mikethehiker

Oregon 31-6 3 turnovers 4 sacks 263 passing yards Ducks finally start doing a few things well on offense with short fields to assist.

I'd much rather spend on offensive line and defensive line anchors along with a lights out inside linebacker.

Maybe UO could sponsor a Chris Brown concert or something similar to keep these young men out of trouble after the game.

Maybe we should continuously run fake punts. We have a great punter.

Did we just pull a tackle to block across the formation in pass protection leaving the end to smash our QB? Is that normal?

Now Auburn beats Georgia! How are they going to fit all 16 SEC teams in the Top 10?

Texas will plunge two spots following that loss. Almost as far as Mississippi St.’s 3 spot plunge following a 0-31 loss. Florida and LSU back in the top 5.

Dylan Raiola's performance on Saturday two weeks following the USC game had to have shocked everyone inside the locker room just as much as all of us outside the locker room. I don't blame coaches for sticking with him as long as they did. It was so unbelievable. Despite our offensive line, this game was winnable. But then the fumbles kept coming. Brock lost one under center and almost lost another in shotgun. That's not all on coaching. Offensive lines generally don't get healthy in pass protection. They get healthy when they run the football. We've got to get back to running the football. That is coaching. Honestly, if we've got guys in that locker room already eyeing the exit for more NIL and more opportunities to have the ball in their hands - that's a BIG part of the problem with this team. Connection? Do we have players who are here for the right reasons? We'll find out in the coming weeks.

Imagine DAK in this game after inspiring these edgy new uniforms and the "origin of speed" and now linking these uniforms to this terrible offensive performance. That had to be a big part of his frustration.

That's really stinks. You don't want to see that for anyone. Hate that every replay that shows his injury will also show our defender delivering a completely unnecessary punch at the end of the play.

I believe there are issues with both coaches and players across both offense and defense. One week the offense shows up, the next week the defense shows up. We just have no offensive identity. As another poster observed, our passing game has no connection to our running game. We are not scouting ourselves and I believe defenses STILL know exactly what we're doing. Quarterback play (between the ears and experience) has fallen off dramatically since Nix and Gabriel. Our OLine struggles have been well documented. I think coaches have tried to install too much playbook, when we haven't been able to establish the basics. We have two running backs with two very different running styles and I don't think either of them has established themselves as an every down back. Neither of them have looked comfortable at all this season. Sometimes, 4/5* talent doesn't translate into football IQ, nor the demonstrated ability to adapt and overcome when pressure mounts. When Dante Moore is cleared for contact, I think one change that could benefit both he and the team is if they removed his red no-contact jersey in practice. Dante needs to become comfortable and continue to execute the offense under pressure. I have no idea what's happening with our offensive staff and we learn nothing from the press conferences. Every week it's the same thing. Right after the game, "we need to go look at the tape first." Two days later, "we're moving on to our next opponent." If our coaches don't understand what's wrong by the end of the game, how on earth are they ever going to make mid-game adjustments? Sad. The worse part about promoting coordinators from within, is that Lanning (possibly) never got to hear outside perspective on how Oregon's offense and defense could have improved. It feels like a waste that all this talent was not afforded the most experienced coaching staff available. We didn't need continuity, we needed improvement to finally get over the hump. I think we'll rebound for a respectable season. This has been an unexpectedly difficult schedule to begin the season with FBS opponents' record of 20-3. Those same four team could end the year at something close to 40-8.

We lost 5 fumbles today! 5 fumbles! That doesn’t mean there isn’t massive opportunity for improvement, but no team is going to win a Top 25 matchup giving away 5 fumbles on top of 2 interceptions. It’s close to impossible to go unbeaten in this day and age, but UCLA has a great shot of going 11-1 or 12-0. If Boise State wins tonight, our FBS opponents are a combined 20-3 on the year. It’s disappointing, but I don’t think we’re as bad as it looks. I hope Dylan Raiola recovers mentally from this. Not sure what happened out there. Many uncatchable throws for sure, but there was no one open at all today. At least what we were shown on TV. UCLA was flat out better prepared today and that’s a common theme.

What’s sad for me is how far away we’ve gotten from our run game. Year by year since Chip left, it’s gradually gone down hill. All those highlights we love from 2009-2014? They are great runs from LMJ, Barner, DAT, Mariota, Freeman, etc. We’ve gone from 300 rushing yards per game to lucky if we get 100.

I know Brock Thomas didn’t quite finish the comeback (he would have if we would just kicked extra points), but seeing a hometown amateur athlete come in to potentially become a hero is why I fell in love with college football. I miss watching amateur student athletes playing with nothing to lose for the love of the game. The ones who know they’ll never go pro and are playing their last football of their lives. The 2026 Ducks will go down as definitive proof that it takes a lot more than one of the most expensive football rosters in the country loaded with 4/5 star talent to field a good football team. Give me Brock Thomas and other players and coaches who are there for the love of the game. It is what it is. Now is where real players play for pride and real coaches coach out of pride. Let’s get to 4-2. P.S. I have no idea if Brock gets some NIL, but I’m sure it’s not much.

Another QB controversy brewing. Did anyone else notice how terrible Iowa players were at dancing after they made big plays and even routine plays? No TikTok spirit whatsoever.