I feel like I needed to get this out sooner than later as with the news breaking that Mehringer is out at Oregon. I had it mostly written but thankfully the children today were being cooperative and letting me wrap this up.

The Duck's Loss to Illinois is on Mehringer

On Sunday morning Dan Lanning made the announcement that the Ducks were parting ways with Offensive Coordinator Drew Mehringer. At this point it was pretty obvious that Mehringer was not up to the tas

Good write up David. I feel myself or one of my good friends could have called plays yesterday and we would have won.

You hit all the key points I saw, but I'll add one. After an 11-play opening drive that we ran for a 5-yards a pop average we blew the opportunity to focus on the run game and score points on drives 2-4 of the game. We had a chance to extend an early lead and take good game control.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by dazednconfused

Bravo David. Saturday's play calling was a crime against competence.

Keeping Dak Moore around or behind the line of scrimmage all game kept the D around the line of scrimmage all game.

Going deep to back up receivers is like setting up three point shots for roll players.

3rd and 9 two yard passes has the predictability of a dangerous drinking game.

Abandoning a running game netting over six yards a rush for a hapless passing attach is peak Coach Meh.

Killing your own drives with Tom foolery plays is icing on the clown cake.

Lanning opting to take field goal attempts over going for it on fourth is also very telling that faith in this offense was shot.

Fourth and one at goal... And a field goal is not Lanning and not what Lanning would have wanted to do. I applaud him for taking the field goal as that was the right thing to do.

The two field goal attempts at 50+ yards was Lanning taking the risk for points rather than the risk for likely nothing. Those were desperation field goal attempts. If the game plan starts to factor in 50+ yard field goals your game plan is fundamentally broken... And it was.

Defense broken yesterday and they were on the field for too darn long yet again. Also the offense should have absolutely put up more than 10 points which gives the defense breathing room if they are playing with a lead.

My hope is that Lanning hasn't lost the locker room. Sure felt like the defense had a "What's the point" moment yesterday.

Dan is a good lead man. Firing Meh', in my mind gives Lanning a clean slate.

Let's go out and ruin some seasons for others. Starting with NU

1 minute ago, Log Haulin said:

Dan is a good lead man. Firing Meh', in my mind gives Lanning a clean slate.

Lanning doesn't have anywhere near a 'clean slate' right now. However, he did buy himself a little bit of time, and he now has the opportunity to show everybody if he has the right stuff to turn this thing around.

Edited 47 minutes ago47 min by Desert Duck

Firing the OC saves Lanning for how long? This season is a mess, but predictable if you bothered taking off your "duck colored lenses". Lanning has never had the cofidence or skill to lead a top team anywhere, and if you've been paying attention it shows.

No matter what happens with DL I'm pretty sure we're gonna have to start all over again. DL's legacy as the worst coach with the most wins is nearly cemented.

2 minutes ago, anyotherduck said:

Firing the OC saves Lanning for how long? This season is a mess, but predictable if you bothered taking off your "duck colored lenses". Lanning has never had the cofidence or skill to lead a top team anywhere, and if you've been paying attention it shows.

No matter what happens with DL I'm pretty sure we're gonna have to start all over again. DL's legacy as the worst coach with the most wins is nearly cemented.

I have to fundamentally disagree with this. Leading the team to consecutive CFP appearances and a semi-final game doesn't exactly scream "worst coach with the most wins". There are definitely other coaches at winning programs that are far worse than DL. He messed up a coordinator hire and now he's attempting to rectify it. Bad timing but it happens even with the best teams. My two cents.

1 minute ago, kirklandduck said:

I have to fundamentally disagree with this. Leading the team to consecutive CFP appearances and a semi-final game doesn't exactly scream "worst coach with the most wins". There are definitely other coaches that are far worse than DL. He messed up a coordinator hire and now he's attempting to rectify it. Bad timing but it happens even with the best teams. My two cents.

I agree with you.

Good coaches absolutely must hire great coaches. Dan had both Dillingham and then Stein. These guys did some great stuff.

With the right coaching staff around him, Lanning is a good coach.

Whether or not he has the stuff it takes to become a great coach, definitely remains to be seen.

My ooinion is on record. Nothing will improve while DL is at the helm. I'd love to be wrong, but...

12 minutes ago, Desert Duck said:

I agree with you.

Good coaches absolutely must hire great coaches. Dan had both Dillingham and then Stein. These guys did some great stuff.

With the right coaching staff around him, Lanning is a good coach.

Whether or not he has the stuff it takes to become a great coach, definitely remains to be seen.

The fact that DL found Dilly and Stein in consecutive hires proves that he knows how to find great coaching talent. I think this time around his devotion to "loyalty and working your way up" (like he did during his career) overrode what worked at these critical positions. That devotion isn't a bad thing and is very admirable however he can step in and help the DC if they're struggling like he obviously did with Hampton. But he doesn't have that ability to help on the other side of the ball and should've been more cognizant of that.

Let's see if he's truly learned his lesson and goes through a thorough interview/hiring process for the new OC.

23 minutes ago, anyotherduck said:

Firing the OC saves Lanning for how long? This season is a mess, but predictable if you bothered taking off your "duck colored lenses". Lanning has never had the cofidence or skill to lead a top team anywhere, and if you've been paying attention it shows.

No matter what happens with DL I'm pretty sure we're gonna have to start all over again. DL's legacy as the worst coach with the most wins is nearly cemented.

Helfrich was in the same place in 2016 and he wasn't given another chance to f right the ship. That was in part due to the recruiting not picking up fast enough with sanctions going away.

Lanning is in no danger of being fired but he does have to earn our trust back as fans. But here's the thing...

Lanning gets to work on retaining his roster now. Work on scouting for a new OC (and other position coaches even if they haven't been fired yet) and prep for the portal.

In this day and age the portal and some good hires can bounce a team back into contention real fast.

Lanning has shown he can make good hires but he is going to have to make some big hires here and he can't let his ego get in the way of any potential changes to scheme.

I appreciate the positive attitude but a good hire or two isn't going to fix this mess. This is more a fire-sale-tear-down-re-build.