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Early is the best time to lose one like today because the film will display the deficiencies that must be corrected. Unfortunately the same holds for Ohio State. I always thought that people were giving Oklahoma far to much credit and I was not surprised that Michigan took them down at home. Congrats CKW.

We weren’t ready to play a team representing a proud program (with one national title) that last year we handed its worst loss in history, caused the firing of its long time head coach and pretty much the complete meltdown and rebuilding of its team. Not sure there was anyway to prepare for the pent-up feelings those folks were experiencing. Vengeance or retribution probably don’t even come close. On the other hand, we didn’t look like we were ready to play South Eugene High School either.

I was a bit baffled when Dan and Division Street picked up one O-line guy from the Ivy League. On D? Where's the Boettcher guts ball? However, OBD has 10 games to find redemption. Finish 11-1 and the first two games will not matter.

Amen! Someone light the fire!

The head coach has shown he is not . The coordinator's need to go too . Never too soon to start looking for replacements !

When was the last time we could say Oregon St might be the best college team in Oregon? Go OSU, beat Texas Tech!

We've got two jumbo size freshman linemen that should get a chance against PSU. Maybe they're hungary to play, and should get a shot.

It very well could be. At least this year. At times I have thought, over the last two years, that the team played well over their abilities. I still can't believe the defense played so well the last two years with Linebackers that can't cover, are expected to cover the field sideline to sideline when they don't have the speed necessary, and an offense that couldn't out muscle physical teams. So it just might be everyone has figured out the team is not the beast the media led everyone to believe. Superman is back on Krypton; Toto pulled back the cape, and King Kong does have something on Denzel. A lot of people in the program will need to prove we're not a paper tiger.

Didn't consider it. If that is the case, the coaches are in trouble. And why is that the case when the other two are killing it?

Plenty of times over the last year we have all seen open receivers that have been missed by DM.

We will find out against USC in a couple.

I think we have seen the extent of what Moore is capable of I hate to say. He doesn't read the field in real time. He was rushing throws when the offensive line was giving him plenty of time and he was fleeing the pocket when he still had time. He also held onto the ball too long and got sacked. Which I would say wasn't entirely his fault because the offensive line isn't great but most of those sacks looked like coverage sacks if I recall correctly... Which I might not as I watched the game on multiple devices and had to work pretty hard to keep watching the game. This just looked like Moore at his worse last year and even last game. I haven't seen the growth I was expecting from him. Nix and Gabriel were amazing at improv and reading the field in real time. Moore does not seem to do that.

I agree that the turn over of both coordinators is a challenge, but on the positive side there's continuity. Hopefully they'll have a Tim Tebow moment and rally.

This is the same that we thought of Mario C. when he was here. But he seems to have remedied that problem at Miami, mostly by getting out of his coordinators way. Lanning has had significant success since arriving, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. The first two games last year were sub par performances just as this year, but the competition was weaker, so we won.

I think he's a c-level coach and the a-level recruiter

After this game yes. Prior to this game no. 2022=10-3 2023=12-2 2024=16-1 2025=13-2 2026=7-5? Big question is can he turn it around?

Mike, I always enjoy your analysis as I only have 10% of your coaching knowledge if that. I will throw out another thought that might be sacrilege to some. I have read that our DUCKS are among the three best paid teams in college football. Is it possible that our players are not hungry? Have they already retired from the college game and are resting on their laurels and waiting for the draft? Best defense in college football? Not a chance.

It could be bit like Penn State 2025 where seemingly small changes in the roster and coordinator changes lacked chemistry with the players. Maybe having Bryce Boetcher graduating took away the heart and soul of the defense. Not having him flying around out there like psycho has to be a different vibe. I'm wondering if that is why will Stratton was in for a bit, seeing if a walk on could inspire the team to play the game with heart. Tosh may not have been the best play caller, but the dude had a vibe that will make you lock in and ball. On the Offense, the struggle is real with the OL. The 3 players we lost may not have been all World (pun intended), but they were experienced and consistent and gelled with the each other. I do believe Dan Lanning is better than James Franklin and will refuse to accept this team falling apart. Mehringer's play calling seemed better to me this game and I thought I saw some adjustments at halftime that helped. It's certainly no fun to be calling plays with a struggling run game. Then again, Drew Mehringer was shut out 4 games as the OC at Rutgers in what some called the worst offensive season in the history of the school, which is kind of a lot of years. At the post game press conference, Dan said heis still not down and out enough to question the current offensive and defensive schemes that "worked well for us for years", so if you are really sick of them, you had better hope we keep losing until Dan seriously questions them.

I don't want to criticize or single out players other than to say I saw very little intensity during the game. The Ducks appeared to be sleepwalking. Even worse, the team wasn't just beaten, they looked beaten down. That's a bad situation in dire need of correction. A real coaching challenge. There's a lot of work to be done between this game and the coming one with USC in a few weeks.

Going into his 5th season, is it fair to say that's he's top-notch at recruiting and culture-building, but sub-par in game preparation and game coaching?

Coordinators matter. The turnover is a big part of this.

I don't. But I have had reservations about the scheme on defense since before Ohio State embarrassed OBD. But I think the offense isn't really that bad. I'll keep it short. It looks like Lanning is concerned about pass coverage. The scheme is built to defend passing offenses. Here's the problem. A Four man front against six in the box neutralizes all that front 4 talent. In fact, sliding your ends inside as a strategy completely opens the edges up. That scheme is a major flaw. Also, I don't subscribe to 2 linebackers and two safeties as my solution to stopping running plays. And believe me, if I see this, you bet every elite coach wants to play Oregon right now. On offense-Dante Moore plays favorites. He is not reading the field. Gaitlin Bair was open on a Mesh Rout concept and Moore threw to McClellan short (dropped pass that wouldn't have converted on third down anyway). Dante Moore has to be comfortable. He is not going to throw receivers open-he just doesn't want to. Of course I would diagram this and show tape-but nobody wants to look at OBD when we lose. Once the season settles in I will show EXACTLY what I see. It is disturbing. The strategy Lanning wants to employ is simple to solve. Coaches are adjusting to some real sophisticated and evolutionary stuff in real time. College coaches are using NFL strategy. And they are killing it. I believe Kirby Smart may be heading the same way. He doesn't have a talent issue like Lanning has (sloppy DB coverage, ineffective OL play-which just might be coaching though). Football is becoming very interesting. I see moves and counter moves Lanning is either ignoring, or he doesn't believe it effects his ability to win. That isn't the case at the elite level for sure. And believe me, there are plenty of coaches at the G6 level that grasp the evolution of the game. I will show you guys lots of things I've learned this summer. The last thing I will say is this: the players don't seem to believe they are good enough. They are wilting in the face of teams that are hungry. The coaches are assuming things will evolve to the degree they don't have to adjust to the conditions on the ground. That is a HUGE mistake. They can't throw out all they schemed for this season, but they don't seem to realize teams know just about everything they will do. OBD are simply talented enough to win plays anyway most of the time. Now remember-I'm just a hack. I have coached semi pro ball, and it was difficult to say the least. Especially since the players completely believed they could just show up and play totally unprepared. In my studies this summer, I found out why coaches approach the game as they do. That was interesting as well, It takes an extreme amount of dedication and flexibility to excel at this game.

ESPN did this game dirty. I only feel bad for OSU though. There are worse things for us than most of the nation missing that 4th quarter on ESPN News.

I just hope this is not Penn St. 2.0 (record wise, I know the coach is staying).