David Marsh

Of course a sample size of one and against PSU doesn't have me calling for him to replace DM. But... DM didn't see some open receivers yet again and doesn't have the patience to let plays develop. Raiola showed he can go through progressions and let a play develop. Granted... He had loads of time to do that against PSU but he also DID IT!

I also got the sense PSU was running the ball for the sole purpose of shortening the game to get it over with. Part of the reason why we probably didn't get more sacks.

And hopefully we see a focused Oregon team like what we saw last night. Stats aside for last night... But the Ducks looked focused on the task at hand.

Moore throws a nicer deep ball still. Both looked in command of the huddle which is a good thing. But I have a feeling that Raiola might have more of the "it" factor. He just has better vision from the short sample size we got.

They have a new head Coach and I have a colleague who knows one of their coaches and attended a PSU practice. They are not as bad as their record indicates. I didn't expect them to be competitive for long.... But they didn't even look like they belonged on the same field.

I mean... I'll say this. If I wasn't a die hard Duck fan, and didn't want to write an article, I would have turned it off at half time and done something else with the rest of my evening. But I'm a die hard so here we are. And though I said that the score and stats don't matter because it's just PSU, the reality is that I kinda expected PSU to get 14-20 points with the way our defense has been playing. But with the talent differential the standard should be shutout. So seeing the shutout and only 6 first downs allowed meets a reasonable standard for this defense against that opponent. As for the offense I was expecting them to score about 50 with how badly they've been executing the offense.... I didn't expect 48 off the starter by half and another 36 by the second, third and fourth string QBs and company in the second. But I will say they met the standard of what they should have done to that opponent.

The PSU line only held up for seconds which is why PSU only had 6 first downs... Two of which were Oregon penalties. Otherwise the the PSU QB was just throwing inaccurate balls hoping it worked. Sometimes it did but mostly didn't. Rushing 4 is the root of the problem here I feel. Offensive line plus a tight end blocker is 6 blockers to 4. But you're right containment is the goal. As for the sacks... Moore stepped up and into one sack as a lane opened and he wasn't decisive if he wanted to run. The other sack was on the second string offensive line where Manning didn't hold up and Raiola was sacked. The second one I feel is more on the offensive line than the first. Still not great that it happened.

Ball was fun to watch too. The guy just hit people! He seemed to seek contact to run through it.

Just some post game thoughts on the game. Quick Quack: Oregon vs PSUSome quick thoughts on the Oregon win over PSU.Big game is up next against USC.

PSU is running the ball a lot and the QB when given a pressure is throwing the ball quick. Couple plays he was dead to rights but just threw it a hair faster than they could get to him. Those throws were all incomplete with open intentional grounding. That's what Lanning wants to see. The reality is that unless the Ducks rush 5 I don't see a ton of sacks happening. Too easy to get rid of the ball before getting hit. I think I did see the Ducks rush five one down though and that was the grounding penalty.

It's about execution this game and this team needs reps. And they're playing a hit angry. There is a bit more purpose to how they're playing right now.

Indo love me some jumbo packages. And a bit more protection to bolster the offensive line is certainly in order.

Was that 3rd down a blitz? Like more than 4 rushers? Did I see that right?

Anyone able to get a view of the o line tonight? Addison, Utu, Poncho, Iuli and Crader?

I think I've figured some things out... Going to be in my Monday article. Regardless of the PSU outcome.

I wrote an article with that title... that was the game we sacked Washington's QB 10 times! And 3/4 of that defensive line that did that to Washington in 2024 is still on the freaking team!

Not much to add that hasn't already been said... but I tried. Hoping to write some more positive articles in the coming days. Final Thoughts Before Oregon v Portland StateIt’s been a bad week to be a Duck fan and we get the first sign of a potential program turnaround.

I don't know if it would be a miracle.... it is going to take settling on a solid 5. And then making sure those 5 can communicate and work in sync. Most of these players have been with the program for multiple years which means they have the vocabulary and they have the physical gifts. They need to learn to put it all together and work as a unit which won't be easy. But if this is also truly a player led team... Moore and his offensive line should be out there on their own time repping and getting that chemistry. They need to be ok against PSU. Then they get a week. Then they need to show out against USC. It is completely possible. The 2024 line was just as bad (or maybe worse) in two games. It is going to take work to fix and most of it won't be on the coaches.

If that's the tell... then a little coaching and repping should fix the problem. That and just being mindful in a game would also fix the problem. In the Mario Cristobal era at Oregon I found a tell that most defenses picked up on but they never corrected... if it was a pistol formation it was a 80% chance of run and if it was run it was always into an A-gap. If it was a pass well just crash down anyways because the runner is guaranteed to go to the A-gap so just smash the line of scrimmage no matter what. The Cristobal staff never seemed to figure that one out... or didn't care as they believed just being more PHYSICAL was all that was needed for that to work.

If he doesn't we are in BIG trouble because the game is too close to take the starters out. And if we are in that level of BIG trouble... he should probably play because we aren't getting what we need from Dante.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I am in no way saying that the refs cost us this game.... the Ducks would have had to do a whole lot more things right for that to be the case. But seriously... the B1G refs seem to hate us. If that was an Oregon defender holding it would have been flagged. As much as we all hated the old Pac-12 refs I think I like them better than these B1G ones.