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 yesterday at 05:39 PM1 day 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 yesterday at 06:36 PM1 day 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.

18 minutes ago, anyotherduck said:

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.

I don't think that's true. There are a lot of really good coaches at Oregon already. OC and O line coaching fixes a lot of the issues.

38 minutes ago, anyotherduck said:

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.

Here's my quick run down...

Offense Must Replace

Mehringer - OC (gone)

Koa Ka'ai - QBs

Jack Smith - TEs

A'lique Terry - OL

On defense I'm less sure but I think Hampton isn't a must fire but probably bringing someone in to be a co-DC with him would be good.

I think CBs coaching has been ok but not great and should be on the table replacement.

Edge coaching as been ok this year but I feel we could and should get more from this unit. Elijah Rushing looks like a flop at this point as a former 5 star but is that because he needs to be coached up more and hasn't gotten that?

TT and MU are long time vets and are producing but it's the young guys I'm worried more about.

So probably put edge coaching on the chopping block as well.

Linebackers is tricky ... Because linebackers in Lanning's system have to do a LOT of stuff and are they getting the coaching needed to succeed with all their roles? I'm leaning towards no at this point.

Now as a general trend here I am basically targeting most of the youngest coaches on the staff. Most of these names are in their first to third year as position coaches as the general trend is inside grad assistant promotions.

The staff needs a gutting and retrofitting for sure. But Samples and Douglas have killed it at runningback and receiver respectively. Both were by the way outside hires.

When Lanning has gone outside to hire he has done a fantastic job. Inside promotions are the root of so many of these problems.

I still have faith Lanning can get things back on track but the bigger goal is not just righting the ship but upgrading it.

But get the right hires and use the portal effectively and it's back on track. Rebuilds aren't what they used to be with the portal.

Also a lot of NIL money will open up at the end of the season with these seniors leaving.

A total rebuild would be a 4-8 season. An 8 win regular season and a bowl win would be 9 wins. Some coaches get bonus money for winning 9 games. One thing is clear we have as much talent as any team on the schedule. Does not mean we will win 9, but the season is not lost.

There is no way this is a fire sale tear down rebuild. We can all share and stand behind our feelings and opinions. But the sky hasn't fallen, yet.

Doom and gloom is for those who have no hope or a plan to fix the problem or overcome the roadblocks.

That is not the case here. The primary problem, the OC got fired. That is the first step in the fix. Yesterday, Meh, sealed his fate in the first quarter when he went away from the succesful run first scheme. That scheme was succesful on the first scoring drive. And very succesful the entire 4th quarter of the Nebraska comeback/victory game.

Why the Duck Offense abandoned that play calling is beyond me. But lets keep our focus on that most of the same players were on the field. The same players who were previously succesful.The talent is still on this team. The players, in my opinion, did not have the proper coaching and play calling.

The Ducks were down 4 NFL caliber receivers and without their 1st round NFL QB. What offense wouldn't struggle with that. The players are still talented

The Illini defense crowded and double teamed DM and played within 10 yards of the LOS. Playing against the back up QB (Who needs more quality coaching and seasoning) and 8 freshmen/sophmore skilled position players. Not to mention a few freshmen lineman.Then the weak play calling made this easier for Illinois defense by calling desperation plays.

I am trying to keep this all in perspective despite the deep disappointment I feel.

There is no quick fix for this seasons dilema. We simply need the starters back on the field. And an uptick in assistant coaches. About 70% of the college teams face that every year.

DL is a young quality coach and i cannot support those who want him out. He is responsible for his coaching decisions and always accepts the blame.

Not to throw water on those that are on fire but DL will have no shortage of quality OC's apply for the job. I am certain that agents have already reached out.

This is fixable and DL will surely grow from this. Remember you cannot compare DL to Cignetti. This is Dan's first HC job! Cignetti had been a successful HC before he came to Indiana.

Go Ducks! Get healthy and grow thru this diversity. This old gray beard is very dissapointed but I love my Ducks

16 minutes ago, David Marsh said:

Here's my quick run down...

Offense Must Replace

Mehringer - OC (gone)

Koa Ka'ai - QBs

Jack Smith - TEs

A'lique Terry - OL

On defense I'm less sure but I think Hampton isn't a must fire but probably bringing someone in to be a co-DC with him would be good.

I think CBs coaching has been ok but not great and should be on the table replacement.

Edge coaching as been ok this year but I feel we could and should get more from this unit. Elijah Rushing looks like a flop at this point as a former 5 star but is that because he needs to be coached up more and hasn't gotten that?

TT and MU are long time vets and are producing but it's the young guys I'm worried more about.

So probably put edge coaching on the chopping block as well.

Linebackers is tricky ... Because linebackers in Lanning's system have to do a LOT of stuff and are they getting the coaching needed to succeed with all their roles? I'm leaning towards no at this point.

Now as a general trend here I am basically targeting most of the youngest coaches on the staff. Most of these names are in their first to third year as position coaches as the general trend is inside grad assistant promotions.

The staff needs a gutting and retrofitting for sure. But Samples and Douglas have killed it at runningback and receiver respectively. Both were by the way outside hires.

When Lanning has gone outside to hire he has done a fantastic job. Inside promotions are the root of so many of these problems.

I still have faith Lanning can get things back on track but the bigger goal is not just righting the ship but upgrading it.

But get the right hires and use the portal effectively and it's back on track. Rebuilds aren't what they used to be with the portal.

Also a lot of NIL money will open up at the end of the season with these seniors leaving.

Agree to a T.

9 minutes ago, HappyToBeADuck said:

There is no way this is a fire sale tear down rebuild. We can all share and stand behind our feelings and opinions. But the sky hasn't fallen, yet.

Doom and gloom is for those who have no hope or a plan to fix the problem or overcome the roadblocks.

That is not the case here. The primary problem, the OC got fired. That is the first step in the fix. Yesterday, Meh, sealed his fate in the first quarter when he went away from the succesful run first scheme. That scheme was succesful on the first scoring drive. And very succesful the entire 4th quarter of the Nebraska comeback/victory game.

Why the Duck Offense abandoned that play calling is beyond me. But lets keep our focus on that most of the same players were on the field. The same players who were previously succesful.The talent is still on this team. The players, in my opinion, did not have the proper coaching and play calling.

The Ducks were down 4 NFL caliber receivers and without their 1st round NFL QB. What offense wouldn't struggle with that. The players are still talented

The Illini defense crowded and double teamed DM and played within 10 yards of the LOS. Playing against the back up QB (Who needs more quality coaching and seasoning) and 8 freshmen/sophmore skilled position players. Not to mention a few freshmen lineman.Then the weak play calling made this easier for Illinois defense by calling desperation plays.

I am trying to keep this all in perspective despite the deep disappointment I feel.

There is no quick fix for this seasons dilema. We simply need the starters back on the field. And an uptick in assistant coaches. About 70% of the college teams face that every year.

DL is a young quality coach and i cannot support those who want him out. He is responsible for his coaching decisions and always accepts the blame.

Not to throw water on those that are on fire but DL will have no shortage of quality OC's apply for the job. I am certain that agents have already reached out.

This is fixable and DL will surely grow from this. Remember you cannot compare DL to Cignetti. This is Dan's first HC job! Cignetti had been a successful HC before he came to Indiana.

Go Ducks! Get healthy and grow thru this diversity. This old gray beard is very dissapointed but I love my Ducks

Agree with all of this. The fire Dan crowd just isn't thinking critically enough about the circumstances.

Dan's ceiling is high. He's proven that. The college football landscape is getting more parity every year for the next 5 years. Firing a coach to find someone else that can guarantee a Natty is a fools errand.

Look what happened at Penn State if you want to see the risk of firing someone that has been really successful, because you feel that winning Natties is the standard.

And I've always felt Penn State is our best comp, not Ohio State or Michigan. We are a tier 1.5 school and I enjoy us when we are in the championship discussion.

18 minutes ago, Solar said:

Agree with all of this. The fire Dan crowd just isn't thinking critically enough about the circumstances.

And if we do fire Dan who else are we going to hire?

He just needs to be honest with himself and truly evaluate his staff.

The first question isn't who the OC is, it's what's the system that we want to run.

Stien had a spread option horizontal RPO with the zone blocking scheme and I hated it since day one. It won't win a Natty.

You got Air Raid or Air Raid Hybrids, Spread RPO-Concepts, Veer and Shoot, Pro-Style or Pro-Style Spread.

Riley Runs a Pro Raid at USC that I really like. They run that out Oklahoma counter gap play really well and blocked us up on it perfect a few times.

Charlie Wiess Jr runs a nice spread RPO I like at LSU with Kiffin

Kendal Briles runs a Veer and Shoot - spread them out and run first, deep shots and high tempo

Ryan Day runs a Pro-Style Spread at OSU I like. He runs power gap, zone, RPO, and will go under center play action pro passing concepts. Day is multiple and when you try to take one thing away, he will attack what you give him.

Pro-Style like Todd Monken at UGA when Lanning was there. I love Todd, great play caller with his play action mixes, used those elite TE's. Lots of QB under center for hard play action and half-backs in the backfield.

Pro-style like Monken protects the ball the most of these, watch Lanning go that route. We'd have won the Natty last year with Monken as our OC and Dante in that system. We'd have steam rolled Indy.

Edited 23 hours ago23 hr by dazednconfused

Great post Dazed. It seems like the entire philosophy of this offense has been make as few mistakes as possible and get the ball to our 4 star guys as easily as possible and let them do their four star things. Then through in some WTH stuff here and there to look unpredictable. No rhyme. No reason. No flow. No situational awareness.

Almost like someone not having a clue what they're doing just faking it and hoping no one notices. Lanning needs to sit down and really focus on what he wants the offensive identity to be from the list you laid out above and go for it. I think that's exactly what happens.

This move was necessary, but I still don’t think this situation is entirely on the coaching staff.

We know Lanning knows he didn’t hire the most qualified coordinators available. He hired for continuity believing his veteran players would shoulder the load - think Bo Nix getting better from Dillingham to Stein.

His miscalculation is that he didn’t need continuity to get over the hump, he needed reform.

On top of all that, I believe there is a character gap with the composition of the team. I’m not talking about terrible character, just not the character traits that win championships.

Edited 23 hours ago23 hr by mikethehiker

I like pro spread at this point.

But we need a dynamic offense that is hard for an opponent to key into a few things and slow or shut it down.

This is an opportunity to upgrade for Lanning. I don't think the current offense was going to make it to a national championship. It was too simple and easy to shut down.

We need a dynamic offense with a top notch play caller who can twist the opponent into knots and dance to the tune they are playing.

48 minutes ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

Great post Dazed. It seems like the entire philosophy of this offense has been make as few mistakes as possible and get the ball to our 4 star guys as easily as possible and let them do their four star things. Then through in some WTH stuff here and there to look unpredictable. No rhyme. No reason. No flow. No situational awareness.

Almost like someone not having a clue what they're doing just faking it and hoping no one notices. Lanning needs to sit down and really focus on what he wants the offensive identity to be from the list you laid out above and go for it. I think that's exactly what happens.

Lanning is only in year 5 and his still a green coach. He is dealing with a failed offensive scheme and mid-season collapse for the first time. He will learn and should be the wiser for it down the road.

That said, I honestly thought Dan would have concluded the Stien scheme wasn't going to win a Natty and ditched it.

23 minutes ago, David Marsh said:

I like pro spread at this point.

But we need a dynamic offense that is hard for an opponent to key into a few things and slow or shut it down.

This is an opportunity to upgrade for Lanning. I don't think the current offense was going to make it to a national championship. It was too simple and easy to shut down.

We need a dynamic offense with a top notch play caller who can twist the opponent into knots and dance to the tune they are playing.

We had a what I'd call a pro spread with Dilly and Klemm. Dilly ran heavy set gap, traditional gap, zone RPO's, empty sets and had good constraint plays.

I've noticed over the last three games Lanning has been trying to roll that back, but Drew didn't have the play calling chops. We've run that old Josh 14, gap with counter and duo, some zone and empty sets.

Edited 22 hours ago22 hr by dazednconfused

11 hours ago, Desert Duck said:

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.

Good take.

But "he's bought a little bit of time". Hmmmm?

Has any Oregon coach had a better record in his first four seasons than DL, now 2-2 in the two seasons of a 12-team PO? Kirby Smart is 0-2.

Disappointing? Heck yes. But Dan is 4-3 playing a schedule that, by every metric, is ranked in the 20 most difficult in 2026. Playing with a backup QB instead of a preseason top-5 QB at the wheel.

I don't care who is calling the plays; Oregon wins on Saturday with a healthy Dante Moore.

Oregon is 1-2 vs. the top-25 and should be 2-2. 6-2 SC lost on the road to a team now ranked No. 25 and dropped from 16 to 31. Ridiculous.

What coach would be better than DL?

He screwed up. He lost the offseason. Fortunately, in today's portal-picking world, and after encouraging dead weight to transfer out, Dan has the resources and recruiting skills to get Oregon back in the PO hunt next season.

Miami, which has played a lightweight schedule, is No. 1. 2021 was the last time Miami was on top of CFB.

It's a disappointing season. It happens to every program.

I watched the offensive film breakdown on Oregon vs Illinois on youtube (Sco Ducks X and O's) let's be clear, the rage against Mehringer is too much. Raiola got that guy fired with all the wide open misreads.

I'm talking WIDE OPEN.

Even the play where everyone is off to the side. That's a good play if Raiola just realizes the numbers are in his favor to the left instead of putting Dakorien in motion. Just throw the ball to him. you had 5 on 2. Throw the damn ball over there.

9 hours ago, Jon Joseph said:

Good take.

But "he's bought a little bit of time". Hmmmm?

Has any Oregon coach had a better record in his first four seasons than DL, now 2-2 in the two seasons of a 12-team PO? Kirby Smart is 0-2.

Disappointing? Heck yes. But Dan is 4-3 playing a schedule that, by every metric, is ranked in the 20 most difficult in 2026. Playing with a backup QB instead of a preseason top-5 QB at the wheel.

I don't care who is calling the plays; Oregon wins on Saturday with a healthy Dante Moore.

Oregon is 1-2 vs. the top-25 and should be 2-2. 6-2 SC lost on the road to a team now ranked No. 25 and dropped from 16 to 31. Ridiculous.

What coach would be better than DL?

He screwed up. He lost the offseason. Fortunately, in today's portal-picking world, and after encouraging dead weight to transfer out, Dan has the resources and recruiting skills to get Oregon back in the PO hunt next season.

Miami, which has played a lightweight schedule, is No. 1. 2021 was the last time Miami was on top of CFB.

It's a disappointing season. It happens to every program.

When I said "little bit of time," I should have provided some definition for that. I'd say that Dan has at least through 2027 to get our program back on track.

And, assuming that he is willing to learn from his mistakes -- which it appears that he does, he will definitely turn things back around.

My humble prediction is that Lanning will end up going down in Oregon football history as a Football God.

3 hours ago, Lrod said:

I watched the offensive film breakdown on Oregon vs Illinois on youtube (Sco Ducks X and O's)

lets be clear, the rage against Mehringer is too much. Raiola got that guy fired with all the wide open misreads.

Im talking WIDE OPEN.

even the play where everyone is off to the side. Thats a good play if Raiola just realizes the numbers are in his favor to the left instead of putting Dakorien in motion. Just throw the ball to him. you had 5 on 2. throw the damn ball over there.

When you've got Dan in your ear chewing every time you turn the ball over in games and practice you quickly become the check down king. And we don't know that Mehringer wasn't biasing DR to take the short throws too.

Mehringer alone was bad enough for us to lose, but he definitely got help from the QB and Dan's conservatism, missing 4 of our top 5 WRs and inconsistent OL blocking.

Raiola missed a 5 yard pass to a wide open Moore by a yard or more. Pretty sad.

1 hour ago, 1Ducker1 said:

Raiola missed a 5 yard pass to a wide open Moore by a yard or more. Pretty sad.

didnt even look his way right in front of him. Raiola missed two sure TD's and a slew of wrong reads where people were open and he didnt even see them