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 21 hours ago21 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 20 hours ago20 hr 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.

Missing:

Dante, McClellen, Stewart, Fergusen, 2 offensive tackles from portal, a RB like the one that Tennessee has, and some new plays that everyone on the planet doesn't already know.

But we should all take this into consideration: every team they played is at least a good team except for Portland state.

And, with the portal, the mediocre teams of the recent past are now competitive. Just ask Texas and Georgia.

Given the challenges, I'll take the win yesterday and be happy about it. It was a great game ending drive.

Dan’s off-season coordinator and position coach choices were clearly based on passing the torch to the next guy up within the system. If it doesn’t appear broken, don’t fix it. In-house coaching continuity was a huge reason for Oregon success through the Brooks/Bellotti era, but doesn’t look to have worked as well for Lanning.

It’s not easy to fully grasp a young head coach’s strengths and weaknesses, but I have to assume (like with anyone) he will have to learn from when he’s allowed his comfort zone to take precedence over learning to stretch beyond those limits.

Recognizing that is what lets you grow. And, I’ve no doubt Dan is fully up to the task.

As I slowly drifted off to sleep last night, I had visions of Gary Crowton...and Scott Frost...and Joe Moorhead... Then, I woke up in a cold sweat.

The Ducks' offense got better after each one of those guys left...right? (Yeah, Ludwig wasn't great. But, I think he was a small step up from Crowton.)

I guess that doesn't do anything about this year, though, does it.

1 hour ago, oregon123 said:

But we should all take this into consideration: every team they played is at least a good team except for Portland state.

Not according to the experts. There are few rosters in college football as talented and deep as the Oregon Ducks, on paper.

Most teams do have better coaching, talent development and execution though.

1 hour ago, WiseKwacker said:

As I slowly drifted off to sleep last night, I had visions of Gary Crowton...and Scott Frost...and Joe Moorhead... Then, I woke up in a cold sweat.

The Ducks' offense got better after each one of those guys left...right? (Yeah, Ludwig wasn't great. But, I think he was a small step up from Crowton.)

I guess that doesn't do anything about this year, though, does it.

All of those OCs you mentioned are much better and had much better track records before becoming the OC than Mehringer. That's why he was such a horrible pick.

If we're talking about a school like Minnesota, N.C State or another mid level Power 4 conference I could understand hiring Mehringer, but at Oregon you need to have a track record before you start calling plays. Dillingham and Stein we're young, but they at least had shown that they could run a successful attack, Drew had done none of that.

I know you're emphasizing that Mehringer is a horrible hire, I'm just saying he's probably the worst OC hire Oregon has gone with ever when you think about how underprepared he is.

3 hours ago, Washington Waddler said:

Dan’s off-season coordinator and position coach choices were clearly based on passing the torch to the next guy up within the system. If it doesn’t appear broken, don’t fix it. In-house coaching continuity was a huge reason for Oregon success through the Brooks/Bellotti era, but doesn’t look to have worked as well for Lanning.

It’s not easy to fully grasp a young head coach’s strengths and weaknesses, but I have to assume (like with anyone) he will have to learn from when he’s allowed his comfort zone to take precedence over learning to stretch beyond those limits.

Recognizing that is what lets you grow. And, I’ve no doubt Dan is fully up to the task.

“Passing the torch” rarely works in sport or business. There are more times that it has failed than worked out. Helfrich at Oregon is exhibit A. (and for those of you who will say, he got Oregon to the national championship game…no he didn’t, Marcus Mariota did and we saw what happened when we faced a much more talented roster.)

7 hours ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

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.

There were simply too many "play it safe, Brock can't make that throw" calls the first three quarters.

Though I don't think this is a great offensive line, when the QB is a threat to throw the ball down field and you have the receivers our Ducks have it opens up better lanes for running also. It's hard for the O-line to look any good at all when there is zero threat to stretch the field because the QB can't make that throw.

A constant diet of bubble screens, five yard outs and flair passes allows the defense to d exactly what Nebraska did early last night, throw 7-9 players in the box to stop the run and dare you t win on Brock Thomas' arm. Oregon didn't take the dare.

6 hours ago, OregonDucks said:

Not according to the experts. There are few rosters in college football as talented and deep as the Oregon Ducks, on paper.

Most teams do have better coaching, talent development and execution though.

In my experience I believe five star talent becomes three star with mediocre coaching and three star athletes become NFL draft picks with outstanding coaching. There really isn’t a huge difference between the athletic ability of top G6 schools (like Oregon State) and schools like Nebraska or UCLA. The real difference is between the ears (coaching) and strength training (more coaching). Also, confidence and fire in the belly don’t hurt either.

Of course there are a handful of elite schools that the G6 just can’t compete with. Usually. Then I slap myself for saying such a thing. I don’t think BYU has anywhere near the talent of Notre Dame. But their level of determination and refusal to lose was off the charts.

If Oregon had the BYU mindset and culture the Ducks would be almost impossible to beat. Kinda like Indiana but with better athletes.

Perhaps the internal promotions of both coordinators was intended or even required to retain the players that were pondering leaving. Relationships matter.

19 hours ago, DuckyBronco said:

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?

Missing on the Oregon team? O-line talent and the starting QB. And based on more learned folks than I, problems with the schemes, coaching, and erratic play from backup QBs.

And yes, this experienced team on defense in particular came into the season overconfident and without the attitude needed to win football games against top talent. Boise is good. OK State schould be in the top 25 and not 26th. 5-1 Nebraska coming into Autzen should have been ranked. 6-0 UCLA is the last undefeated team in the Big Ten. The only easy game was against Portland State. Oregon has played one of the most difficult schedules in the country.

Bama - missing a run D. Georgia was defeated by Auburn because of turnovers. Florida defeated Texas because Archie is overrated; many of the Texas portal pickup players, especially WR Cam Coleman, were overrated, and Sark is not a championship coach. Missouri can't win an SEC game on the road. Which version of the Gators is going to show up? Will Stein is doing a superb job at Kentucky and is missed in Eugene.

Nice win by BYU, helped by a fumble at the goal line when ND QB Carr was trying to spike the ball and instead fumbled; interference was not called on Utah on the last play of the game that should have been the penultimate play; ND's best DL player was ejected early for targeting, and ND had played against thin air before this game in the thin air of Provo.

A bad holding call against the Seminoles helped Miami defeat FSU in double OT. Miami's only top-25 win was against Wake Forest; Miami's schedule is a joke. Miami is No. 1 in the AP Poll based on the Eye Test.

Ohio State defeated Indiana because an experienced WR was not aware of where he was on the field and caught what should have been a walk-off TD pass over the wrong shoulder.

NIL and free agency have dispersed the talent in CFB. The NFL's 'Any Given Sunday ' is now CFB 's' 'Any Given Saturday.'

Can a Duck's D finally playing up to par carry Oregon to the PO? Is Dante done for the season? Will Oregon get the run game going? A lot of questions for Oregon, and a lot of questions across D1.

Oh, and when an SEC team loses to another SEC team, it is not a loss, simply a bump in the gauntlet.

Thanks for the post and the interesting question to ponder.

(1) Coaching

(2) O line, but see (1)

One thing I don't think can be overlooked is the impact of the timing of the playoff last year as it relates to the transfer window. As we all know, we lost both coordinators. We were heads down focused on beating Indiana in the playoff. And I don't think it's easy to grasp the competing priorities at that time of year. Not only are you trying to focus on winning a game. You're also trying to focus on retaining your players, which we all know didn't work out well for so many who left. You're also trying to keep those players from leaving to the coordinators that they know. And then you're trying to attract new talent or compete for transfer talent as well. With both coordinators leaving, the vast majority of that all falls on one man, Dan Lanning, something has to give, and you saw a disproportionate loss of talent as well as underutilizing the portal... and I believe that is catching up to us now, especially with the O-Line...

4 hours ago, Jon Joseph said:

Missing on the Oregon team? O-line talent and the starting QB. And based on more learned folks than I, problems with the schemes, coaching, and erratic play from backup QBs.

And yes, this experienced team on defense in particular came into the season overconfident and without the attitude needed to win football games against top talent. Boise is good. OK State schould be in the top 25 and not 26th. 5-1 Nebraska coming into Autzen should have been ranked. 6-0 UCLA is the last undefeated team in the Big Ten. The only easy game was against Portland State. Oregon has played one of the most difficult schedules in the country.

Bama - missing a run D. Georgia was defeated by Auburn because of turnovers. Florida defeated Texas because Archie is overrated; many of the Texas portal pickup players, especially WR Cam Coleman, were overrated, and Sark is not a championship coach. Missouri can't win an SEC game on the road. Which version of the Gators is going to show up? Will Stein is doing a superb job at Kentucky and is missed in Eugene.

Nice win by BYU, helped by a fumble at the goal line when ND QB Carr was trying to spike the ball and instead fumbled; interference was not called on Utah on the last play of the game that should have been the penultimate play; ND's best DL player was ejected early for targeting, and ND had played against thin air before this game in the thin air of Provo.

A bad holding call against the Seminoles helped Miami defeat FSU in double OT. Miami's only top-25 win was against Wake Forest; Miami's schedule is a joke. Miami is No. 1 in the AP Poll based on the Eye Test.

Ohio State defeated Indiana because an experienced WR was not aware of where he was on the field and caught what should have been a walk-off TD pass over the wrong shoulder.

NIL and free agency have dispersed the talent in CFB. The NFL's 'Any Given Sunday ' is now CFB 's' 'Any Given Saturday.'

Can a Duck's D finally playing up to par carry Oregon to the PO? Is Dante done for the season? Will Oregon get the run game going? A lot of questions for Oregon, and a lot of questions across D1.

Oh, and when an SEC team loses to another SEC team, it is not a loss, simply a bump in the gauntlet.

Thanks for the post and the interesting question to ponder.

So many good points here. Thanks.

Us old timers have to come to terms with the new world of college football:

1) Recruits generally not willing to wait for playing time. “Start or move on” mentality.

2) Parity is the new world caused by number 1 above facilitated by NIL and Portal.

3) Coaching carousel seems to be accelerating.

4) Fan impatience accelerated because of immense increase in dollars donated and corresponding expectations.

For those who read Canzano he had a very good article today about the state of Oregon football. Bottom line: Lanning screwed the pooch when he hired his coordinators from within. And he knows it. (Canzano’s words not mine.) Worse than that is that there’s nothing Lanning can do but ride this lame race horse all the way to the finish line. Next offseason could be entertaining.