Oregon’s Defensive Front Shows Its Potential Against Texas Tech

[FishDuck Article]

Oregon’s defense found itself exposed on numerous occasions Saturday against Texas Tech, but what was clear is that this defensive front just oozes with potential. Mr. FishDuck pulled himself for a bit from the great sports site Overtime Heroics to agree with me on what we saw in Lubbock. Perhaps the most noticeable change over last year was Oregon’s pass ...

 

 

Oregon's Defensive Front Shows Its Potential Against Texas Tech

FISHDUCK.COM

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Oregon's defense found itself exposed on numerous occasions Saturday against Texas Tech, but what was clear is that this defensive...

[Charles Fischer]

Other media sources have reported that Oregon had a whopping 15 hurries, of which contributes to interceptions and incomplete passes.  (Part of Lanning's Havoc rankings) This massive improvement was badly needed, and gives us all encouragement going forward. Dorlus is becoming un-blockable...

 

And David you were so right about all the holding by Texas Tech. 

Below was a corner blitz by No. 5 Khyree Jackson that would have been effective....

 

[HappyToBeADuck]

Solid article David. Thank you for taking the time to write the srticle, too.

 

You are spot on that first contact tackling must improve. Letting any QB escape your grasp is a mistake. The PAC is loaded with multiple, mobile and elusive QB's. They will make our Ducks pay........

 

The D front 7 is physical and fierce. The D dominated the last 18 minutes of the TT game. Fun to watch but nerve wracking.

 

Pressure that causes hurried throws equals 4 turnovers.....

 

TT did have some successful designed QB runs. However, the Duck secondary's coverage was excellent and Shough was forced to run. Eventually a lane will open to run thru.....

 

Have to pick your poison. Rush 4 or 5 and give up chunk passing yards if you don't get home or rush 3 and a spy and keep the play in front of you.

 

To win the PAC, even with a solid front 7, the Duck O will need to put up 50 plus against usc, uw and beavus.

 

Going to be fun and nerve wracking.  

 

GO DUCKS.....

[Charles Fischer]

Why No Sacks or Even a Stat for Jordan Burch?

 

The question was raised about Jordan Burch here and other places.  Below is bits from a pay-site...

 

Burch played only 29 snaps, which was tied for the 13th-most among the Ducks’ defenders and sixth-most among their defensive linemen, according to Pro Football Focus.

“I think with Jordan, we walked away thinking he probably could have had some more snaps,” Dan Lanning said. “But there was a strategic piece to that. When an offense goes really fast — when they substitute — you want to match the sub and slow the game down. And there’s just a reality of when they sub, you have an opportunity to sub as well. So, we wanted to sub right in those opportunities. And what that did is it did pull some guys off the field at times that would have been on the field more and vice versa."

 

Oregon is building depth, the future that will replace Dorlus after this year. 2023 signees Teitum Tuioti (26 snaps) and Blake Purchase (12 snaps) both featured heavily against the Red Raiders. With just over five minutes to go, and the Ducks leading 28-27, Purchase was on the field on 3rd-and-15 and produced a crucial quarterback hurry to force a throwaway from Tyler Shough and get the Texas Tech offense off the field.

 

Matayo Uiagalelei getting held like crazy...

 

I thought CobraDuck on another site wrote it better than I when he offered...

 

"Probably hard for any of us to know if we’re interpreting CDL’s arguably somewhat cryptic explanation accurately. I drew one of two conclusions from what he said (or both): 1) it’s coach-speak protecting a player’s ego; or 2) it’s a candid admission that the player rotation method they employed to keep players fresh in the Texas heat and to counter this iteration of the “Air Raid” offense led to some undesirable results, i.e., reduced snap count for starter-type players.

 

Given Texas Tech’s no-huddle play tempo, Oregon probably felt they could generally only sub when Texas Tech subbed, which could conceivably result in some 2 and 3 deep players unintentionally staying in for more snaps depending on the flow of the game, I.e., how many series the Texas Tech offense stayed on the field before running out of downs and punting or scoring.

 

Still, I have to wonder if Burch is seen as a liability on certain downs, like 3rd and long, depending on if he gets pass coverage responsibility along the LOS (like a RB wheel route) in a zone blitz situation and/or a mismatch created by the offense. He was getting double-teamed at times but then at other times he wasn’t punching/locking out and flashing any moves (rip, swim, spin, etc.) to shed one-on-one OT blocks.

 

It’s one thing to stand up the OL underneath to funnel the RB to the outside in a 4 or 4i technique, it’s another thing to get caught in the wash. As reported elsewhere, Pro Football Focus noted that Burch finished with a win rate of 0.0% on 20 pass-rushing opportunities. That’s not ideal."

[Mudslide]

I just re-watched the game.  David is completely correct.  The TT o-line was holding like crazy.  (Great article, David.)  There were a number of other instances where officiating was ....  Oh wait, Charles would boot me if I say what I think about that.  So, I'll leave it at ... "It's early in the season.  They'll get better."  I hope.

 

I too was encouraged by the d-line performance.  They could be among the best we've seen since the Nick Reed days.  (Of course, Nick and d-line friends were aided on the back side by the likes of Chung, Ward, Byrd, Thurmond, Matthews, and Paysinger.

[Charles Fischer]

When you consider the huge improvement of the defensive line with sacks, hurries and TFLs...and it was accomplished with a bunch of freshmen chipping in as well as the veterans, and nothing from Burch?

 

For the defensive line...

[Mic]

On the play where Bassa got his pick 6, Brandon Dorlus was just amazing how he got thru the line and nearly sacked Shough, forcing the bad throw.  I can almost see Shough now, sitting on the bench wondering how in the h___ did that just happen?  He didn't have a chance on that play.  

 

If the D-line continues to play like this, let alone improve, they're gonna be a real force.  We'll get another good look at them against an explosive Colorado team with their shifty QB.  THAT game will be a real good marker of how well the D is beginning to come together, methinks.

 

Meanwhile: Go Oregon - Beat Hawaii!  

[Jon Joseph]

On 9/12/2023 at 11:49 AM, Mudslide said:

I just re-watched the game.  David is completely correct.  The TT o-line was holding like crazy.  (Great article, David.)  There were a number of other instances where officiating was ....  Oh wait, Charles would boot me if I say what I think about that.  So, I'll leave it at ... "It's early in the season.  They'll get better."  I hope.

 

I too was encouraged by the d-line performance.  They could be among the best we've seen since the Nick Reed days.  (Of course, Nick and d-line friends were aided on the back side by the likes of Chung, Ward, Byrd, Thurmond, Matthews, and Paysinger.

Pac-12 refs. What does anyone expect? These guys were apparently auditioning for a gig in the B12. The game is too B1G for Pac-12 refs. And the B1G has already swipped the best Pac-12 refs from So Cal. 

[Jon Joseph]

Thanks once again, Mr. Marsh. 

 

As noted by Kirk Herbstreit, who picked TT pregame, the Ducks W in Lubbock was one of the best wins of the week. TT was 6-1 at home last season with wins over Oklahoma and Texas. TT had won in its first home opener 23 seasons in a row. The fans were electric and the weather favored the guys from Texas. TT will win at least 8 and probably 9, football games this season. 

 

I do not mean to go Debby Downer but what about the OL? The WYO OL the week before played much better and were in synch far more than the Oregon OL on Saturday. The Ducks run game was awful. Caused by calls from the TT D side? That's weak. Against so many teams in this conference in 2023, The Conference of QBs, Oregon has to be able to run the ball and keep the ball out of the hands of quality QBs and quality receivers. 

 

Yes, there are a lot of new starters but all of the newbies have played a lot of football. If crowd noise and D signals are messing you up, you go with silent counts after the initial HUT! The OL assistant Oregon lost to the Pros was missed on Saturday.

 

And the play calling? The verticle throws, Bird Bombs, thank you, Charles, were there early and I do not see the reason for Stein going away from the deep ball. TT had no DB who could cover Franklin. 

 

The 1st game was against the junior, junior varsity. The rubric is that teams improve the most between their 1st and 2nd game. Seeing as how the 1st game was a glorified scrimmage, I expect Oregon will improve significantly playing at home against the Rainbow Warriors.

 

Again, I'm picking nits. That was a terrific gut check win under very trying circumstances. 

[JDuck]

Agreed.  Hopefully the secondary gels, it's early and lots of new faces, it should get better with the talent level, hopefully Hawaii is a chemistry builder.  As the high 4* and hopefully more and more 5* recruits come in, this D can be elite.  The questions about Tosh and his true role, and if it's actually a liability--linger for me.  Colorado, mutts, and USuC will require big output from the Offense, as well as continuously improving D.

 

Speaking of the Offense, while Charles has pointed out losing 4 starters, yet with transfers we have more career starts with this group actually...we had our share of penalties, though not all holding...but, it seemed like we got pushed around a bit.  I'm hoping that is a chemistry thing too with all the new guys/new roles. 

 

TT was a tough road environment, and PSU was not a legit measuring stick for anything.  Improvement on the O-Line and Oregon level running game needs to show up in the Pac, although TT may have actually had one of the better D-lines we'll see this year. 

 

Stein's play calling was a bit of a concern--some of those 3rd and shorts were reminiscent of Cristbal's super predictable pistol plunges that got stuffed repeatedly.  The second QB sneak, and the Jordan James run late where he failed to even go down inbounds to keep the clock going, from what looked like 13 personnel--I saw that play fail before it even began.  C'mon Stein, let's see the UTSA innovation, you have the talent!  CK woulda spread those out and had some kind of triple option play that gets that first down.

[HappyToBeADuck]

When i watched the game for a 3rd time, it sure looked like JB was in on a sack. However, TT was called for holding and OBD's accepted the penalty. 

 

So that sack was wiped off the stats. Yet, even with massive holding the D got the sack...

 

JJ, i feel that Stein went away from the Bird Bombs to take time off the clock and give the D a breather.

 

This was a great win because the offense was not firing on all cylinders. And the D stepped up.....

 

Plenty too work on but nothing to complain about. KUDOS to the conditioning coach because the Ducks were the stronger team in the 4th.

 

20-3 says it all.

 

As i have read thru the different threads, i havent seen many comments about one of the biggest plays of the game.

 

The Duck D STUFFED Shough on 4th and 2 on TT's side of the field. How big was that?

 

So many outstanding plays by the Duck D and that play got lost in the shuffle.

 

Many great teams ahead on the schedule. My guess is the Ducks will keep improving......

 

GO DUCKS!

[Mic]

Pac-12 refs are (lamentably) infamous for their sometimes ... let's just say "questionable" play calling but there's also the effect that the crowds can have on the officiating.  It's sometimes pretty difficult to block out all that cheering for and against a visiting team and not let it affect the way you "see" the game.

 

Bottom line:  officiating is a tough (and thankless) thing at any level of competition, much less the collegiate one in front of 47,000 very vocal and partial fans.  I'm just happy the Ducks came out of that hot oven as the winner and can move on.

[1Ducker1]

I have high hopes because in most previous years I don't think we would have won that game, especially after having a bad 3rd quarter.

Edited September 12, 2023 by 1Ducker1

[David Marsh]

On 9/12/2023 at 6:56 AM, Charles Fischer said:

Other media sources have reported that Oregon had a whopping 15 hurries, of which contributes to interceptions and incomplete passes.  (Part of Lanning's Havoc rankings) This massive improvement was badly needed, and gives us all encouragement going forward. Dorlus is becoming un-blockable...

 

And David you were so right about all the holding by Texas Tech. 

Below was a corner blitz by No. 5 Khyree Jackson that would have been effective....

 

There is one potentially two holds in that picture alone.... if those were called Oregon would have held TT'S score down. 

[Log Haulin]

On 9/12/2023 at 7:32 AM, Charles Fischer said:

Why No Sacks or Even a Stat for Jordan Burch?

 

The question was raised about Jordan Burch here and other places.  Below is bits from a pay-site...

 

Burch played only 29 snaps, which was tied for the 13th-most among the Ducks’ defenders and sixth-most among their defensive linemen, according to Pro Football Focus.

“I think with Jordan, we walked away thinking he probably could have had some more snaps,” Dan Lanning said. “But there was a strategic piece to that. When an offense goes really fast — when they substitute — you want to match the sub and slow the game down. And there’s just a reality of when they sub, you have an opportunity to sub as well. So, we wanted to sub right in those opportunities. And what that did is it did pull some guys off the field at times that would have been on the field more and vice versa."

 

Oregon is building depth, the future that will replace Dorlus after this year. 2023 signees Teitum Tuioti (26 snaps) and Blake Purchase (12 snaps) both featured heavily against the Red Raiders. With just over five minutes to go, and the Ducks leading 28-27, Purchase was on the field on 3rd-and-15 and produced a crucial quarterback hurry to force a throwaway from Tyler Shough and get the Texas Tech offense off the field.

 

Matayo Uiagalelei getting held like crazy...

 

I thought CobraDuck on another site wrote it better than I when he offered...

 

"Probably hard for any of us to know if we’re interpreting CDL’s arguably somewhat cryptic explanation accurately. I drew one of two conclusions from what he said (or both): 1) it’s coach-speak protecting a player’s ego; or 2) it’s a candid admission that the player rotation method they employed to keep players fresh in the Texas heat and to counter this iteration of the “Air Raid” offense led to some undesirable results, i.e., reduced snap count for starter-type players.

 

Given Texas Tech’s no-huddle play tempo, Oregon probably felt they could generally only sub when Texas Tech subbed, which could conceivably result in some 2 and 3 deep players unintentionally staying in for more snaps depending on the flow of the game, I.e., how many series the Texas Tech offense stayed on the field before running out of downs and punting or scoring.

 

Still, I have to wonder if Burch is seen as a liability on certain downs, like 3rd and long, depending on if he gets pass coverage responsibility along the LOS (like a RB wheel route) in a zone blitz situation and/or a mismatch created by the offense. He was getting double-teamed at times but then at other times he wasn’t punching/locking out and flashing any moves (rip, swim, spin, etc.) to shed one-on-one OT blocks.

 

It’s one thing to stand up the OL underneath to funnel the RB to the outside in a 4 or 4i technique, it’s another thing to get caught in the wash. As reported elsewhere, Pro Football Focus noted that Burch finished with a win rate of 0.0% on 20 pass-rushing opportunities. That’s not ideal."

Rushing three and they had to hold. This bodes well v. Hawii. If it's true about Hawii, and they throw 50 a game with 25% being long, Ducks should get a few more Picks and 6-7 sacks.

[Dr Hilarius]

On 9/12/2023 at 12:32 PM, HappyToBeADuck said:

KUDOS to the conditioning coach because the Ducks were the stronger team in the 4th.

Excellent point! And we were substituting like crazy with no drop-off.

[David Marsh]

Against Hawaii the front seven looked like they took another step forward. The Ducks recorded two sacks which doesn't seem like much but Hawaii was getting the ball out super fast, as in 2 seconds or less fast, and as Charles said in his article from a couple weeks ago, it's really hard to get a sack that fast. Granted... Popo manged to get his sack that way as he just ran right through the offensive line and got a sack... but that's rare even against G5 or FCS schools.

 

Also.. I don't know how many hurried passes the Ducks forced this game but it has to be a lot. I saw the Hawaii QB basically get the ball and throw it as soon as he had it in his hands and the vast majority of those passes were incomplete whether they were too far in front or behind the receiver or just off completely. There were a lot of passes that went no where because the QB had a simple choice.. throw it out of rhythm and early or take a sack. He threw it early.

 

Against Colorado Oregon should rack up some sacks. Sanders holds onto the ball a lot longer as a part of the offense and after watching two and a half Colorado games at this point I can say he has a propensity for hero ball, of which he can do if the defense lets him. But if this Oregon pass rush continues to take another step this week, he'll be on the ground a lot. That Colorado O-line hasn't been able to stop anyone and Oregon will have the most talented D-line they will have faced to date. If Colorado avoids taking sacks it will be because they game plan around getting the ball out fast.

[Log Haulin]

On 9/17/2023 at 11:56 AM, David Marsh said:

Against Hawaii the front seven looked like they took another step forward. The Ducks recorded two sacks which doesn't seem like much but Hawaii was getting the ball out super fast, as in 2 seconds or less fast, and as Charles said in his article from a couple weeks ago, it's really hard to get a sack that fast. Granted... Popo manged to get his sack that way as he just ran right through the offensive line and got a sack... but that's rare even against G5 or FCS schools.

 

Also.. I don't know how many hurried passes the Ducks forced this game but it has to be a lot. I saw the Hawaii QB basically get the ball and throw it as soon as he had it in his hands and the vast majority of those passes were incomplete whether they were too far in front or behind the receiver or just off completely. There were a lot of passes that went no where because the QB had a simple choice.. throw it out of rhythm and early or take a sack. He threw it early.

 

Against Colorado Oregon should rack up some sacks. Sanders holds onto the ball a lot longer as a part of the offense and after watching two and a half Colorado games at this point I can say he has a propensity for hero ball, of which he can do if the defense lets him. But if this Oregon pass rush continues to take another step this week, he'll be on the ground a lot. That Colorado O-line hasn't been able to stop anyone and Oregon will have the most talented D-line they will have faced to date. If Colorado avoids taking sacks it will be because they game plan around getting the ball out fast.

Also, the secondary was locating the ball much better. Getting their head turned to locate and defend the pass. Much better than last week. Clearly they worked on this over the week. Much better