On 9/7/2022 at 7:48 AM, HappyToBeADuck said:

The players have a new chance to tackle better, cover better, run better routes, pass block better, make better decisions and execute the game plan. The coaching staff can build a game plan that utilizes the strengths and skill sets of their current roster. It truly is all ahead for the team just one game at a time.

I think the coverage against Georgia may have been deliberately a bit softer underneath. I think some of the goal was to bend but don't break against Georgia, now that obviously didn't work. But I do feel there may have been some fear of getting beat over the top and by having the safeties so far back at the snap that they wanted to prevent this. On the whole Georgia didn't go over the top on Oregon's defense, they had to score in the red zone. 

 

Now Georgia did that just fine which hurts. 

 

But what I will be curious to see is if there is some more physical coverage closer to the line of scrimmage this week when there isn't a clear talent advantage on the opposing offense at receiver. I'll be more concerned this week if we see soft coverage underneath again this week. 

On 9/7/2022 at 6:02 AM, cartm25 said:

I’m cautiously optimistic, but not quite that optimistic. I don’t think the Rose Bowl is in the cards this year—and maybe not until USC leaves the conference, assuming the “Rose Bowl” as we know it is still a thing.

 

Not going to lie... I'm pumping some sunshine this week. But I also feel that the season is no where near over and anything can happen. 

 

We have BYU next week which will be an early test. Then we have Washington State which is a good time of year for that game being early fall and they didn't look terribly great against Idaho. 

 

So by the time we hit perhaps the meat of our schedule the players have been tested and are hardened vets. 

 

To get to the Rose Bowl does not require winning all the non-conference games but it will require winning the conference. And right now we can still win the conference. 

 

I get the feeling this coaching staff doesn't like to sit still for too long and they are working hard at fixing all the problems they can. 

 

Eastern Washington this week will be interesting to see just the coaches have managed to fix in a week. 

And we all know coaches are working on tackling this week and players are working on tackling this week. 

 

Biggest problem with football is how to teach and practice tackling. Coaches don't want to injure players so keeping tackling to a minimum tends to be the goal. 

 

If Oregon was playing touch football that defense would have done a much much better job. Sadly this isn't touch football and contact alone doesn't count. 

On 9/4/2022 at 8:10 AM, 1Ducker1 said:

IF the talent is bad as we all saw -that will take years to fix

I feel the talent we have needed a wake up call more than anything else. 

 

Sure we beat Ohio State last year and that was a big deal. But Ohio State's defense last year was soft and awful. Georgia was a better program than Ohio State last year and is probably a better program than Ohio State this year. 

 

Complacency has seeped into the program. The losses to Utah and Oklahoma last year can be easily excused away by a variety of factors, injuries, coaching changes and whatever else out there. 

 

Additionally... Lanning wants to de-recruit his players. Those stars don't mean anything anymore as they have to earn everything they want out of the college game. That part of his culture just got a major lift because our players got smacked by Georgia hard. By the sound of it yesterday with the first practice after the game, players have taken that to heart and are working harder in practice now. 

 

The talent we have needs to buy in and learn the culture and sometimes it takes a really awful defeat to get them on board. 

The game was harder for us than practice” and they went about correcting that today.

 

this quote is super important. This is a building the future culture quote. The players now know what they need to do. It's one of those things that you can be told but don't really understand until you expirence it in a bad way. 

 

I think this loss may be the most important loss in Lanning's career at Oregon. This is when his culture will start to take hold. 

 

the current players will practice and play better. And they will pass it on to next year's players and so on. 

I'm not a fan of the call. 

 

Later in the game Nix was tackled to the ground well after he had released the ball and there was a no call. 

 

Feels like a lack of consistency from the refs. 

I think everyone, including myself, though this was going to be a super fast turn around with Lanning. 

 

It won't be quite as quick as we wanted. 

On 9/4/2022 at 8:27 PM, HappyToBeADuck said:

Dilly got impatient and called plays to force the issue. QB's need time to throw and for routes to come open. The Ducks wonderful offensive lineman could not hold off the Dawgs relentless pressure. No matter what adjustments were made it did not change the skill set of the players

This is absolutely what happened. When Oregon was running the ball the offense was moving down the field. Our average rushing yards were good actually against a team like Georgia. 

 

I don't know the final number but the number that came up during the game was 4.9 yards per rush. That's pretty good against a team like Georgia. 

 

But as Oregon fell behind the desperatation to score increased and they went to the air and it only got worse. 

 

I look forward to seeing what this offense can do in a game without the best defense in the country attacking it. 

I think one of the things that was on display was some of the lack of development over the past few years. 

 

We had defenders stuck on blocks and could get free and assignment confusion at times. These are things that aren't new but have been problems within the program for the last two years. 

 

2019 was pretty solid defensively for Oregon but 2020 and 2021 Oregon has been pretty squishy and that's with two defensive coordinators. Now we look like we have the same problems for another year with a whole new staff. 

 

getting our butts kicked this bad might light a fire under some players to really improve. But maybe that should have happened last year with those two Utah games being embarrassing. 

 

There are some sestemic problems that need to be fixed.

On 9/4/2022 at 7:17 PM, Desert Duck said:

I'm having a hard time seeing how losing by 11 to Boise State, who went on to a 14-0 season and win the Fiesta Bowl, was more embarrassing than a 46 point loss to Georgia. 

Well if Georgia goes on to win another national championship that takes a little of the sting out of it. 

 

We also were the ones projected to beat Boise State as we were the ones with the better roster and we lost. 

 

Not saying they are fully equal but we weren't supposed to win and we didn't have the better roster against Georgia. Granted, i we weren't supposed to lose as badly as we did and I am incredibly annoyed by how much we lost by. 

 

I'm not trying to outright blindly sunshine pump but I feel we need a little perspective and need a little light because there is a whole lot of darkness right now. 

 

The season isn't over and it can still be a good year. 

On 9/4/2022 at 7:07 PM, Mike West said:

Completely disagree.  

 

And Lanning will have to be successful here before he can leave.

 

As far as Utah... They lost to tOSU, whom we beat, and if we had an aggressive coach, we would have beat handily.

I completely agree. 

 

And we beat Ohio State being down a bunch of players and Ohio State at full strength. 

 

We lost to Utah and the head coach checked out and was ready to leave for Miami and we were down what felt like half a team's worth of starters. 

On 9/4/2022 at 6:25 PM, Pac10again said:

You cannot cast judgement later on unless we play Georgia again.  Playing in the B league the rest of season will not be an honest comparison.

We can cast judgement then because you cannot truly say how successful the season has been until it is over. 

 

We can safely say that this team is not Georgia's equal. 

 

But this can still be a very good football season. The playoff has distorted any concept of what makes a good season. It's playoff or bust for coaches, players and fans alike for teams that have those aspirations. 

 

In truth I was hoping for a shot at the playoff this year. It's still possible but I feel highly unlikely. And I'm fine with that. 

 

There is still plenty to play for and as a fan I intend to keep watching and seeing the growth. 

 

This team will not be the team we see by the year's end. Lanning will be better and the players will be better. 

 

Maybe I've just drank the Lanning Kool aid but I do feel he will figure things out. 

 

And as for Chip Kelly's 2009 team. Yeah they got beat by Boise State and then had a great season. They were exposed in the Rose Bowl against Ohio State. They came back the next year and maybe a very good and real run at the National Championship. 

 

For the culture to build and truly form it sometimes does require a team to be embarrassed and know just what it takes to win, for coaches and players alike.

On 9/4/2022 at 6:13 PM, Pac10again said:

The real bottom line is much more obvious.  Lanning is not a head coach.  Just my thoughts and guesses. 

Well Chip lost to Boise State in the opener and his tenure at Oregon turned out ok. That was in many ways a more embarrassing loss. 

 

Rich Brooks lost to Georgia in his opener and his tenure got the field at Autzen named after him.

 

It's game one. We can cast judgement later in the season. 

On 9/4/2022 at 3:01 PM, Mic said:

Which is why I dread opening up the GoDucks page each morning hoping I don't see what I'm afraid I'll see:  "Ty Thompson announces he's transferring to _______ University"....or some such.

I feel the coaches are going all in on Donte Moore so I wouldn't be surprised if that's their long term plan. 

On 9/4/2022 at 2:32 PM, Mic said:

Sometimes I wonder if this desperate rush to find a transfer QB isn't being driven by an aging Phil Knight.  It's understandable, given all that PK's done for Oregon to want to get him his Championship.  We all share his desire, w/o his commitments made to the University and the Football program in general. I, for one, won't gain-say him his desire, he's certainly earned his say many, many times over.  I just wonder tho, if this isn't what's driving this?

That could be a favor but so so so many other programs are doing it as well. There is a reason why the quarterback transfer market is so active, because coaches need to win right away. 

Oregon just got crushed by probably the BEST team in all of college football. At the very least probably the no. 2 team. A team that has so much size and talent they may be able to compete with some of the bottom tier NFL teams. 

 

Seriously... Those were some monstrously HUGE guys Georgia has on their team. 

 

It was also an away game in a completely unfamiliar location. 

 

Oregon is also going to be motivated to improve and improve fast. 

 

It's a home game and fans and players alike are going to want to see a big Oregon win. 

 

I say Oregon wins by at least 3 touchdowns. 

 

Perhaps the best news coming out of getting beat by Georgia is that our team is in tact in terms of injuries. 

Graduate Transfer Quarterbacks: Saviors or Usurpers?

FISHDUCK.COM

---

Oregon experimented with graduate transfer quarterbacks in both 2015 and 2016 and—needless to...

 

 

I wrote this back before the 2020 season and it was my second article for FishDuck. We are still absolutely having the same conversation about whether we should be bringing in transfer quarterbacks. 

 

I think it is telling how the win now culture around coaches and football give them little option but to grab transfers and play them.

On 9/4/2022 at 7:11 AM, CalBear95 said:

Charles, I would offer a different take.  Your critique of Bo is spot on.  But we don’t know what DL is saying behind closed doors.  
 

Slamming his QB publicly has no value.  He very well might be telling Bo a version of what you have said.  Again, the BYU game will be telling.  I would not be shocked if Bo has a very short leash in that game. 

And we will never hear those behind closed door conversations. 

 

I think Nix was always going to get the nod for game one this season because he was going to give Oregon the best chance. 

 

But moving forward is that still the truth? 

 

Game two is against Eastern Washington, not a easy FCS team but there is a talent gap in Oregon's favor. Coaches will have a week to prepare our Ducks and everyone should be motivated to do it. 

 

The rest of the season can and should be better. I do think we are looking at Georgia v Bama for the National Championship game this year. 

 

The 247 talent rankings on teams is interesting with Bama and Georgia being one and two respectively. But there is a massive canyon sized gap between 2 and 7 (Oregon). 

 

Time for the coaches to get to work. 

On 9/4/2022 at 7:51 AM, nw777b said:

DL = Defensive Line or Dan Lanning?

I find this one to be the hardest right now. I usually just say Lanning rather than initials because I get confused. 

 

But sadly it is all about context. 

 

I find O is 9/10 relating to offense and same with D for defense. 

This one hurts but there will be loads of growth. 

 

I expect in the next two weeks of play we should see the Oregon defensive line shedding blocks and getting after Eastern Washington and BYU. 

 

Some of trh pass rush wasn't bad. The problem was it couldn't get to the QB quite fast enough. Georgia probably has by far the best offensive line we are going to see all year. Probably all of next year too! 

 

It was a chance to learn. 

 

It also shows just the state of Oregon s defensive line after Cristobal left. A few transfers to stabilize it and it wasn't good enough. 

 

I think our offensive line is in better shape. At times it felt like Nix was just rolling out of the pocket preemptively. The run game never got started but had some good flashes... Against probably the best defensive line we are going to see all year. 

 

Oregon is not ready to compete for a national championship... Yet. 

 

On a side note... It will be interesting to watch recruiting and if the big doner aspect of NIL start adding more to the pot for Oregon recruits. We've missed out on quite a few recruits due to NIL not being as high as other schools. Do we are Oregon's NIL doners increase their spending in this department to get the players we need? That is probably a question for a whole other thread. 

On 9/3/2022 at 8:33 PM, Duck Fan 76 said:

When he was asked about Bo in the 4th quarter he said he wanted to see if the offense could build a rhythm to take out of this game.  He then said "Bo's our quarterback".  I know we're gun shy from last year but I have to imagine that showing improvement against BYU in week 3 is Bo's only hope to keep the job.  We will most likely learn nothing next week but it's an opportunity to practice some fundamentals. 

Offensive rhythm in a game setting I do feel is more important than just throwing in a different quarterback to give it a shot.

 

The offense really should have put up another 14 points this game but shot itself in the foot. The first major opportunity that was lost was Nix's second interception, Oregon's offense was moving the ball pretty well and was getting in rhythm and then killed dead by the interception.

 

Then we really should have gotten that 4th and goal at the end of the game. I feel a run play would have gotten there.

 

The run game really wasn't all that bad. The runningbacks often got some decent yardages against probably the best defense in the country again this year. The passing game needs a whole lot of work.

For the record Kelly lost to Boise State in his opener. 

 

If you count the bowl game Cristobal coached against Boise State as his first official game, he was interm at the time I believe, then he lost his opener.

 

Brooks post his opener... Against Georgia actually. 

 

You always learn more from losing than winning. I think coaches and players alike needed the kick in the pants on this one. 

But at least USC beat food... Granted I still want them to lose. 

 

And Stanford beat toothpaste. So that's good I guess. 

Certainly not a good day for the PAC ... But this is just week one. Still plenty of games to play and plenty to play for. 

We saw some of the potential of this team. There were some very good individual plays. 

 

The thoughest thing to string them all together. 

 

This was a really rough first game for a first time head coach and a team with new offensive and defensive schemes. 

 

We know where this team needs to go now. It needs to be able to beat a Georgia. But we have a long way to go.