I believe these facts are telling and deserve their own post.

The new myth circulating in the CFB world is that the Oregon O-line (OL) hasn't been the same since Mario went MIA. Six members of the OL who played for Mario were in the NFL before Dan arrived in Eugene.

Inconvenient Fact: In 2024 and 2025, the Oregon OL was a finalist for the Joe Moore Award for the best OL in the nation.

Three members of the 2025 OL, World, Pregnon, and Harkey, are on NFL rosters.

These statistics from Tru-Media, as reported by The Athletic's Stewart Mandel today, tell the story to date in 2026.

87th in run Yards Before Contact (YBC): 1.63. 2025: 14th, 2.5.

YBC was under 1.0 against USC and UCLA.

Oregon ranks 95th in run-play contact behind the LOS: 44.6%. (The 2025 number was not provided, and I do not have access to Tru-Media statistics.)

RT Fox Crader has allowed the most pressures in the Big Ten: 18

LT Ziyarre Addison is 4th in the B1G: 13 pressures allowed.

Every statistic on offense is inflated from the scrimmage against Portland State. Without the PSU stats, the overall play of the team on both sides of the ball has been mediocre or worse.

The PFF grades for OL run-blocking against UCLA were not good, especially for the two tackles.

Oregon's OL is not the only group underperforming in 2026. Among the underachievers are Michigan, Washington, and Texas.

Should Dan have added more OL players from the Portal? Possibly, but at what cost? Returning DL starters and Dante Moore are well paid, and even Mighty Oregon does not have an unlimited football budget.

As Urban Meyer and many other commentators have pointed out, in today's CFB world, OL is the toughest position to recruit out of high school and from the portal.

Against UCLA, Dylan Raiola's play was worse than the play around him. Pro Football Focus asks why the Oregon coaching staff waited so long to take Raiola out of the game. A reasonable question.

Coaching concerns are understood and warranted. However, Crader and Fox are inexperienced, and it shows. Could any coach be doing a better job with the material at hand?

Regarding Mario compared to Dan in 2026, if Oregon's first six games had been against the dreck Miami has played to date, the Ducks would be undefeated.

Miami's win over No. 21 Wake Forest? It took the Demon Deacons two OTs to defeat Purdue.

An inexperienced OL and games against four AP-ranked teams? And with the starting QB knocked out in LA and the backup returning to his mean?

If a team cannot run the ball, it will not win many games against worthy opposition. Especially when the lack of the run game is made worse by seven turnovers.

With this roster, and a future NFL QB hurt, 2-2 against the Top-25 is discouraging for the fans, but not a surprising result.

The PFF stats below confirm that the defense played very well against UCLA.

Suck it up, ball out, and don't give up; a spot in the 2026 playoff is still in sight.

On3

Stats, Snaps, and PFF Grades for Oregon & UCLA

The Oregon loss to UCLA was a shocker to watch. Who got snaps in this game? How did they grade on PFF? Let's dig into it.

I hear you. The QB play has been rank; no Oregon QB is ranked in the B1G's top 8.

CFB-HQ On SI

Big Ten QB Rankings Week 7: Sayin Holds No. 1 Ahead of Hi...

Ohio State’s Julian Sayin holds No. 1 in the Big Ten quarterback rankings entering Week 7, and Saturday’s noon kickoff at Indiana puts him on the same field as

On the Sunday morning radio sports show he shares, Geoff Schwartz was bemoaning the O-line play vs UCLA. It was his contention that Oregon did not run a single play on offense without at least one screwup in assignment by an O-lineman. He said it was apparent the coaching staff was getting frustrated and were trying in-game substitutions of players who screwed up, but as soon as something was "fixed" then there would be a screwup elsewhere with a different player. Then, a player pulled out would be rotated back in and screwup again.

Should they have pursued more OL talent from the portal? Absolutely!

We all believed that they must have liked the pieces they had and they would be good enough ... That turned out to be wrong.

And I'll happily eat my crow and admit I was one of those people saying the offensive line should be fine because in Dan we trust and if he was good with it it must be good.

I haven't known what to do with all of this NIL stuff because who really knows; but, with so much attention and so many people looking at it (and so many people involved digging for off-the-record info), the given numbers probably almost must be increasing in accuracy.

So, take this with a grain of salt (and remember they aren't my numbers). A few seem mildly surprising. Not trying to pile on here, more trying to add to the discussion of whats and whys.

The thought appears to be indeed Oregon spent close to 70% of its total budget on player retention; but, with such a large budget, it still had about $7 million in NIL to spend in 2026.

Over half that apparently went to two players:

• Perich ($2 million) and Raiola ($1.5 to $2 miilion, lets say $1.8 million to make the numbers simple) = $3.8 million

• 6 players thought to be in the $400,000 to $600,000 range: Scott, Olesh, Hooks, Robinson, Williams IV, and Bennett = $3.0 million

• 6 remaining players: Price, Dixon, Dantzler, Simmons, Ettridge, Emmett about $200,000-$300,000 = $200,000 again to keep it simple

Total: $7.0 million (about as projected)

I understand the Perich splash play (even if it doesn't work out as well as Thieneman); and, I think there are future hopes/roles for Olesh and maybe Robinson. That's $3 million that maybe you call good.

What did Oregon get out of the remaining $4 million? I know Raiola was a play primarily for 2027; but, he came in with a 2026 obligation to get 2027, which now has to very much be called into question after what can almost only be described as one of the very worse performances from a Duck starting QBs in almost two decades. Just watching that game one would wonder if DR can even get to Anthony Brown levels of play from where he now is at (the lack of accuracy and velocity on many of his throws was jarring). I have a hard time thinking Oregon put $400,000 into Bennett but the sites seem to think that might even be low (but I refuse to estimate Oregon going any higher). Scott, Hooks, and Williams look like they may have already been passed by (Hooks running out of eligibility and the other two possibily on the move again to look to play).

What could have Oregon done with that $4 miilion in NIL on the OL if the young OL was properly evaluated and prioritized and veterans were brought in to raise the floor?

Some guys who were out there just as examples?

• Lance Heard (from Texas to UK): senior with 24 career starts now starting LT at UK: $1.5 to $2.0 million

• Jacarrius Peak (NC State to South Carolina): 5th year senior with 31 career starts, starting LT at SC: $1.0 million to $1.2 million

• Melvin Siani (Wake Forest to Texas): senior with 27 career starts, starting RT at Texas: $1.3 million

• Zavier Chaplin (Auburn to FSU): 5th year senior with 37 career starts, starting LT at FSU: $800,000 to $1.3 million

• Colton Price (BC to UK): 5th year senior with 30 career starts, starting C at UK: $500,000

• Tegra Tshabola (tOSU to UK): 5th year senior with 29 career starts, starting RG at UK: $800,000 to $1.0 million

• E'Marion Harris (Arkansas to Oklahoma): 5th year senior with 24 career starts, starting RT at OU: $500,000 to $1.0 million

More guys were out there and obviously OL were in demand; but, in college football today, the $ rules (and Oregon's $ are as green as anyone's); and, with $4 million to spend, at least two (if not even 3) of these guys could have been in play if the staff chose its priorities differently.

For example, the Ducks have a ton of trouble at LG? I think Luli played a lot of LG early in his career. For apparently $1 million in NIL, Oregon could have had the starting RG for Ohio State's 2024 National Championship team (Tshabola) and moved Luli to LG and I think the IOL would be miles better (and probably would have upset a lot of Ohio State fans along the way which would have been a nice bonus).

I know one of Oregon's key NIL guys followed Stein to Kentucky for a promotion; but, that much impact seems a stetch. Sure seems like a ball was dropped somewhere; or, dare I say it, maybe just some hubris went into decision making. Was another CB really that big a priority? Was the slot really in that bad shape? For that matter, how can the veteran blocking TE you made a target not even get on the field to block? 🤷‍♂️

Edited 39 minutes ago39 min by AnotherOD