I know I’m the new guy and I hope my thoughts have relevance here.

Yesterday I watched Ohio State/Indiana, Tennessee/Alabama, parts of Florida/Georgia and BYU/Notre Dame before the Ducks took the field. In all of those other games I saw at least one team that had that combination of grit, fire and organization that tells me they’re title contenders. Then there was Oregon/Nebraska. The Ducks have the individual talent to compete with anyone.

But something’s missing. Something’s just a little bit off. Tennessee and BYU seemed to have that “NO… you’re NOT going to beat us” attitude. The Ducks were more like “we’re better than you and we can dial it up if we need to but we probably don’t have to”. Is it organization and motivation? Is it coaching? Is it team culture? I can’t put my finger on it but something just feels a little off to me.

Am I the only one who feels that way?

Coaching plain and simple. If Dilly or Stein was the OC we win last night by 30+. Play calling is horrible. Had an explayer sitting in front of me last night..It is the OC.

They are missing their Quarterback and have new coordinators. Plus on the offensive side they are still very young. Plus, when a team goes through some struggle the fans perspective most always changes.

Here's a few problems.

A former tight end is coaching the QBs.

Some guy is coaching the tight ends.

The tight end coach is running the offense.

11 minutes ago, Cigarstar said:

Coaching plain and simple. If Dilly or Stein was the OC we win last night by 30+. Play calling is horrible. Had an explayer sitting in front of me last night..It is the OC.

I think if either were OC we would have been considerably more comfortable and would have probably won by two scores.

But the offensive line play was just an outright liability. They sort of figured some things out in the fourth quarter.

But this team has some major fundamental problems.

4 minutes ago, David Marsh said:

I think if either were OC we would have been considerably more comfortable and would have probably won by two scores.

But the offensive line play was just an outright liability. They sort of figured some things out in the fourth quarter.

But this team has some major fundamental problems.

The O line is a real issue. Not sure why they play so poorly for huge chunks of games. It baffles me.

Maybe its coaching, maybe talent, experience or offensive scheme. All of the above?

A ton of money was spent to retain players on this team. How much was spent on O line.

I think this coaching staff knew from the start (last January) that the guys in that position group would not be sufficient to win games.

I think the donors where informed about the possible issues. They probably didn't want to spend anymore money. Can't blame them, $50 mil is a lot. Just a theory I have.

O line is the second most important position group on any football team. I don't know the numbers allocated to O line talent. It just feels like the purse might have been mis-allocated.

Did Lanning not go into the portal for O line because he was told there is no more money? Seems plausible to me.

Ducks recruited 2 5 Star tackles last year: Tofi (77) and Ibeanacho (79).

51 minutes ago, Log Haulin said:

The O line is a real issue. Not sure why they play so poorly for huge chunks of games. It baffles me.

Maybe its coaching, maybe talent, experience or offensive scheme. All of the above?

A ton of money was spent to retain players on this team. How much was spent on O line.

I think this coaching staff knew from the start (last January) that the guys in that position group would not be sufficient to win games.

I think the donors where informed about the possible issues. They probably didn't want to spend anymore money. Can't blame them, $50 mil is a lot. Just a theory I have.

O line is the second most important position group on any football team. I don't know the numbers allocated to O line talent. It just feels like the purse might have been mis-allocated.

Did Lanning not go into the portal for O line because he was told there is no more money? Seems plausible to me.

But Oregon spent money on Iverson Hooks when the receiver room was already loaded? None of it makes any sense.

If Dante were playing last night it wouldn't be close. So many errant passes thrown that Dante makes. Coaching and play calling aside the Ducks win with Dante no problem. Also the play calling would be different. Of course that's just last nights game.

Previously it's a combination of everything. Coaches, play calling and talent level.

1 hour ago, David Marsh said:

I think if either were OC we would have been considerably more comfortable and would have probably won by two scores.

But the offensive line play was just an outright liability. They sort of figured some things out in the fourth quarter.

But this team has some major fundamental problems.

It looked like Nebraska's D was gassed in the 4th quarter, while we kept 3 running backs in rotation. O-Line is terrible, but the Ducks D kept them in the game.

25 minutes ago, GODUCKS15 said:

If Dante were playing last night it wouldn't be close. So many errant passes thrown that Dante makes. Coaching and play calling aside the Ducks win with Dante no problem. Also the play calling would be different. Of course that's just last nights game.

Previously it's a combination of everything. Coaches, play calling and talent level.

Even with our stud back there, we still had issues with the Broncos and the Cowboys. For my money, I’m putting the majority of the blame on the play calling and the offensive staff. At some point, when the talent is clearly there and the same problems keep showing up regardless of who’s under center, you have to start looking at the people designing and calling the offense.

The O line is the second biggest issue for the offense.

However , with a better OC there would be adjustments that would compensate.

There was clearly a miscalculation on how the offensive line would perform. But remember it is also missing a starter.

One thing it is not is want to and fire. When your offensive line is unable to create holes it's almost impossible to run the ball. And Nebraska was getting pressure at times with three rushers.

Missing four of 11 starters on offense will affect any team. Look at the trouble Notre Dame had getting pressure with their top defensive player out. Imagine if they had four starters missing on defense.

Edited 2 hours ago2 hr by Fitnessczar

3 hours ago, Cigarstar said:

Coaching plain and simple. If Dilly or Stein was the OC we win last night by 30+. Play calling is horrible. Had an explayer sitting in front of me last night..It is the OC.

I love sitting near x players. I sit just above a former BSU and NFL lineman and BSU basketball player. You can learn a lot if you can get them to talk.

I do agree that a Stein led offense would have smoked the Huskers.

3 hours ago, Cigarstar said:

Coaching plain and simple. If Dilly or Stein was the OC we win last night by 30+. Play calling is horrible. Had an explayer sitting in front of me last night..It is the OC.

Coach Lanning hired one of the worst offensive coordinators in all of college football. What did we honestly expect?

In Drew Mehringer’s lone season as OC, Rutgers ranked 127 of 128 in offensive points per game. IORC, Rutgers was better before he was named OC and better immediately after he was fired.

Edited 58 minutes ago58 min by OregonDucks

One thing I'd like to see go missing from the playbook is the play that calls for your best receiver to nearly get killed on a meaningless third and way too short route. I'm glad Moore was able to return to the game. To me, that was the worst play of the night.