Joshua Whitted

Great point, Hayward. It's definitely smart to wait until late in the season to start ranking teams, I have to give those involved with the playoff credit for that.

Yeah, there's really only a handful of noteworthy opponents a team will play all year, so those big games hold a lot of weight.

Interesting. I assume you're valuing the undefeated record a bunch?

I actually have a theory that admittedly holds little weight considering I'm definitely not an X's and O's expert. But I think UCLA and Ohio State had the two most "defined" (for lack of better word) defensive schemes of all of the Ducks' opponents so far. Ohio State almost exclusively plays cover 3 and cover 1. UCLA centers their scheme around blitzing. The Ducks knew what they would be facing in each of these games and schemed towards the weaknesses of each of these schemes. The rest of the teams they've played have far more varied defensive schemes, so we kind of just ran our base offense with mixed results. It's unrealistic to change up an entire offensive philosophy week to week, which is why I think it looks like we decide to turn it on in these big games. Really, I think they are the few games that we dedicate a year to really switching up our offense in order to take advantage of holes in a well-defined defensive system.

It's games like this that have me thinking the sky's the limit for the team and the offense. Let's hope we can be consistent and keep the ball rolling!

Thanks, Charles! I'm glad it was easily digestible. Cristobal is right when he talks about how wild UCLA's defensive scheme is, so I definitely wanted to spend some time crediting him and Moorhead for having a great gameplan for it.

This was a really big loss for Kelly. This is the year his team should be in Pac-12 title contention, and that looks a far way off after this past Saturday.

AB generally executes the underneath passing game very well and decisively, that's a great point. I think Moorhead is doing his best to coaching to his strengths, as opposed to making him make full-field reads.

I couldn't agree more. Moorhead is a top-10 playcaller and offensive mind in my book. I sure hope he hangs around for another season!

Absolutely. My initial title was "How Moorhead Outsmarted Kelly." The Ducks were the smarter team, and it's why they won the game.

Thanks for reading! The defense played fantastically, and a second analysis article could certainly be attributed to its performance.

To become an elite team, I knew we would need to develop a passing attack that can take advantage of teams stacking the box. For the first time under Cristobal, I saw an offense that was capable of doing that. He and Moorhead deserve a ton of credit for that gameplan, and I am very encouraged for the future of the offense if they can keep it up. I've been one of the more vocal skeptics of the direction of the team and the offense; I am happily eating crow after yesterday's game. I know we let them come back, but we played like a top-tier team for most of that game, and I'm so proud of the team and the coaching staff.

I think this is a really good topic, because most of the national media concludes that it's LSU hands down. In fact, I've seen some call it the very best job in college football. The advantages for LSU are numerous: located in the most fertile recruiting region in the country, it's the only Power 5 program in one of the most talent-laden states in the country, it has a recent history of success, it has a very solid brand and program tradition, and the program is totally dedicated to football. With all of that being said, I don't think enough attention is being given to the disadvantages, though -- the biggest being the Alabama factor. Not only do the Tigers have to compete with the Tide yearly, but they will always be measured against it. A coach can be relatively successful there and still be looked at as a disappointment because Alabama and Saban are going undefeated every other year. Also, just because LSU is the only Power 5 school in Louisiana, it's not like the rest of the SEC isn't within a close-enough range to regularly recruit it. Devonta Smith and Dylan Moses are just a couple examples of Louisiana-born players that Alabama poached, and they're not alone. Both SEC schools and Texas schools will regularly recruit the Pelican State. USC isn't as good of a job, primarily because LSU is located in the Southeast. But they're way closer than I think the pundits are making it out to be. As a side note, I don't think either job comes close to the best in the country. Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State are probably in a tier of their own in my opinion.

Yeah, the problem is, Cristobal has shown an alarming habit of not developing quarterbacks, even talented ones. Herbert was obviously underdeveloped at Oregon, but many forget that Tyler Shough was a former blue-chip recruit as well. He wasn't developed at all here. It's no guarantee that TT, even with all his talent, succeeds with the track record of poor QB development under Cristobal so far.

Jon, you never cease to amaze me. Terrific thoughts, and I am 100% in the same boat as you are in your conclusion.

Very nicely stated. I agree wholeheartedly.

I'm sure many other .. more descriptive words could certainly be used to describe some feelings I have toward the direction of the team. But I figured I'd take a tamer approach this time

The UCLA game will be very telling. Mario tends to bring it in big games, so I'm actually expecting big things out of us.

My goodness your first paragraph sums up my thoughts exactly. Squeaking out a win like that against a conference bottom feeder shouldn't be championed.

I wholeheartedly agree that Cristobal's approach has to be different than one of fans. I do think it's fair to question whether or not he is handling the situation he has been dealt as well as he should. (On the field, of course.) I'll leave my thoughts on that matter at that. But I do definitely agree that there are many great stories worth celebrating, specifically the efforts of Travis Dye. He has really developed into a do-it-all, top-tier Pac-12 running back.

You -- and every other Oregon fan -- has every right to question the situation.

Very good point, we can criticize the on-field results, but that in no way takes away from the character and drive of Cristobal. It's not for lack of trying that he's struggling; I would never accuse him of that.

9-4 30 points per game 25 points allowed per game

Darren, I love the premise of this article, and what you write is true; we do have the talent to have a stifling defense. The problem is, the defense unfortunately has been more than leaky ... it has been simply bad for most of the season. For all of the justifiable complaints about the offense, we actually rank far better offensively than we do defensively (51st in yards per game and 89th in yards allowed per game). I'm skeptical of the replicability of turnovers; I think they can be coached to a degree, but they're still a highly volatile metric. I'd like to see us simply give up less yards as a consistent means of success. Sewell is a force in the run game, but I'd like to see our interior defensive linemen pull their weight. I talk all the time about the talent we've accumulated, but the defensive interior is one area where we haven't recruited all that well, and it was a concern of mine heading into the season. I've long been begging for a pass rusher opposite Thibodeaux to step up, and surprisingly, that just might be DJ Johnson who has shown more promise than anyone else this season. I don't want to be too hard on the coaches here, because Bradyn Swinson and Trevon Ma'ae are still really young, so they might be next in line as far as pass rushers go. Mykael Wright has been good, maybe even really good this season. And McKinley has been dominant for stretches this season. But each of their opposites have struggled, and a secondary really needs each member playing at an above-average level to get consistently good results. I liked seeing Bridges make plays on Friday, and hopefully he continues to get better, because he has real plus traits at the position. I sound like a broken record, but I do think the future of this defense is going to be determined by how well DeRuyter can coach the players up. If he's going to play spot-drop zones, the linebackers have to be taught where to drop, and what routes to read, because too often they look lost in underneath coverage. Ideally, I'd love to see us line up and play a bunch of cover 1 with our athletes in the defensive backfield, but I don't know if that's the route DeRuyter wants to go. As with the whole team, this defense has the potential to be elite. Personnel wise, aside from the inside linebacker position opposite Sewell and on the defensive interior, we have NFL-caliber athletes. Can they be coached well enough to play like NFLers? That's the million dollar question.

You are certainly not alone in wanting to see more young talent on the field. What is there to lose by letting a bunch of super talented players gain experience and learn on the fly in a pretty underwhelming conference? I'm with you all the way.