People have lamented Oregon's in-game adjustments. Nebraska's best defender thought Oregon did well in the adjustments it made:

Benning said Nebraska didn't adjust well enough.

"Ultimately as a team, and I'll speak as a defense, we didn't adjust to some of the adjustments they made," he said. "And at the end, the first three quarters really don't matter. In a ballgame like this in the Big Ten, the fourth quarter is what it's going to come down to. You've got to win the fourth quarter."

Oregon won the 4th Q. It's clear the Ducks are fighting for their lives to get better. They aren't quiting.

I have been harsh on the team and coaching staff. But I do respect them tremendously for fighting no matter what.

Good on them.

The announcers said that Nebraska prepared for Brock Thomas, and when Dylan Raiola came in they weren't ready for the change in play calling. If that is the case, we should name Akili Smith as the starter for next week's game!

The simple truth is that Brock Thomas has no business being out on the field in a game like that, he doesn't have the arm, he doesn't have the athleticism, it's a nice idea that they local kid can play, but it's obvious that if you have a O-line like ours, you can't start a guy who can barely throw the ball 20 yards.

Raiola isn't perfect, but he could at least zip the ball where it needed to go and the defense at least had to entertain the idea that he could legitimately throw the ball down the field without it wobbling.

We should be playing Smith Jr. over Thomas, you have to go with upside considering this is no longer a season where we are going to the playoff, maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I don't see how we go undefeated the rest of the year with this offensive line and this OC.

I say start whoever and expect to finish with the other one. I also say prep Akili Smith with a solid third and long package and bring him on the field in those situations. Give him some RPOs and let's just see what happens. Can it really be any worse than 2 first downs and 50 yards in a half bad?

2 hours ago, spartan2785 said:

The simple truth is that Brock Thomas has no business being out on the field in a game like that, he doesn't have the arm, he doesn't have the athleticism, it's a nice idea that they local kid can play, but it's obvious that if you have a O-line like ours, you can't start a guy who can barely throw the ball 20 yards.

Raiola isn't perfect, but he could at least zip the ball where it needed to go and the defense at least had to entertain the idea that he could legitimately throw the ball down the field without it wobbling.

We should be playing Smith Jr. over Thomas, you have to go with upside considering this is no longer a season where we are going to the playoff, maybe I'll be proven wrong, but I don't see how we go undefeated the rest of the year with this offensive line and this OC.

Thomas can be a good back up QB when he is playing with an O-line that's going to make holes for running backs and set up play action to get receivers open enough for him to hit them.

I agree with you totally he is in over his head vs. top 25 or close to that competition. Even with his performance vs UCLA, I'd go with Raiola and then Smith. The likelihood of this team making the play offs now is slim and these guys need to be ready to be #s 1 and 2 next year.

I also think we have a better chance of winning this year with them.

What evidence do we have to think Smith will be better than Thomas or Raiola?

Moore regressed, Thomas regressed, Dylan certainly isn't any consistently better than at Nebraska.

Is it the fall speak that he improved so much, just like they said we have 8 OL that can play winning football and that Mehringer is a mad scientist?

The odds of Koa Kai turning Smith into an excellent player to lead us to victory when Railo has sucked and Thomas sucked and they still went back to Raiola, is slim to none and Slim left town a while ago.

Benning’s comments speak to the truth about actually playing in the game. It was hard fought, and balanced on who saw and adjusted the quickest to what the other was doing. But most of all, who fought the hardest to win the 4th quarter.

I’ll accept that opinion over all the negativity.

IF our OL can't provide a clean pocket, something which it clearly has had trouble doing, we'll benefit by having a QB who can move. He doesn't necessarily have to be scrambling for yardage in every series of downs, risking serious injury as we've recently seen happen. But he will need to present the threat of doing so. More importantly he needs to be able to avoid getting manhandled and sacked when the OL can't provide a few seconds of protection.

Dante is an accurate pocket passer who isn't likely to scramble unless a barn door opens wide. Chance are, after that injury he'll be even less likely to scoot. Dylan showed some good ability to avoid the oncoming tide. Is Akili the one who can pose a real scrambling threat for an opponent while providing enough escapability to still accurately launch missiles from a pocket that has too often proven itself porous? When do we get to see what he can bring to the game?