All the talent in the world and no where to go with it. Teams like Texas, USC, Penn St (2025), and Alabama (Post Nick Saban) have all been criticized for spending the equivalent of a 3rd world nation's GDP to acquire some of the best players in the nation; all to come up short in the national title hunt. All share the same problem; a lack of identity.

Oregon, unfortunately, has found its way onto this list. Division Street can pony up all the money in the world, snag 5 star after 5 star in consecutive recruiting classes. The results will be the same. This season is more proof of that than most fans were ready to accept. The offense lacks identity, plain and simple. When Chip Kelly is named dropped, there isn't a fan in the nation that doesn't immediately think speed, power run, QBs that made quick decisions and could use their feet.

Mario Cristobal, like him or hate him, the guy had a vision for the team. Genuine beef dominated the O-line and behind them, a pair of under-the radar running backs in CJ Verdell and Travis Dye were able to fight for yardage. Yes, there were questions about his game management, under utilization of Justin Herbert's talent, and that freaking pistol formation for short yardage. But the man had a plan to execute, and recruited exactly who he wanted to make it happen.

Dan Lanning's first 4 seasons as head coach saw a general continuation of the brand of football he cut his chops at. Kenny Dillingham and Will Stein designed a hybrid power gap, zone-blocking offense that propelled Bucky Irving into the stratosphere; with Jordan James hot on his heels. With NFL talent at receiver and tight end, getting the ball to skilled playmakers was not difficult. Both OCs had an eye for QB development and allowed reclamation projects like Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel to pull themselves out of the middle of the pack and become Heisman contenders.

The problem we have arrived at is there is zero general direction and development on the offensive side of the ball. We are, to this day, still shuffling the line to find what works best (yes, the Illinois game was an improvement). We try to run the ball for a little bit and then switch to the dink-and-dunk pass game. Our QBs have regressed substantially and the game does not seem to be slowing down in their heads for them. We aren't a power run team that opens the downfield passing attack up. We aren't pass first and run when the secondary drops into coverage. Heck, we aren't even a QB pull the ball and force the defense to cover all 11 players kind of team.

The point I am trying to make is, Dan Lanning needs to re-establish an identity for his offense. He needs to bring in coaches (OC, O-line, QB) that understand what his vision is and develop players specifically to execute this plan. His next OC hire needs to demonstrate that he has a full grasp of this identity, bring his two cents into the fold, and then instill this mentality into every player and every coach on that side of the ball.

I believe Lanning is a very intelligent coach, I think will right the ship. But teams like Georgia, Ohio State, and Saban's Alabama became dynasties precisely because they knew exactly what they wanted to do from the top down. Identity was never an issue. It needs to not continue to be an issue at Oregon.

His identity has been offensive efficiency, taking whatever the defense gives you and using it to score.

The execution is not meeting the identity.

Something Cristobal learned at FIU before even coming to Oregon is that you can't take break in any area even for a year. He discussed it in context of recruiting every position hard every year, but I think it applies to coaches as well. Dan tried to coast on offensive coaching for a year with the hires to maintain continuity for Donte for this year and it bit him immediately.

I think Dan will learn from this.