Solar

We just got beat and the Illinois fans understood the situation. We aren't worth rushing the field for.

It's a fine line between success and failure. You can't survive a horrible OL, OC and a defensive scheme that gives up the edges like ours does.

We may have the best Defense and worst Offense in the B1G right now. It is what it is, and 7 points may be enough for us to win here

It's rough isn't it? Some of these plays should never be run outside peewee football. Why is it so hard to get Jamari one on one with a LB? Why do we have an empty backfield and 4 WRs next to the sideline? If you want to run a wildcat replace the QB with a blocker. I'm seeing the want to option out of it based on the look, but even that is stupid. It's really rough to watch.

Our D understands the assignment.

That was a brilliant play design, send Jamari down the sideline with Dak pass blocking. Fire Drew. He's creatively stupid.

We need to run the ball. The OL is good enough. Fire Mehringer

I can't believe how optional it is for our defensive ends to set the edge and turn defenders inside. And like I said. Clunky offense for us.

I'm a little scared of the new QB. Defense needs to wake up in a hurry

Nice drive. There is a massive difference between Illinois defense and Nebraska's. A good get right game for this offense.

That's the optimism I like! Go Ducks!

I tend to agree. Dan Lanning is having years taken off his life with this offensive misery. This level of discomfort is surely going to result in real changes. Dan will grow. But it is jarring to see what we are right now compared what we used to be.

As much as folks want to complain, it seems we are still in the price discovery phase of NIL. As much as the NCAA wants to get it's antitrust exemption, they aren't going to be able to put the toothpaste back in the tube. My personal opinion is that this is just showing there has been a lot of money being unfairly withheld from the gladiators for generations. That's the real un-American travesty, not that NIL is ruining the sport as some suggest.

Charles I think you need a new rule: No unfounded character assassinations. It's getting really unfortunate to see.

I'm sitting here watching 2015 Oregon vs Arizona State, with Big Play VA and all of our skill players that could run like scalded cats, and I really miss that time. Yeah defenses sucked, and almost none of our players were headed to the NFL except Buckner and Royce, but so what? It was really fun to watch. Getting back to title of the post, today we are lumbering behemoth of 4 and 5 stars on offense that can't figure out how to get out of our own way, combined with an elite smothering defense. There are probably 30 people on the team right now that will end up on an NFL roster. We are now a quintessential Big 10 team with a ton of talent, all defense and no offense. Let's raise a toast to what once was and accept the trendy cliche that the Ducks are indeed the Hero that lived long enough to become the Villain. Our Transition to the Dark Side of the Force is now complete..

Oregon 26-9 2 TOs 2 sacks 201 yards

I expect the OL rotation to match the 4th quarter of Nebraska. I expect much more success on the ground against against a lessor DL, especially with Smith as our change of pace back. I still expect our offense to be clunky/inconsistent. That will come from inconsistent OL and QB play, and interspersed confounding play calling. The inconsistency will kill some drives, but not all of them. I expect to see a top 5 defense playing against a first time starter at QB (for better and for worse). Points will be tough to come by for the Illini, but there could be some moments they catch us our heals. This game is 2 time zones away, but has a reasonable start time and reasonable weather, so comparisons against OSU earlier this year are unwarranted. That's my expectation.

There is a narrative out there in the press that everyone hates this and it's only been done for money. I'm not going to say money isn't a driving factor, but that doesn't mean it's a bad decision. These purist press folks are in an echo chamber. There are so many reasons to love a 24 team playoff as I've talked about before, and I think a lot of people get it. But no matter, everyone will come around to it eventually.

We've got a great thing going with Ify, Offord and Finney. They are the best group of cover DBs in the country.

They worked because defenses were still learning how to defend the spread and the fastest players were on offense not defense. Today you can have the numbers match or advantage at the snap, but by the time the ball get's to the WR it's a different story. I always go back to the fact that in theory the triple option always has a numbers advantage but nobody runs it anymore because it can still be beat consistently with modern defenses.

The counter to this argument is this is a results based business which Lanning mentions consistently and everyone outside the program can see the poor results relative to the talent, therefore it is reasonable to expect Lanning to replace Terry and the OC and possibly the QB coach in the off-season.

When you consider the quality of the opponents offenses and the number of possessions we've given our opponents, especially lately this defense is WAY better than basic metrics suggest.

Since this is turning into the thread for happy thoughts, I'll add that I'm happy to hear we have an offensive analyst ready to fill Terry's shoes at a moments notice.. I'm happy with our defense that is now top 10 caliber and is on track to be top 5 in the country by the end of the season. I'm happy with all the freshmen emerging into starting roles mid season. I'm happy that they've found an OL arrangement that works (even if it's the same arrangement everyone thought they were likely going to have at the start of the season).

Rhule didn't account for our speed on kick coverage. Low hang time on kickoffs or punts is irrelevant with our speed. Bair can legitimately almost outrun the ball in the air.

Illinois defense is 92nd and they have a new freshman QB who could be lights out, but he's never thrown against our level of DBs before. I also think we may have somewhat turned a corner on the OL with Tofi at LG. The line seems fine with a high uncertainty band on the QB for both sides LOL.