1 hour ago1 hr Administrator No. I always have to wait a few days to rewatch the game with more analytical eyes, versus just wanting us to win and keeping up with the game. I focused on the offensive line, and was pretty stunned at what I saw both positive and negative at times.First, we kept Gernorris Wilson (No. 78) at right tackle, and Fox Crader (No. 59) at left tackle the whole game, and that was helpful for them. But being an Ol' offensive lineman in high school....switching sides is a lot harder than you would think, I was a right tackle, and I HATED any reps at left tackle; it was not the same, and I was not as good on that side.Fox Crader began at LT last year, switched to RT for a ton of games, and now was back at LT. My friends, this can really mess you up with remembering all the fine points of each side. Knowing who to look for as you slide off your double-team and where that player is coming from is huge. Many times we missed a safety crashing low because our blocker did not see him in time....and that fraction of a second means the difference between a three yard gain, versus an eight yard play.What floored me in the end was how I did not see Dave Iuli the entire game, and this means he must have reinjured something, and that loss is massive. Between losing him, and then losing Trent Ferguson for the entire year--we lost any slack built within the offensive line that needed experienced players.Instead what we saw was at right guard....Douglas Utu, No. 55! He has been playing on the left side, and now is on the right side? He is a big-boy but first time doing this will not be as good. And who replaced him at left guard? No. 58, Ziyare Addison! He has been playing left TACKLE, and now was playing left guard?What a mess.Then, just four minutes into the third quarter....they pulled Addison out at left guard, and took the No. 80 TE jersey off Tommy Tofi, and had him put on his No. 77 and play left guard! That lineup remained that way for the rest of the game.Thank Goodness We Have Poncho!Negatives:I've never seen this at Oregon before, and it SHOUTS desperation in the trenches. We are doing anything we can to field a decent offensive line, and the massive changes will not yield as much success as a permanent lineup, as it also shouts how we are still experimenting to see what group works best together. But going from left to right, or tackle to guard are significant handicaps to overcome. We are lucky to get what we have....Positives:They missed a lot, but also had quite a few more good plays than last game. The real-game time experience is starting to pay off, and I noticed that their sealing blocks on counters were much better. There were times where we just did two double-teams with the center and guard taking the DT, and the tackle and tight end taking the DE and blowing them off the line and not worrying about the linebackers or safeties. It gave us the forward drive to get us 4-5 yards often enough.In the first half....the offensive line was getting blamed for poor QB play. We had players open, and enough time in the pocket to complete the passes, but they were badly thrown. It is quite possible that drives would have stayed alive with a different QB, and success throwing the ball would have backed up the LBs and Safeties and thus helped the run-game as well.We have a long way to go, but the raw material is there, the talent is there, and playing time will improve it. We actually had a much bigger jump in O-Line technique than most would have thought from the game. When you consider that we had only ONE experienced offensive lineman all game, (Poncho) then what we did was certainly a step-up. With a great QB and receivers....we could score a lot more points, IMHO.Still....I've never seen such moves on the O-Line before, and again, I am both disgusted at how desperate we are, and yet proud of the progress made from before. With a half-season to go--these offensive linemen could end up being pretty good by fall of '27!Dylan Raiola and Tommy Tofi... Mr. OBD
Create an account or sign in to comment