kirklandduck

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.

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.

A lot of things OBD needed to fix over the week. But it all starts up front...if they haven't resolved the OL issues then it won't matter which QB is in or what plays are being called. Hopefully something has been addressed!

Oregon 24-21 2 TO 3 Sacks 201 yards passing

If we're thinking about the same play, Brock actually overthrew Dak by 3 feet so arm strength isn't an issue (he's not elite but has enough). He was under pressure because the OL was collapsing yet again so accuracy went out the window.

I do hope that DL is actively reaching out and finding an outside consultant to help with the offense. I just don't believe there's enough coaching talent/experience on that side of the ball to fix it themselves right now.

Thank you for that detailed analysis! I'd be happy to see the offense go back to the old Dillingham schemes, though I share Charles' concern that the tackles we have now may be inadequate for this (or any other offense for that matter). But who knows, maybe this helps simplify their assignments and allows them to concentrate on fewer things as they're learning and growing.

Safety group's performance has already been middling at best, Aaron was on the better part of that effort ☹️ I hope one of the new guys steps up.

Agree. Compounding the issue is that Dave Iuli at RG isn't particular good at run blocking either 😬

Putting Fox Crader back at LT makes the most sense. He did well in spot duty last season at that position and I honestly didn't understand why Coach Terry moved him over to RT where he's been less than adequate. The OL seemed to stabilize a bit late in the UCLA game with him back there, at least enough for Brock to have a chance to make some plays. Leaving Fox at LT at least (maybe) solves half the issue at the tackle spots. Gernorris isn't particularly great but if he can be at least average at RT then the only remaining issue are the guard spots where they can't seem to get any push for run blocking.

There needs to be coaching changes at OL, QB, and OC. Will it happen mid-season? I doubt it. So it'll be interesting to see what DL is going to do over the course of this week. My personal thoughts: OL - It's becoming obvious Alique Terry isn't as good with developing high school talent as anyone thought. Someone online pointed out that when Will Stein left, he took Cutter Leftwich and Dallas Warmack (both OL coaching assistants) with him. This may be a big reason why coaching quality dropped in this group. QB - It's pretty obvious Koa Ka'ai is learning on the job. That's not what you want when you're trying to develop 5-star QB talent. We need an experienced coach at this position ASAP. This one is probably the easiest of the 3 to just bring someone in right now. OC - It's painfully obvious to everyone that Drew Meringer isn't it. Not by a long shot. Problem is who can he be replaced with? No one in house has any OC experience. I suppose you could let a newbie like Ross Douglas or Ra'shaad Samples take a shot and hope they surprise you. But I'm done with hoping for the best. DL needs to bring in someone like Jonathan Smith or Mark Helfrich to serve as an "analyst" to help out right away and demote Meringer back down to TE coach at the end of the season. Additional bonus: Smith or Helfrich also have plenty of proven QB development experience so that kills two birds with one stone.

Brock over Dylan. He just knows how to operate the offense better overall right now. That being said, it won't matter which QB starts if the issues on the OL aren't resolved first.

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.

Offensive line is playing like garbage on that play.

That was the right time to try a passing play after putting the defense on their heels like that. sigh

Nebraska coug’d it!

Special teams had a good play

That was the absolute dumbest penalty I’ve ever seen a defensive lineman do. What is Amari thinking??

That was a gift by UCLA. Oregon’s offense still needs to show up, it hasn’t in the first possession.

Run blocking is terrible. Coach Terry needs to get his butt in gear.

Problem is going to be the safety play. UCLA is going to target it all game.

Nebraska's QB has some potential but he's seriously mistake prone. The offense cost them the game.

Nebraska defense getting tired and making mistakes. Doesn't help that their offense is trying to give the ball back to IU on each possession now.

Nebraska defense doing a commendable job keeping IU in check. Before the season started I also expected Hoover to not be anywhere near as effective as Mendoza was. So far that's been showing as true.

Ok I laughed way too hard at this 🤣