Our special guest columnist Mike Ostrom was on site in Stillwater for some great insight into the ‘little things’ that became big things

MIKE OSTROM

Oklahoma State Knew What Oregon Plays Were Coming

Oregon Tipping a Run or Pass - This isn’t sign stealing; this is good old fashioned film study and insight. Oklahoma State saw something on film and the result was Cowboy players knowing whether a run or pass was coming.

Duck Sports Central is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Subscribe

“We were noticing earlier in the week that their (Oregon’s) offensive line had tendencies that helped us key into run (or) pass and a couple areas we could take advantage of,” said senior linebacker Tate Romney, “and obviously our defensive line was keyed into that. That was one big thing that gave us a big advantage.”

What were those tendencies? “Just their offensive line had a few stance indicators for most of the time run/pass,” said Romney.

The Heat was Hot - An on-field photographer checked the turf temperature at halftime and it read 146 degrees. It went up from there.

What’s Oregon going to do now? Answer: Dan Lanning is going to do what Dan Lanning always does. He’s going to learn from what went right and what went wrong and the Ducks will improve. Few coaches in college football have done it better than Lanning over the last four years and two games.

3 of the most popular questions I was texted after the game:

1- Is Oregon going to turtle like Penn State did last year?

Answer: No.

2- Are the Ducks going to miss playing in a Bowl game this year?

Answer: Heck No.

3- Should Oregon fans be worried about Portland State?

Answer. That would be a No.

Dan will find a way. He always does.

From the Sideline: Oklahoma State Knew What Oregon Plays...

Our special guest columnist Mike Ostrom was on site in Stillwater for some great insight into the ‘little things’ that became big things

So were we just too cocky or dumb?

I'm so impressed with how prepared Oklahoma State was for our Ducks. Especially after they came off such an embarrassing open season loss to Tulsa.

That's just an exceptional 7-Day turnaround. Hopefully, we do the same thing.

52 minutes ago, Desert Duck said:

I'm so impressed with how prepared Oklahoma State was for our Ducks. Especially after they came off such an embarrassing open season loss to Tulsa.

That's just an exceptional 7-Day turnaround. Hopefully, we do the same thing.

Hindsight is beginning to make me think that their Tulsa loss was the result of already being focused on Oregon.

Miss the playoffs and this season is a total failure.

I think some people here are enjoying being negative a bit much. But good thing there IS negative stuff to write about, otherwise we would never hear from them!

Negative is part of football, and part of what we do here in the forum, but some people really get off on it. We have so many GREAT analysis posts that were about negative, but well done. But a few members go over-the-top seemingly looking for something foul to write. It is not against the rules, after two days…isn’t that long enough?

The writer of the article above, Mike Ostrom, was a FishDuck guest writer in the past, and a friend of mine. We spoke a couple of times this season already…

3 hours ago, DuckFan93 said:

So were we just too cocky or dumb?

Both things can be true at the same time.

Apparently a TikTok video was made which displays seemingly glaring tendencies to determine whether the next Oregon play is run or pass.

Hopefully what's shown in the video will be addressed to hopefully make the O less predictable.

Link below although I'm not sure if it would work for everyone:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP83XHEgx/

18 minutes ago, OceaniaDuck said:

Apparently a TikTok video was made which displays seemingly glaring tendencies to determine whether the next Oregon play is run or pass.

Hopefully what's shown in the video will be addressed to hopefully make the O less predictable.

Link below although I'm not sure if it would work for everyone:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP83XHEgx/

Maybe a little but then there are time that its an obvious passing down.

2 hours ago, Steven A said:

Both things can be true at the same time.

And sometimes, especially with inexperienced coordinators, it can be neither. As fans, it doesn’t come easy to accept that even coaching staffs can have learning curves.

OK State had the super-secret decoder ring? And the Ducks were toast.

Plain and simple, Oregon was punched in the mouth and didn't punch back.

Every team that played against Vince Lombardi's Packers knew what was coming and couldn't stop it.

Does anyone believe Tosh and Stein on the sidelines would have made a difference in the game? Oregon was punched in the mouth, defeated on both sides of the LOS.

The solution is with the athletes; show up ready to play and kick the south side of the mule headed north.

It's about blocking, tackling, and attitude.

Boise State and Oklahoma State had the better will to win.

As I said before. The team sucked! Could be coaches, could be scheme, could be players, most likely all three at least..

If it is the player.. sit him.

If it the coaches.. help them improve or replace them

If it is the scheme.... Fix it....

We should know more when we leave LA... Go Ducks!!!

Sorry, Charles, that you believe it is inappropriate to make negative comments. But when OBD are three touchdown favorites and get whipped like happened on Saturday it is unrealistic to expect fans to be positive.

OBD has over 30 highly paid people on its coaching staff, according to the depth chart on GoDucks.com. I was taught in elementary school football to take the exact same stance on every play for the very reason that the defense could read whether the play was a pass or run if you took different stances based on how you were going to block. Our coach was a volunteer who drove a fruit delivery truck to feed his family. He knew that basic principle of football in 1951.

It was obvious that we were losing to OK State on the line of scrimmage. Also seemed like Boise State was beating us there as well. Several of our defensive players are not wrapping up on tackles.

That our coaching staff did not train our paid players to take the same stance on every play shows a complete lack of staff discipline. Same for wrapping up. How they could watch that game and not figure out what was being done to them is equally embarrassing.

Grampa Duck

Nice spin on what I wrote. If you had read what I have written over the last two days, and how I have not not deleted any negative—then you would understand better what I was conveying.

Negative is what we discuss here, and is a big part of what a forum is. I, as an owner/manager of several sites over the last 15 years have been through many down times such as this before. I do believe that to a degree—people have to let their frustration out, which is what you see a lot of.

But there is always a small percentage that truly ENJOY being negative, and they not only share their bile, but they post new insults to the program, the coaches, etc. It is not an occasional summary of complaints, but a continuous barrage of negative as that is what brings them pleasure. That is how they are hard-wired…

And, they don’t post when things are good, but only when they have something to complain about. Not a “glass-half-full” kind of guy…

I even have someone applying for membership again, when he left us before-he got disgusted with the fans not agreeing with his extreme negative takes. Clearly, he has been reading things here recently, but wants to rejoin now after we lose a game?

Gee, I wonder what he wants to post about? 🤷‍♂️

Be careful how you characterize me, when you do not have the extensive hours of experience I have lived in dealing with hundreds of members. My observation is an accurate one; a small percentage of members want to “vent” on us whenever a big game is lost.

One member wrote in 2024 after the first loss to Washington that he would understand if you discarded being a Duck fan, and left this forum for good! He left when I objected to the over-the-top negative view. It is an example of the crazy stuff I have to deal with.

Stances did not miss catching open passes. Stances did not throw passes off target by a yard or more. Stances do not miss blocks. Stances do not miss tackles.

Michigan coaching cleaned up their mess........Their coach stated after the Western Mich game......he is our QB......for now.

The next game they beat number 11.

Oregon was just not motivated and sharp.

After being placed on the field in inhuman heat for the third third and out....any defense is going to give ground. Our offense sucked.

Dante screams at his team.....after he misses a wide open receiver.

We have a luxury. I'd get Dylan warmed up.

Just my humble opinion.

I would like to see Dylan play some against PSU.

I have read on Reddit of multiple instances of Dante telling if it’s a pass/run play - based on his foot placement!

How didn’t our staff catch this and make corrections or use the the ‘tell’ as a misdirection?

Coaching has been what has beaten Oregon the past few years. Giving tells that obvious? Someone needs to be fired. Scout team, OC, QB coach? Not sure who, but this is absolutely unacceptable

This is worse than Mario calling timeout with 60 full minutes to play on the game clock. Disgusting

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Log Haulin

1 hour ago, Log Haulin said:

Someone needs to be fired.

I don't think so. No one is 57 - 0 over the last 4+ years. They wanted Day out after he lost to Michigan in '24 and how did that turn out?

1 hour ago, Log Haulin said:

this is absolutely unacceptable

Yes, it is, now fix it.

As Daniel noted above, apparently Dante's stance did give it away every time. This was just posted on WSJ, which unfortunately is behind a paywall. But the gist is that when his feet where next to each other, it was a run. When they were one ahead of the other, it was a pass. 100% of the time! Even Dante admitted it.

Edit: figured out a way to share the full article...
https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/oregon-dante-moore-secret-tell-769021a0?st=tx7Mxd&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by DuckFan93

23 hours ago, Duckhart said:

I would like to see Dylan play some against PSU.

If he doesn't we are in BIG trouble because the game is too close to take the starters out.

And if we are in that level of BIG trouble... he should probably play because we aren't getting what we need from Dante.

1 hour ago, DuckFan93 said:

As Daniel noted above, apparently Dante's stance did give it away every time. This was just posted on WSJ, which unfortunately is behind a paywall. But the gist is that when his feet where next to each other, it was a run. When they were one ahead of the other, it was a pass. 100% of the time! Even Dante admitted it.

https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/oregon-dante-moore-secret-tell-769021a0?mod=Searchresults&pos=1&page=1

If that's the tell... then a little coaching and repping should fix the problem. That and just being mindful in a game would also fix the problem.

In the Mario Cristobal era at Oregon I found a tell that most defenses picked up on but they never corrected... if it was a pistol formation it was a 80% chance of run and if it was run it was always into an A-gap. If it was a pass well just crash down anyways because the runner is guaranteed to go to the A-gap so just smash the line of scrimmage no matter what. The Cristobal staff never seemed to figure that one out... or didn't care as they believed just being more PHYSICAL was all that was needed for that to work.

4 minutes ago, David Marsh said:

then a little coaching and repping should fix the problem.

VERY little. But keep doing it vs PSU and the first couple of series in sc game, then switch.

4 minutes ago, David Marsh said:

If that's the tell... then a little coaching and repping should fix the problem. That and just being mindful in a game would also fix the problem.

Yes, the WSJ article did end with this "What he found might just be the key to resurrecting Moore’s season."

The question is how did it happen, this far into Dante's career!

Just read on Oregonlive that apparently Indiana exploited it in the blowout win against OBD also last season and there is now a book on it. SMH...

https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/2026/09/does-oregon-football-have-a-tell-in-its-offense-dan-lanning-responds-to-criticism.html

“We were hitting on all of them,” former Indiana linebacker Aiden Fisher said in the book. “We were like, ‘Dude, we have these guys on everything they want to do.’”

Edited 55 minutes ago55 min by DuckFan93

Dan tells what is needed -

https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/09/15/oregon-football-dan-lanning-offensive-tells-oklahoma-state/91770184007/