oregon123

The pick early in the game. That should have been the start of a route and getting the Ducks back in the playoff conversation. But it did not go that way. It did however, set the tone for the defense to dominate. If only this team had last year's O line and still had Will Stein. (and of course, Dante was still playing) They would or could be number one right now.

Missing: Dante, McClellen, Stewart, Fergusen, 2 offensive tackles from portal, a RB like the one that Tennessee has, and some new plays that everyone on the planet doesn't already know. But we should all take this into consideration: every team they played is at least a good team except for Portland state. And, with the portal, the mediocre teams of the recent past are now competitive. Just ask Texas and Georgia. Given the challenges, I'll take the win yesterday and be happy about it. It was a great game ending drive.

All Lanning has to do is hire the next Kenny Dillingham and all should be well. 2 out of 3 of his OC hires were home runs. Some people bagged on Will Stein, but I will take last year's offense over this years with mostly the same players.

If you beat a team with really good players like Oregon, bama, Georgia, Ohio St, Texas, then you deserve to move up in the rankings.

I would have put Raiola in after the first two possessions.

The offense was good on the final drive - that is what is startling to me. The same guys (with exception of QB) who were terrible all game, all of a sudden, learned how to play football. By the way, when a QB came in who was a threat to go deep, the O line could block. Probably because 5 didn't have to block all 11. What surprises me in a bad way is how bad Thomas was today and how bad Raiola was vs UCLA. What are they doing in practice all week that they can't get ready for Saturday? And I am surprised in a good way how good the defense has gotten since the first two games.

Reminds me of the downfall of Helfrich. He did good his first year with Chip's players, then it tanked. Lanning can bring in the player talent, but he is garbage on offense unless he brings in a top tier OC.

Raiola looks much better, but still almost nobody getting open.

Part of Lanning's job is to have a plan ready if QB1 goes down. He is learning some things on the fly. Nix, Gabriel, and Dante last year shielded him from that dilema.

the Oregon D is going to wear down eventually I'm ready for Raiola again. That is a very hard thing for me to write.

The offense looks as out of sync as the defense did when Helfrich was head coach and Brady Hoke was the DC. They can't get a starting caliber QB and a good OC in the next 5 minutes, so they need to find some plays this unit can execute. They can't rely on screens and handoffs all game long. They have to throw it downfield.

Ducks win 17 - 16 1 1 199

I don't think that is possible. I saw quite a bit of the Nebraska game last week. This could be the best team the Ducks have played so far this season.

I think the best option on offense is to change the plays. The are stale. Defenses have them all figured out. Start with some misdirection plays. Let A. Smith get in and do some zone reads.

The last two playoff losses and the two losses this season - it felt like the other team knew what Oregon was going to do and how to exploit the Ducks. The USC game was an exception to this theory. I am guessing that the Ducks are too predictable. The opposing defense can give a certain look to force Oregon to audible and then they know what Oregon is going to do. Oregon is falling for this from up and coming coaches previously from the lower ranks who had to figure out how to do more with less to get wins. I think Dan Lanning figured it out and he is upset that he learned that others know more about college football than he does. I also think the Ducks will get up to speed on this quickly. I also don't think that Koi Perich and the O line are horrible. They are just getting burned. Once the 'fix' is put in (whatever that is), things should look like normal Oregon football again. I have a very hard time believing that Lanning whiffed on evaluating Perich and his O line with all the coaching experience he has. I believe that this all came about because Lanning has such a young coaching staff. Lanning is fixing the defense. The offense is harder to fix because there are no real experts in Eugene for that purpose. Dan Lanning needs an offensive partner to help him coach. Yes, a real partner. An equal, not in title, but in expertise. Having assistants who are learning on the job is not getting it done.