled with HOW we have lost, when we lost to great teams. Good-gosh....Cristobal beats Ohio State in Columbus and then goes and loses to like a 4-win team at Stanford? Mario lost a bunch of those, and lost two games with unranked opponents just last year. So until now....Lanning had never lost to such an unranked opponent, and I think this team was simply not ready mentally from a variety of angles. OK. Lanning just lost his first game he should not have lost. He, the coaches, and the team will be better as they just passed a negative milestone, but an important mental one that will help them for years.

If the fixes are easy, everyone would be able to do it. Didn't show up in weak 2 and weak 3 is not going to be an indication. Devon Jackson says defensive fixes are 'easy', reaching program standard 'very attainable' Everyone, stop talking and Just Do It

I think this can be a two fold problem. The Ducks haven't been ready to play. A slow start means poor execution. The other teams have been hyped to attack our offense out the gate and try and get the upset. The Ducks have a massive target on their backs because they're the Ducks and opponents want to embarrass us. A scripted drive probably needs to be better drawn up and executed better. The run game has been non-existent and the passing game has had problems too. Finding something that gets the offense in rhythm is critical and that's designing an opening drive that works.

True enough, but I wouldn't call Oklahoma State elite either. Though Boise wasn't a "good win" in terms of we probably should have beaten them by two or three touch downs, Boise has a good chance to run the table on the rest of their schedule. OSU is one of those "majority" of opponents you should beat with average coaching. No one is taking about them as a possible conference champ and definitely not a play off contender. Maybe they're better than most people thought. Though I've been unable to watch either game live, replays show me a team getting beaten consistently on the line of scrimage on both sides of the ball. I understand that with a less experienced O line than we're used to, but the defensive front was thought by many to be the best unit in college football. The number one stat that stuck out to me was Oregon zero QB sacks OSU three QB sacks. In the game today when you are not getting to the other team's QB and they are getting to yours you will struggle.

I often hear about inferior teams, getting off to a good start or even an opening scoring drive because they have scripted their first drive. Some say, this was the case with the Boise State game, (although I disagree that’s why they were successful). Conversely, our success rate seems terrible on opening drives even against weaker teams. Is this an indication of poor coaching or lack of energy or execution by the players? Just wondering if anybody else has noticed this?

Without making any sort of a statement. Teams with outstanding talent will beat the majority of their opponents with average coaching. Playing the elites is when the talent needs an extra boost.

Ala Colorado 2023, get back to playing for wins not clicks!!!

Ok, I am going to bounce around a bit (what's new?). First and foremost: OBD are going to have a difficult time winning games 45-44. That is not a formula for winning. Ask Mario about his 2024 team-great offense poor defense. Believe me-giving up more than 20 points a game will not lead to enough victories in the playoffs. And right now, we are looking at two quotes...1) Playoffs!!! Playoffs!!! and 2) They are who we thought they were...and we let em off the hook!!! Secondly-this is way more complicated than coaching. Though I believe strategy is a massive indicator at this point. Again, I am cooking up a thesis to help me diagnose what the problem truly is. But I don't think it is one thing. There are shades of Penn State last year; 2015, 2015 and 2016; football is evolving rapidly and coaches at ALL levels are adapting faster than people realize; and it is very possible that players are more focused on the bag-and the things that their respective bag is buying (and all the status that comes with that) than playing football (not my original thought, but enough have mentioned it that it could be reality). Josh Pate put it well: are we looking at a Penn State (and Clemson) collapse or an Alabama refocus (though Bama had a ceiling-and we resemble that in so many ways)? I believe there are some solutions-to all of it. But I am a bonafide, certified hack that is truly throwing mud on the wall hoping something will stick. I find it amusing that Duck Nation is having as much as a meltdown as Ohio State fans. Losing when you think you're Gods really creates emotional damage LOL. Didn't help that DL was chippy yesterday. I hope that is just his edge and that the players are beyond angry to the point they want to crack some pads and put their fingers in some face masks. It truly is time to see a Duck team play really, really nasty ball. Mean, borderline dirty, like Dennis Rodman and cutthroat like Michael Jordan and Kobe. Somebody here said it well: when we look at last year's Miami team, Indiana, Ohio State and Georgia-those teams play differently than OBD do. There is a level of intensity -not flashy hype-full blown intensity- that OBD have only shown once-in 2010 when Chip fully shocked the world. That is still the standard in my eyes. That 2010 team was confident, but very determined. They had the right amount of talent and grit. I haven't seen that kind of team at Oregon since.

Too many variables to call it one way or the other. I had a guy standing next to me at the Boise St game who correctly called a fair number of plays based on our formations. Even though Boise was usually on it, our success rate was still around 50% on the ones he called. You could say it doesn’t matter how easily we’re read so long as we execute our plays. On the other hand, it doesn’t make it any easier to execute if we’re being read that often.

So long as it doesn’t turn into a-dope-on-a-rope.

"Who benefits?" Cicero: QB Drew Mestemaker is the Player of the Week. https://apnews.com/article/drew-mestemaker-oklahoma-state-player-of-week-6c557bf55dda9c606593cda52ecca261?user_email=c7d8647c6247db8d08c59fe44bc30380a147aa90b9e33099045cd46ddc6a485b&utm_medium=Sports_wire&utm_so 🤬🤬🤬

I would like to see Dylan play some against PSU.

I am not defending our coordinators (though I kinda will) but we don't have enough information on their ability at this time because there are so many other things going wrong. Sure there have been some bad play calls... but I would also argue that many of them would have worked if the execution was better. Right now I am questioning the promotions of Jack Smith (Tight Ends), Koa Ka'ai (quarterbacks) and Kamran Araghi (outside linebackers) more than the coordinators. Our tight ends have had little impact in the game and yes we were down Johnson last game but still. Moore is playing awful and our edge rushers don't feel like game breakers. I am questioning offensive line coaching at the moment for A'lique Terry because of just how bad these pieces are at becoming a whole but we've seen better in past years so I have some hope there. I need to see better play from the offensive line and better execution out of the players before I jump on the coordinators. I think they have growing to do and I think they need to do better jobs as well. But Dante Moore outright not seeing open receivers or missing a pass to open receivers isn't something wrong with a play call... it's a player and position coaching problem.