Babyjesus615

While frustrating and rarely rewarding, I believe the woes we have been experiencing, notably on the offensive side of the ball is exactly the kind of humbling experience Dan Lanning needs to reach the next level. He has now seen the risk that can come with promoting close associates vs. a proper vetting process. That's not to say that there isn't a place for it on a staff. I said in an earlier post that promoting from within can absolutely work well; but it should come with the same scrutiny that a national coaching search would. If I am Dan Lanning I'm looking at the prospective coach's prior body of work, the development of players in the program, his natural trajectory in the program and whether it looks like he truly is the next best option in line. I'd also, honestly, take into to consideration whether or not he has, or is currently, receiving job offers elsewhere for the position in question. Are other teams seeing the value in this person as a play-caller or player developer? Do they think he has the talent to elevate their team? If Lanning has questions on any of these given variables then the right call would be to conduct a national coaching search and include this person. Can he measure up to rest of the candidate pool? Or is he maybe best suited to remain in his current position for a bit longer? I do think DL will learn from this; heck, he is still is learning on the job. I believe these are the sort of hiccups that can help a coach see the big picture and allow him to elevate his team moving forward.

Couldn't agree more. We can't suddenly make our O Line play tougher, smarter, and drastically different than what we've seen before. Quick decisions by the QB, Tight Ends involved with the passing game, getting the ball to the playmakers even for short yardage begins to wear on a defense. We aren't a Cristobal team, we don't use jumbo packages effectively. We need to utilize the one on one matchups to our advantage.

Ducks 31-27 2 TO 2 Sacks 215 Passing Yards (more than one QB will account for this)

I can see them rising to the occasion and having a “get right” game. I’m not putting my eggs in that basket at the same time either. I’m hoping and optimistic that Lanning is humble enough to realize what he has let slip through the cracks. I can see him having serious accountability meetings with staff and players. I’m hoping they take it out on Nebraska!

Doubt the changes apply to staff yet. I do think this may be Mehringer's last chance at sole play-calling duties. Personally, I'd say A'lique Terry should be the first guy to go. I believe he was able to hide is inadequacies at developing players through the transfer portal the last couple of years. When he had experienced, good linemen, he looked good. Now he has a bunch of raw talent that needs to be coached up and it just doesn't look like it is happening. The personnel on the O-Line really can't change that much because Lanning has already tried that and has seen the results. My guess is schematically, he will put an emphasis on getting the ball out quick (gets Jamari Johnson involved), not throwing on the back foot, and digging into the run game more decisively. I still think we need to make the QB more of a run threat to keep defenses from selling out on our RBs. I cant imagine that they haven't practiced the read-option this season. With a still-in-development line, it would allow much more wiggle room to get yards up the field rather than hoping the line can constantly get push for runs up the middle.

Lanning needs to leverage the resources at his disposal and surround himself by verified talent. Oregon is a destination job opportunity. He should be conducting a national coaching search for every high end position on the staff. Promotions from within should only come after it is abundantly clear the person in line deserves the promotion. They should have other high end job offers on the table to prove their worth as well. The "Ol' Boys Club" hires need to end, period.

At this rate we may get the Civil War match-up this season after all!

I mean honestly with suspect O-Line run blocking a read-option might be the way to go. Defenses are selling out on our run-game exactly because our QBs haven't been a run threat all season and most of last. I'm not saying Akili Smith Jr. is a better passer than any of the other options; but he does give the offense another element that hasn't been seen consistently since Bo Nix.

Now multiply this situation by about 5 or 6 when we look at every other player that is being under utilized and is frustrated. I hope it doesn't, but this could snowball in a hurry with young kids seeing money and a chance to put NFL tape down.

Their back-up looks serviceable. He held is own against our best defensive showing of the season this far. They should be fine with the rest of the pieces Chesney has put together out there.

Oregon delivered one of its most abysmal offensive performances we've seen since maybe the the Redbox Bowl of 2018. That offense at least grew into the vision of it's coach in a positive way (Mario Cristobal, Marcus Arroyo). This offense looks absolutely lost with zero identity or creativity for the talent on the field. Drew Mehringer does not look like he is growing into the position. In fact he seems to be a major liability in both play calling and now, most likely, retaining talent by the season's end. An offense is a sum of its pieces, and some of those pieces are clearly underperforming as well. Mehringer should bear the brunt of the criticism but A'lique Terry shares a substantial weight of this quagmire. He either can't develop players or does not have an eye for talent in recruiting. Linemen are consistently missing assignments, not getting the push needed to open running lanes, and bad pass protection is forcing every QB behind center to make nearly all of their passes off platform. Mehringer seems to have inherited a bunch of Will Stein plays and is just guessing at what to utilize and when. He is woefully wasting the plethora of talent he has to work with. To me, it is without question that Mehringer be replaced this coming offseason with a hungry, well-spoken offensive mind from a national coaching search. Most fans, including myself have entertained the thought of whether Lanning should pull the plug now. But it isn't that simple. If Lanning relieves Mehringer of his play-calling duties he will very likely still have to utilize in-house personnel for the remainder of the season. Ross Douglas is well though of as a wide receiver's coach, but has zero experience in calling offenses. The same can be said of running back coach Rashaad Samples. Oregon could theoretically hire someone mid-season as an "analyst" to assist the coaching staff. But as far as reaching for a new OC in the middle of the year; someone would have to be brought in that already knows Lanning's philosophy, most of the plays, the tendencies of players as well as their strengths and weaknesses. I don't see this as a viable option. Lanning has said everything is on the table. As I said before. An offense is the sum of its pieces. These pieces are running out of time to make a positive impact on a season that is suddenly on life support.

Oregon 45-31 1 TO 2 Sacks 305 Yards

Seems like we could have ridden with the "questionable" right up until just before kick-off. Not sure why we didn't!

While I'd like to see the front 4 be able to get home consistently on their own, I am not so sure this defense is capable of that against decent to elite O-Lines. If we can commit 5 to the rush on a regular basis, I believe our secondary is a better unit, in most situations, than the opposing receiving corps (exception: maybe Ohio State). The goal should be to put Nico on an accelerated internal clock and bottle up his receivers. I think our run defense has improved; this seemed apparent at USC. Koi Perich either needs to emerge or Lanning should start giving Jett Washington more field time. There are things that should looks very similar to the JMU playoff game (with some new wrinkles). We need to exploit our experience and talent on D!

Now UCLA knows they're prepping for one QB; not that it wasn't already the assumption. Time to let Dylan Raiola ball out in front of an Autzen crowd for the first time!

Put Nasir Wyatt on Nico. He seems quick enough to be a spy on him. As long as the front four can get home a decent amount of times it should speed up Nico's internal clock and force him to make quicker reads. I was decently encouraged by our run defense against USuCk so I want to see that aspect of coverage continue to blossom. On offense we need to have a breakout game with our rushing attack. I believe this will happen. It will give Dylan a half second, or so, more of processing time downfield. I think he already trusts his receivers to go make plays on the balls he puts up. In a good-on-good matchup we have more talent. As long as they play a clean game this can and should result in a similar, if not, more lopsided score than USC. We are in Autzen, the crowd will do its work!

I think everyone knows who is going to be starting this game. Lanning should honestly even have Akili Smith Jr taking starting snaps as well and list the availability report this week as Dylan Raiola OR Akili Smith Jr OR Dante Moore. Never tip a hand you don't have to.

I will admit, watching Chip dust off the Wing-T and roll Penn State on the ground was pretty awesome, especially if you can keep an opposing D from subbing. That being said, I think he and Lanning are very far apart in team philosophy. Would he work at Oregon again? Maybe, but there are plenty of smart and hungry young offensive minds that would fit this team much better. I was skeptical of Mehringer to start the season. Part of me still is, but he also looks like he is growing into his position. If he continues to grow then so to will my confidence.

This may be the element that matters most in a deep post-season run. Playing better defenses like Georgia and Texas, we need a QB who can scan the field whether under pressure or not. We have the play makers to go up and bring down the passes. Raiola seams to understand this already. He looks like he is seeing the mis-matches on the field either pre-snap or on the roll-out and distributing the ball well. I do see mounting issues (last season included) with Dante dumping out to guys in the flat rather than throwing a down-field receiver open. I'm sure with more tape on Raiola there will be issues we see with some of his decision making (maybe throwing off the back foot too much). But at this point I have been pleasantly surprised by his vision on the field.

We seem to be missing out on the Fox Big Noon Saturday spots. I figured this would be a perfect one with two ranked teams! We even got this exact matchup on Gameday a few years back (still drying off from that 5:30AM down pour!).

Oregon could have just given USC the Penn St (2025) treatment. This could begin the slide that leads to Riley being excused from the Southern California area.

They could just head up north 40 minutes and poach Braden Atkinson! Kid is a straight baller.

I have never doubted how much Lanning cares for the well-being of his team. What I want to know is if he can be shrewd enough to make decisions based on what he thinks is best to attain the outcome he has set his sights on. I need to see more of Raiola in order to say whether or not he needs to be the guy going forward. But that's exactly what we may get when we host UCLA in two weeks. The Bruins are not a slouch and frankly look more dangerous than USC. If Raiola produces at a high efficiency then Lanning may truly have a decision to make. Do what's best for team success moving forward? Or roll with Dante because he earned the spot to start the season. I know which way I'd lean on this but then again I don't make University Of Oregon Head Football Coach money.

So is Dante Moore just not going through his progressions again?

Oregon 41-38 (Ducks rushing attack finally shows up, Defense struggles but creates just enough stops and a turnover) 1 2 305 Passing Yards