As obvious as it has been to most of us, when opposing teams start speaking candidly about the predictability of our play calling, one has to seriously consider if Drew Mehringer should have ever been given this position.

I am all for a new guy being given a shot when his moment comes. But in a year where the talent is there to make a very real run at the National Championship, how did Dan Lanning go through his options and decide a promotion was better than a national coaching search? This is not the season to be going through growing pains at the coordinator level.

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/fresh-evidence-dan-lannings-offensive-213709402.html

Going back 2 years now watching all the games I've been able to basically recognize about 50% of the offensive play calls before the snap. In fact I remember posting that here 2 seasons ago. If I can callout plays 50% of the time then what can trained coordinators call? However it doesn't matter until our O line steps up.

I don't think this is the worst time for assistant coaches who are coaching a bunch of players who will play in the NFL?

The D-line and the defense in general stinks because Tosh is at Cal?

Stein isn't around, so 4* and 5* star O-line guys can't move guys out so Oregon can run the ball?

At the end of the National Anthem, it's about the players on the field and not the coaches.

To date, the Oregon players are uninspired and undisciplined.

Would Tosh's coaching, with his defense destroyed by Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and Indiana in the Peach Bowl, make a significant difference?

Would Stein, last seen at Kentucky being blown out by Alabama, make a difference?

No coach will make a difference if the players do not give a whip. If the players don't care, it's on them for cashing checks and not being invested in winning.

The stats tell the story. To date, Oregon's loaded roster is simply soft. This is a top-down player and head coach problem, not an assistant coaching problem.

And credit to him, Dan is the first to admit it. But can it be fixed? Will Dan, with an impeccable record against unranked teams before last Saturday, be able to close the deal with a championship?

If the will to win from the players isn't there, it's on the players, and no group of coaches can fix it. If future NFL guys are fine with being beat up by the junior varsity, so be it.

There are no extraneous reasons why Oregon has underachieved to date; top-drawer players haven't shown up.

I am not sure I agree with it being only a player issue. On defense, Oregon has 8 returning starters, including several on the all BIG ten list and a freshman All American. Do they all of a sudden not care or forget how to play? Tosh was a guy who brought the juice. Players rallied around him. Is Hampton that guy? That is yet to be seen, but so far the answer appears to be no.

Dante Moore is an exceptional pocket passer, but not as accurate while on the move. So naturally on 4th and 8 you call a play to roll him out to the right immediately and take away 1/2 half of the field WITHOUT two of your start receivers in the game? The playcall is indefensible IMO.

Regardless of whose fault this is at the end of the day the fault is on the Oregon Ducks football TEAM.

11 minutes ago, GeotechDuck said:

I am not sure I agree with it being only a player issue. On defense, Oregon has 8 returning starters, including several on the all BIG ten list and a freshman All American. Do they all of a sudden not care or forget how to play? Tosh was a guy who brought the juice. Players rallied around him. Is Hampton that guy? That is yet to be seen, but so far the answer appears to be no.

Dante Moore is an exceptional pocket passer, but not as accurate while on the move. So naturally on 4th and 8 you call a play to roll him out to the right immediately and take away 1/2 half of the field WITHOUT two of your start receivers in the game? The playcall is indefensible IMO.

Good post, Geo.

But if Dante had dropped back instead of rolling out, would Oregon have won the game? This game should have been over at halftime. If the Tulsa coaches were on the sideline, would Oregon have won the game?

Oregon got punched in the mouth and couldn't get off the canvas against a bunch of G6 athletes.

I respect your thoughts and the similar thoughts of other Forum friends.

But I don't believe the Oregon players are failing to perform because of the coaching; I see an entitled group of athletes who are failing to show up and play disciplined and inspired football.

If they are not coached up and not fired up, that's on Lanning more than it is on in-game coaching.

Dan is moving into James Franklin territory. He has won a lot of games, but not the games that win titles.

12 hours ago, GeotechDuck said:

The playcall is indefensible IMO.

As the great Lee Corso would say "Not so fast my friend"

Here are two screen shots from a video posted on another thread that shows Dante missed McCellan plus a defensive hold.

The first one shot shows the snap. The second Dante circled in black, the hold in yellow and McCellan running free.

14 minutes ago, Steven A said:

plus a defensive hold.

I am in no way saying that the refs cost us this game.... the Ducks would have had to do a whole lot more things right for that to be the case.

But seriously... the B1G refs seem to hate us. If that was an Oregon defender holding it would have been flagged. As much as we all hated the old Pac-12 refs I think I like them better than these B1G ones.

13 hours ago, Jon Joseph said:

No coach will make a difference if the players do not give a whip. If the players don't care, it's on them for cashing checks and not being invested in winning.

What I am failing to see so far this season are consistent sequences of constraint plays. That is what opposing defenses are keying off of. Kenny Dillingham, so far, has done this better than any of the OC's Lanning has had. We are tipping our hand by the way the O-Line gets set just before the ball is snapped.

Even Will Stein was able to disguise his looks at the LOS by running a constraint off of a run look and changing into play-action or designed passes to keep the opposing linebackers and secondary from getting an extra step on our skill players. I actually figured this would be the primary underlying thread from one OC to the next that Dan Lanning would set an expectation for. I have not seen this happen yet and until I do I believe play calling will continue to struggle against medium to elite defenses.

34 minutes ago, David Marsh said:

I am in no way saying that the refs cost us this game

Agreed. Rarely happens unless the player's name is Dyer and the refs don't review the forearm down vs the knee.

3 minutes ago, Steven A said:

Agreed. Rarely happens unless the player's name is Dyer and the refs don't review the forearm down vs the knee.

LOL! And those guys were also B1G (something or other 🤬)

I am not defending our coordinators (though I kinda will) but we don't have enough information on their ability at this time because there are so many other things going wrong.

Sure there have been some bad play calls... but I would also argue that many of them would have worked if the execution was better.

Right now I am questioning the promotions of Jack Smith (Tight Ends), Koa Ka'ai (quarterbacks) and Kamran Araghi (outside linebackers) more than the coordinators. Our tight ends have had little impact in the game and yes we were down Johnson last game but still. Moore is playing awful and our edge rushers don't feel like game breakers.

I am questioning offensive line coaching at the moment for A'lique Terry because of just how bad these pieces are at becoming a whole but we've seen better in past years so I have some hope there.

I need to see better play from the offensive line and better execution out of the players before I jump on the coordinators. I think they have growing to do and I think they need to do better jobs as well. But Dante Moore outright not seeing open receivers or missing a pass to open receivers isn't something wrong with a play call... it's a player and position coaching problem.

Too many variables to call it one way or the other.

I had a guy standing next to me at the Boise St game who correctly called a fair number of plays based on our formations. Even though Boise was usually on it, our success rate was still around 50% on the ones he called.

You could say it doesn’t matter how easily we’re read so long as we execute our plays. On the other hand, it doesn’t make it any easier to execute if we’re being read that often.

Ok, I am going to bounce around a bit (what's new?).

First and foremost: OBD are going to have a difficult time winning games 45-44. That is not a formula for winning. Ask Mario about his 2024 team-great offense poor defense. Believe me-giving up more than 20 points a game will not lead to enough victories in the playoffs. And right now, we are looking at two quotes...1) Playoffs!!! Playoffs!!! and 2) They are who we thought they were...and we let em off the hook!!!

Secondly-this is way more complicated than coaching. Though I believe strategy is a massive indicator at this point. Again, I am cooking up a thesis to help me diagnose what the problem truly is. But I don't think it is one thing. There are shades of Penn State last year; 2015, 2015 and 2016; football is evolving rapidly and coaches at ALL levels are adapting faster than people realize; and it is very possible that players are more focused on the bag-and the things that their respective bag is buying (and all the status that comes with that) than playing football (not my original thought, but enough have mentioned it that it could be reality).

Josh Pate put it well: are we looking at a Penn State (and Clemson) collapse or an Alabama refocus (though Bama had a ceiling-and we resemble that in so many ways)?

I believe there are some solutions-to all of it. But I am a bonafide, certified hack that is truly throwing mud on the wall hoping something will stick.

I find it amusing that Duck Nation is having as much as a meltdown as Ohio State fans. Losing when you think you're Gods really creates emotional damage LOL.

Didn't help that DL was chippy yesterday. I hope that is just his edge and that the players are beyond angry to the point they want to crack some pads and put their fingers in some face masks. It truly is time to see a Duck team play really, really nasty ball. Mean, borderline dirty, like Dennis Rodman and cutthroat like Michael Jordan and Kobe.

Somebody here said it well: when we look at last year's Miami team, Indiana, Ohio State and Georgia-those teams play differently than OBD do. There is a level of intensity -not flashy hype-full blown intensity- that OBD have only shown once-in 2010 when Chip fully shocked the world. That is still the standard in my eyes. That 2010 team was confident, but very determined. They had the right amount of talent and grit. I haven't seen that kind of team at Oregon since.

45 minutes ago, Mike West said:

not flashy hype-full blown intensity

Ala Colorado 2023, get back to playing for wins not clicks!!!

8 hours ago, Steven A said:

As the great Lee Corso would say "Not so fast my friend"

Here are two screen shots from a video posted on another thread that shows Dante missed McCellan plus a defensive hold.

The first one shot shows the snap. The second Dante circled in black, the hold in yellow and McCellan running free.

Serious question. Is that a high percentage throw for Dante to McClellan? In the pocket, yes….all day long. Out of the pocket while being chased? Can he make that throw consistently? Or does he even trust himself to throw that?

We have seen so many missed opportunities down the field over the past year when he is not in a clean pocket.

Edited 18 hours ago18 hr by GeotechDuck

It was a CFB historic loss for OBD - A historic win for OK State. And Ducks Wire starts by calling out the coaches.

https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/09/12/oregon-football-ducks-oklahoma-state-5-takeaways/91730812007/

15 hours ago, GeotechDuck said:

Is that a high percentage throw for Dante to McClellan?

1) That what he is being paid for.

2) Looking at where he is rolling out, he had plenty of time to set his feet as there is no one near him.

3) On the sideline you can see at least 4 people on the Oregon sideline pointing downfield, a second or two later there are more people pointing.

16 hours ago, Jon Joseph said:

It was a CFB historic loss for OBD - A historic win for OK State. And Ducks Wire starts by calling out the coaches.

https://duckswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/ducks/football/2026/09/12/oregon-football-ducks-oklahoma-state-5-takeaways/91730812007/

Excellent analysis, couldn't agree more.

47 minutes ago, Steven A said:

1) That what he is being paid for.

2) Looking at where he is rolling out, he had plenty of time to set his feet as there is no one near him.

3) On the sideline you can see at least 4 people on the Oregon sideline pointing downfield, a second or two later there are more people pointing.

Agree. So why does he continually miss those downfield reads unless he is clean in the pocket? Or at least it seems that way to me.

He either lacks confidence that he can make that throw or he is not seeing the field.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by GeotechDuck

In a season when the O-line isn't playing up to Joe Moore Award standards, it's nice to have someone like Marcus Mariota, Tua, or Trinidad Chambliss at QB. In CFB, give me a dual-threat QB.

One reason Texas came back Saturday is that Archie has wheels and Julian Sayin does not. Watching Sayin's former backup, Lincoln Kienholz at Louisville, I wonder if Ryan Day made the right choice? With a semblance of defense, Louisville defeats Ole Miss.

So far in 2026, Ohio State doesn't have a WR to complement Jeremiah Smith. Texas switched to man-on-man coverage in the 4th quarter, and the Buckeyes' passing game disappeared.

Assistant coaching? Texas DC Will Muschamp finally decided to copy the defense Coach Kwiatowski put on the field that shut Jeremiah down. DUH!

I believe Coach K is available for hire? Just Sayin.

1 minute ago, Jon Joseph said:

the Buckeyes' passing game disappeared.

Also, Smith became human and dropped a couple catchable passes.