mikethehiker

This week, OBD will face a harrowing task going into white out conditions at Beaver Stadium for a prime time, Top 5 battle with Penn St. This venue should not be underestimated in a way that Ohio St. appeared to have underestimated Autzen last year. The question I have is whether this Saturday will be the toughest road environment the Ducks have ever played in? I think it could be. There is bound to be some recency bias, but here are some potential previous candidates and reasons why I don't think they reach the level of this Saturday: 1) Anything prior to the 1990's - were the Ducks ever good enough to command the attention of a frothing fanbase like a Top 5 battle warrants? Did fans froth prior to 1990's like they do today? (Just kidding - I know they did). Also, I'm looking for good Duck teams where it was clear the venue affected their play and they weren't just overmatched. 2) Any Pac-8/10/12 venue. I have to be careful here, because if I discount Pac-12 venues, it throws some shade on Autzen as well. We all know smaller stadiums can still affect games in significant ways. There have been some wildly difficult conference road games like Washington (2023), Arizona (2009, 2013), Utah (every night game), Arizona St. (every night game), Cal or USC in early 2000's, or Washington St. (2018). But do any of them rise to the level of Beaver Stadium this Saturday? 3) Michigan (2007, 2024) and Tennessee (2010) - these are two of the largest venues the Ducks have played in, but the games ended up being uncompetitive and it turned out the teams were going in different directions. 4) Nebraska (2016), Michigan St. (2015), Boise St. (2009), Oklahoma (2004) - All tough road losses. 5) "Neutral" Site Games - Auburn in the natty (2010-2011), LSU (2011), Auburn (2019), Ohio St. in the natty (2014-2015), Georgia (2022) all proved to be virtual road environments, but not quite at the level of playing in Death Valley or Athens. 6) Ohio St. (2021) - We all have to admit that Ohio St. fans were not quite awake for this game. We came in under the RADAR, took the crowd out early and earned an awesome road win. Are there any other candidates for the toughest Duck road environment ever?

I agree with Charles that this team is still very young and has a ton of upside to improve by the end of the year. I was paying very close attention to run defense today and I do have a concern at the linebacker spot and I’m not sure what we can do about it this year. Boettcher plays his heart out and makes a ton of plays, but he misses some, too. And who’s after Boettcher? Jackson is consistently blocked. I watch Boettcher come across the field to make plays on Jackson’s side. Mixon is coming on, but I still see only 2 tackles. If we send Boettcher on a stunt, who cleans up behind him? Overall A for effort, but I’m not sure we have true, natural linebackers. I hope Tosh can coach these guys up.

Improved run defense. We shouldn't need run support from the secondary unless the numbers dictate it. Gap control, beating blocks, setting the edge, staying low, and improved tackling where the pile doesn't keep falling forward for 2-3 extra yards. Save the stunts for next week.

This summarizes my curiosity as well, but with the added element of new-to-each-other players all over the field. It takes time to learn to trust and gel. You start anticipating how the guy next to handles that blocker, that pulling guard, or that QB read and you complement their move with a move of your own (all at game speed). I am slightly concerned, but you have to believe we’ve been running a pretty vanilla scheme knowing there has been no competitive threat so far. Penn St. forums on the other hand are wringing their hands that their offense has yet to get untracked. They’re worried about Drew Allar shouldering high expectations and the slow start to the running game. They long for that one time last year when they ran all over us. Let them think that.

I don’t think it’s concern, but I’m interested in investigating why NW was able to sustain drives. They had a few unforced errors and questionable play calls that stalled their drives that we can’t count on great teams to make later in the season. Is it talent? Experience? Is it gap control? Are we not getting off blocks? What are the tackles being asked to do vs the linebackers? Was it a numbers game? We are interested in learning more about our defense along with the offense.

Ducks 48-17 2 Turnovers 3 sacks 308 passing yards

Ugh, sorry, I tried to embed the video. If someone knows how to embed, that would be wonderful. Here is the link at the right starting point - https://youtu.be/ayoTmCFl65w?si=t81RtucqaEYlWQ5u&t=1809

Oregon is a legitimate national title contender. Go to about the 30:54 mark where he is talking about Oregon.

This team seems to have a incredibly high "motor" right now. From beginning to end of each play and each game. It's all out, finish the play, and we're going to come at you in waves, because we have the talent, and we're going to use it all to wear you down. Even the best teams in the playoffs last year wore down quite a bit as the tournament played on. Depth will be huge! I'm still a little concerned about our run defense when we face more talented teams. We gave up 144 quiet yards on the ground to a team sporting a 18.7 QBR this week. Three backs averaged 4.3, 4.5, and 5.2 yards per carry and I was surprised and delighted at the awful play calling from OSU when they'd abandon the run. Hopefully, there's enough tape there to patch those seams. Go Ducks!

Oregon 52-10 4 OSU turnovers 6 sacks 235 passing yards I think Montana St. may be able to beat Oklahoma St. on a neutral field. I'm predicting high turnovers and short fields for Oregon, so not a lot of passing yards needed for 52 points.

I suspected this at the end of last year, but I really thought that 2025 was the perfect year to break in a new quarterback for Oregon. The last two years of college quarterbacks have had an epic run (C. Williams, J. Daniels, D. Maye, J McCarthy, B. Nix, M. Penix, S. Rattler, J. Travis, W. Howard, D. Gabriel, C. Ward, J. Dart, J. Milroe, S. Sanders, K. McCord). No one was going to win a national title without one of those from this list of generational talent. For 2025, if the best returners this year were Drew Allar, Cade Klubnik, Carson Beck, and an unproven Arch Manning, then this seemed as good of a time as ever to let your young players learn the ropes. Not only the QBs, but secondaries (and defensive coordinators) all over the country are probably sleeping much easier at night.

I didn't interpret the rotations we saw vs Montana St. as the rotations we'll necessarily see going forward. Lanning clearly indicated that he wanted to get a lot of younger players experience. That's invaluable tape to coach off of and it keeps our two deep fresh for another long season. We also didn't want to tip our hand to future opponents, but at the same time give them as much as possible to waste time in practice on (e.g. odd formations and personnel groupings). It looks like the coaching staff balanced it to perfection and got an outstanding result.

Great observations. I very much dislike FOX coverage of college football and I’m grieved that they are the primary broadcaster for the B1G. Gus Johnson is over the top too much. Good play-by-play guys can maintain a balance between exciting plays and dismayed fans from the opposing side. He grates on me to no end. They don’t keep a score ticker and they don’t give gamebreak highlights from other games. Those very much add to the Saturday viewing experience.

34-17 Ducks 1 turnover created 4 sacks 235 passing yards

1) Will we see 1 or 2 QB's? Is Dante Moore our best QB? Does he have the leadership intangibles? Can he make quick decisions or use his feet to extend plays? 2) Inside Linebackers - We have experience and speed, but do we have the elite linebackers needed for an elite defense. I want to hear their names all game long. That means our linemen are occupying blockers, linebackers are beating blocks, and their instincts are putting them in the right place at the right time. It's been a loooong time since we've had an elite tandem at this level. I'd love to see this group meet or exceed the level of Kiko Alonso and Michael Clay. 3) Will WRs have more receptions than RBs and TEs combined? New QBs and new WRs mean more check downs. How many more two RB sets will we see and how many times do we see Dakorien Moore get the ball behind the line of scrimmage? If we see WRs with more receptions than TEs and RBs, I'll take that as a big positive for QB, WR, and OLine chemistry and development.

Finally! This will result in 2-4 less SEC teams being ranked in the Top 25 each year. At the end of the day, voters look at pure # of losses. This finally evens the playing field.

Prior to Troy Franklin, Dillon Mitchell was another extraordinary talent. To your point, I would be thrilled to have a freakishly imposing receiving opposite Jeremiah Smith for the next couple of years. We used to say unequivocally that defense wins championships and you still need that be in the conversation. However, the Alabama vs. Clemson prize fights starting in 2015 has proven that grown-men wide receivers will win championships. Ohio State proved it again this past season.

Inexperienced QBs benefit from a lot of on-field leadership around them and we lost a ton of leadership from last season. For those reasons, I have tempered expectations for the 2025 season with hopes of making the playoff. This is not a championship or bust season, but I'm actually looking forward to it. This is our first real chance to see all Lanning's high school recruits (I include Donte Moore here - he originally committed to Oregon) lead this team. We'll finally get to see what all this 4 and 5 star talent can do and how well our coaches can develop that talent. Getting at least one playoff win would be a tremendous step forward in 2025 for a younger Duck team learning to gel.

The fact that we didn't hit the transfer portal for our 2025 starting QB, gives me a lot of confidence that coaches trust the talent in the QB room this year. This may be the most intriguing spring game with regards to QB competition since 2012 between Bryan Bennett and Marcus Mariota. Most outsiders presumed Bennett was QB1, but talent, decision-making, and intangibles all broke Mariota's way. Bennett was also likely the stronger locker room personality. Moore vs. Novosad could be very interesting this spring and fall. I hope they both look outstanding and we have two solid options for 2025.

I truly thought this was going to be the golden age of Oregon's defense with this LB corp. 1. Justin Flowe — 2020 2. Noah Sewell — 2020 3. Mase Funa — 2019 4. Keith Brown — 2021

Pritchard Cousinard Brown Cook Bell That's the toughest, grown man lineup I could come up with.

Great analysis and article. It will be frustrating if Ohio St. doesn’t boat race the next two teams like they did us but I have a feeling they had extra motivation for OBD. I don’t want to get my hopes up again like I did this year, but I’m sure I will. It was a great season and every team minus one would have happily traded their season for ours. I’m ready for growing pains next year if it means we get to build a defense like 2024 Ohio St., 2023 Michigan, 2021-2022 Georgia, or prior Clemson and Alabama teams. That seems to be the common thread even in the NIL era. We can’t keep patching holes in an undeveloped roster.

Tough way to end what we all thought was a magical season. I too thought the days of not looking like we belong were behind us. I'm sure there are 34 reasons why we lost, but it can't all be pinned on one coach. Coaching is not what made us look like we didn't belong on the field. We've made huge strides on the DLine to match our OLine (although both struggled in the Rose Bowl), but we are undersized still (compared to past champions) almost everywhere else you look - QB, RB, receiver, LBs, DBs, and safeties. TE is also been a strong position for us. Ohio St. looked like monsters yesterday and it's hard to believe that was the same team that came to Autzen. What on earth is anyone going to do with #4 the next two years now that he's figured out how big he is?

Oregon wins! 31-27 1 turnover 4 sacks 290 passing yards

The only thing going through my head watching this game is frustration at the stupidity of the playoff designers. Penn State loses CCG and breezes through two rounds of the playoffs without breaking a sweat. OBD will be fighting for our lives tomorrow after the only unbeaten season in 2024 and hands down the #1 team. I guess I’ll be upset at Ohio St. also since they laid an egg against Michigan. They need to pay the price tomorrow - we need to vanquish them!