The Kamikaze Kid

Who would have thought that hiring one of the worst OC's in recent memory would end up being one of the worst OC hires in recent memory? Who could have guessed that hiring a tight end with no QB experience would lead to having no QB experience to teach the QBs? Dan needs to take control of this five alarm dumpster fire ASAP. It doesn't matter how bad the offense looks with another no experience coach calling the shots because they are already at rock bottom now. This year's offense/ team is beyond salvation. What's important is that he mans up and takes control before he loses the fanbase, the players and the donors. This is way bigger than having a let down year. This year was lost due to last years reckless coaching decisions. You could see it in the game one struggles with Boise St and it's only gotten worse since.

Should be called Ducks vs Themselves at this point.

Good thoughts David. Seeing the O line settle in and be productive is on everybody's wish list. Hope we do see it Saturday. I also want to see Mehringer earn the title of OC this week. A steady diet of up the middle for no gain on first and second down followed by a five yard pass on third and nine has got to stop. Mixing in screen passes that get blown up in the backfield time and time again don't count as variety. There are plenty of teams with far less skilled O lines that figure out how to move the ball and with far less skilled playmakers. If the offense can just become mid, the D can take over the game. Is that too much to ask?

38-10 OBD 3TOs 4 Sacks 325 Passing yards

Four out of five of Oregon's opponents are either currently or nearly ranked. There is NO way that's only the 16th most difficult schedule.

Also might want to bring in an OC that 4/5 star dudes can trust before offensive portal shopping.

I think Lanning has been trying to think outside the box with going for it on 4th down and two point conversions. He should save those plays for desperate times and spring Akili Smith out of the box with some RPOs periodically and just see what happens. I'd trust that more than running backs handing off to each other out of the wildcat or five yard passes on 3rd and 9.

These plays always worked under Kelly because he valued receivers that could block. Go back and watch some of those great Le Michael James highlights and you'll usually see TJ Ward 15 yards down field absolutely blowing up the corner the entire time. The play we hate now was close to one of our unstoppable plays in the Natty against Auburn but with blocking like that in front of it. Big difference.

I always love these offensive line observations Charles. Your insights on the finer points of the position group are very informative. Looking at the depth chart for a general overview. I'd say the main problem may simply come down to the team being in the anti sweet spot of experienced lower ceiling guys vs inexperienced higher ceiling guys battling for positions. I think the team was hoping to get a lot more mileage out of experienced three star guys like Ferguson, Rogers, Bennet and Wilson while the inexperienced 4/5 star guys like Nacho, Tofi, Addison and Utu caught up. I don't think that worked out like they hoped and the younger guys have been pressed to learn on the fly in the trenches against some of the better teams in the country. While USC hasn't won a game against a BIG opponent that's won even one conference game, the only game OBD's opponents have lost excluding us was a close one against Indiana. Throw in the ever dangerous Boise St and the vastly improved Ok St and that is a daunting challenge for newbies to succeed in. I think as the snaps convert to experience, the youngsters will harden into vets and the O line will start looking like the 4/5 star dudes that they could be.

Nothing beats his coaching against the Buckeye's at Autzen, especially the final minute.

I'm hearing everything beyond the Stewart arrest is all smoke no fire. Sometimes where there's smoke, there's someone smoking.

Why not bring him in on some 3rd and long RPOs? There is no way that could be worse than 7 TOs against UCLA or a 50 yards and 2 first downs 1st half last week.

I say start whoever and expect to finish with the other one. I also say prep Akili Smith with a solid third and long package and bring him on the field in those situations. Give him some RPOs and let's just see what happens. Can it really be any worse than 2 first downs and 50 yards in a half bad?

All three show the same problems game after game no matter the personnel changes.

One thing I'd like to see go missing from the playbook is the play that calls for your best receiver to nearly get killed on a meaningless third and way too short route. I'm glad Moore was able to return to the game. To me, that was the worst play of the night.