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.

I saw much of the Nebraska game and was very impressed with their O line. Even if Oregon gets it QB situation under control, it will still be hard to win.

That article is very accurate. But fixing the issues will shut down the haters. How many times before has Oregon looked like it would never bounce back?

If you are too mad, then don't post. You won't be able to control yourself. And if you are in that kind of state of mind, you probably won't have anything sensible to say either - just spewing anger about how much they suck. And if you do make a point, you won't recall that you just said that 30 seconds ago and will repeat yourself over and over again. Once you settle down a little and realize that it is just a game, then you should be fine and be able to dissect the game like a sports fan and not a raving maniac. So on a scale of 1 to 10 about how teed off you are, if you are an 8 or above, you should wait to post until you come down a little. That is my 2 cents for whatever it's worth. LSU in overtime with Kentucky. Oklahoma beat Texas. Nebraska almost beat Indiana. Just because you have good players, winning is no longer automatic. It is a new world. And just because your team lost, it doesn't mean your program is down the toilet. Lots of good teams will have a few losses this year.

I have a strange feeling that this team will be up and down for the rest of the season. I would not be surprised if Dante came back and beat Ohio St. I would also not be surprised if they lost more games to unranked opponents. I suspect Lanning lost the group with his offseason decisions, including coaching hires/promotions and lack of portal moves on the O line. He probably over-estimated how ready his team was to compete for a championship this year. I was shocked to see how much accuracy DR lost in two weeks.

I agree with your title and what I hate is waiting for so freaking long to see a change. I really thought Lanning was going to stick with DR and three more picks. I was really hoping for OT and part of that was to let Brock get his moment in the sun.

Do the math. There are five O line players and 11 on defense. This year, it seems that every run play the Ducks run, all 11 defenders are going after the RB. Not only has the O line players changed, but so has the OC. It is hard as a fan to tell what is the problem: scheme and play calling or the linemen. I agree with you on World, Harkey, and Pregnon. They were beasts. But as these games go by, I am more and more thinking that the offense is 'stale' and the opposing coaching staff already knows what the plays are. If you could have brought those three players back for this game, would it have made a difference? I can't really answer that question. But my best guess would be: Oregon would have won, but barely and it would not have looked good.

This game was a lot like the one Jeff Lockie played in. I think it was that bowl game where the Ducks were way up and blew it? (Just going by memory, so I could be wrong)

Good Point! Now I have three weeks to forget about it and enjoy my Halloween. Meanwhile, I am going to try to NOT think about Oregon turning into Clemson.

I am not going to bag on Washington being bad. I don't want to be like a Beaver fan who gets pleasure out of the Ducks losing when his team is sucking the bottom of the gutter.

A word to the wise. You are coming close to 'venting' if not already there. You are right. The players are not kids. They are also not real student athletes. They are highly paid professionals. And most of them performed very well. You are also correct that the team played very far below their talent level. It is hard to accept such good players putting such a poor product on the field. Especially after a bye week. But in perspective, does ANY team ever win with such bad QB play? They were about 2 feet away from over time. I will stake my reputation as a fan when I say this: If Kenny Dillingham was still their OC, they would have easily won this game.