Five Takeaways from the UCLA Win

[Charles Fischer]

The part I was surprised at was seven passes over 15 yards...which is a big departure from the prior Oregon passing offense.  A confidence builder for Brown?

 

5 takeaways from Oregon Ducks' Impressive 34-31 Win over UCLA Bruins by Zachary Neel of Ducks Wire

 

[Smith72]

On the last touchdown run by AB the right guard Dawson Jaramillo pulls left and kicks out the defensive end, the tight end DJ Johnson (H back) pulls left turns up into the hole and delivers a block on the Safety freeing AB for the touchdown!

 

UCLA linebackers took themselves out of the play going with the initial flow.

 

This is a smart play we discussed October 13 - the Counter!  Great timing on calling this play Joe Moorhead!

[DimpleDucks]

When this team plays consistently and we see the same or similar performance in following games, then I think it's interesting to consider play-off potential. This was a nice win and we'll see what happens next week, but until then I won't get too excited.

 

Remember, Ducks won by 3 pts, holding on with a potential game tying field goal in the works. Not an overwhelming win.

[criticalduck]

On 10/24/2021 at 10:26 AM, Smith72 said:

Great timing on calling this play Joe Moorhead!

I actually like JM being in the booth calling the plays better than on the field.

[Jon Joseph]

You have a game manger QB who managed the game beautifully into the 4th Q.

 

So, when you are ahead by 2 TDs and you have run well, you have shut down a rushing team's rush attack, why ask the guy to start throwing the ball?

 

No comprende?

[Charles Fischer]

On 10/24/2021 at 10:26 AM, Smith72 said:

This is a smart play we discussed October 13 - the Counter!  Great timing on calling this play Joe Moorhead!

 

But this was a quarterback running the ball--which you don't see that much with a counter.  I echo your sentiments about Moorhead...

[DanLduck]

On 10/24/2021 at 10:26 AM, Smith72 said:

On the last touchdown run by AB the right guard Dawson Jaramillo pulls left and kicks out the defensive end, the tight end DJ Johnson (H back) pulls left turns up into the hole and delivers a block on the Safety freeing AB for the touchdown!

 

UCLA linebackers took themselves out of the play going with the initial flow.

 

This is a smart play we discussed October 13 - the Counter!  Great timing on calling this play Joe Moorhead!

Best play call since tOSU game. I thought it was a CK type call!

[1Ducker1]

On 10/24/2021 at 10:39 AM, Jon Joseph said:

You have a game manger QB who managed the game beautifully into the 4th Q.

 

So, when you are ahead by 2 TDs and you have run well, you have shut down a rushing team's rush attack, why ask the guy to start throwing the ball?

 

No comprende?

That was a real head scratcher for sure.

Edited October 25, 2021 by 1Ducker1

[kirklandduck]

It was certainly an interesting game, the last few minutes of which were far more interesting than I wanted it to be.  At this rate I might have an aneurism by the end of the season 

 

My own personal thoughts about how Oregon performed after re-watching the game:

 

Offense

• AB had a much better passing game this time around, the best so far this season.  His sweet spot seems to be that mid-range between 15 and 30 yards, he just doesn't have the accuracy for anything more than that.
•  
• Mid-range passes are more than enough in Moorhead's RPO schemes.
•  
• Devon Williams has started to come into his own and in my opinion should be the first option on passes.  He has good chemistry with AB and can help alleviate some of AB's accuracy issues with that wingspan of his.  That last interception against UCLA probably would have been a TD had AB thrown the ball higher and let Devon use his size and athleticism to bring it down. 
•  
• Even though Dye had a low rush yardage stat, so far as RB1 he's proving to be a tough and dynamic runner worthy of getting onto an NFL roster.  I think by the end of the season he'll make a case to get drafted in the later rounds or at least get on as an undrafted agent.  He reminds me of Kenyon Barner.
•  
• Ryan Walk is an unsung hero.  It was already impressive enough that he's a starter as a walk-on but taking over center and doing it as competently as he has the last couple games?  He needs more credit for this.
•  
• Kris Hutson needs to secure the darn ball.  This is the 2nd game in a row that he had it stripped from him because he only had 1 arm on it in traffic.  I hope Coach McClendon tells him his playing time is in jeopardy if he doesn't shape up.
•  

Defense

• Stating the obvious: KT is a real-life cookie monster.  He constantly claws apart the opposing line and gobbles up QBs and RBs like they're freaking cookies.  As long as he stays healthy he's a shoo-in for DPOY.
•  
• Defensive as a whole is very effective when healthy and KT is up front.
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• DBs overall doing a better job in the bend-not-break defense.
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• Mid-field coverage is the one big ugly spot.  There were multiple times when UCLA converted to get 1st down by running a TE to the middle of the field for a 10+ yard pass, at one point they had 3 3rd down conversions in a row with this same play.  I was going to mention it here but the venerable Mike West beat me to it.  Each time the LBs and DBs were caught staring at the QB and not their surroundings. 
•  
• Steve Stephens finally figured it out and broke up the 4th attempt at this play.
•  

Special Teams

• A blocked punt should never happen....ever.
•  

Side note:

While it's early to look ahead to next season, one can't help but wonder how effective the defensive line will be when KT moves on.  The others are largely productive because of the opportunities KT creates because of the amount of attention he commands from opposing offenses.  Will Oregon recruit a suitable replacement (maybe Cyrus Moss)?  Or if Justin Flowe is healthy next season, does Coach DeRuyter modify his schemes to make him and Noah the focal point of the defense? 

[Just Ducky]

Here’s my grades  for the game. Thanks to P State overtime game have no take of the 1st qtr. but going by the score it wasn’t a good start.

 

DLine A- played pretty solid till they got wore down in the 4th qt. It seems like our D is on the field entirely too much at the end of games. They get tired, get injured, and give up points. 

 

O line B- did an excellent job of pass blocking, ABs Jersey was pretty clean. Good job of creating some holes on several plays against a good front 7 or 8. ABs TD run was an O-line thing of beauty.

 

WRs B+ got open, caught the ball, probably their best game this year by far except for the untimely fumble.

 

DBs C+ made some big plays but still get in trouble with penalties when it hurts the most.

 

RBs C hard to grade. Dye didn’t have a lot of yards due to the game plan but scored 4 in a row, very impressive.

 

QB C would of got a B but those 2 horrible throws at the end of the game should not happen to a game manager. If not for a backup QB and late pick by our secondary we probably loose the game. Crazy thing is this was probably ABs best game so far. We will see what we get next week against a team we should be pummeling .

[DUCKED]

On 10/24/2021 at 10:39 AM, Jon Joseph said:

You have a game manger QB who managed the game beautifully into the 4th Q.

 

So, when you are ahead by 2 TDs and you have run well, you have shut down a rushing team's rush attack, why ask the guy to start throwing the ball?

 

No comprende?

Inexcusable….it could have cost them the game. I would love to hear the explanation on that call. The clock was Oregon’s opponent at that point in the game, not UCLA.

[UtahDuck]

On 10/24/2021 at 11:39 AM, Jon Joseph said:

You have a game manger QB who managed the game beautifully into the 4th Q.

 

So, when you are ahead by 2 TDs and you have run well, you have shut down a rushing team's rush attack, why ask the guy to start throwing the ball?

 

No comprende?

Jon, did oregon actually run the ball well? I mean 121 yards isn't bad, especially on 24 carries. but 1/3 of the yards came on browns TD run. while Dye did set an NCAA record he only averaged like 2.5 yds a carry.

 

personally I liked the play calling. We have seen cristobal be way to conservative at the ends of games in the past and it has cost us games(AUburn 2019, Stanford 2018, orst 2020, cal 2020). up by 17 points in the fourth oregon could make a game that is insurmountable with another TD. If you can't trust your QB to throw the ball when you are up he shouldn't be in the game(different conversation to be had). If oregon scores the game is over, no stress we can enjoy the rest of the game in peace. I don't know it seems a darned if you do, darned if you don't situation. people including myself have been very critical of coach and his end of game play calling for being to conservative and now we get upset when we throw the ball. 

[Jon Joseph]

On 10/25/2021 at 3:49 PM, UtahDuck said:

Jon, did oregon actually run the ball well? I mean 121 yards isn't bad, especially on 24 carries. but 1/3 of the yards came on browns TD run. while Dye did set an NCAA record he only averaged like 2.5 yds a carry.

 

personally I liked the play calling. We have seen cristobal be way to conservative at the ends of games in the past and it has cost us games(AUburn 2019, Stanford 2018, orst 2020, cal 2020). up by 17 points in the fourth oregon could make a game that is insurmountable with another TD. If you can't trust your QB to throw the ball when you are up he shouldn't be in the game(different conversation to be had). If oregon scores the game is over, no stress we can enjoy the rest of the game in peace. I don't know it seems a darned if you do, darned if you don't situation. people including myself have been very critical of coach and his end of game play calling for being to conservative and now we get upset when we throw the ball. 

 

Great response. All good points.

 

But I don't want this QB with a 2TD lead, throwing the ball late in the game rather than running the clock. It wasn't by a lot but Brown did outrush DTR and Charbonnet in this game.

 

I especially did not like the 2nd call to throw into the end zone (at least by this QB, the WR was open on a good pass) after a pick of a ball inexplicably thrown  into double coverage in the middle of the field.

 

I salute AB as a game manager. Why take him out of this role when your up by 2 scores on the road late in the game? Why expect results different than those you have seen all season?

 

I have chaffed at conservative play calling but deciding to open it up late on the road makes no sense to me?

[Haywarduck]

My takeaway, ponder point is I actually wonder if AB has depth perception issues. He throws a really good ball to the sideline, laterally. He also throws a decent ball on crossing patterns as the player is moving mostly lateral. AB's problem is when a receiver is moving down the field.

 

When he looks downfield it almost seems like he has no idea where the defense is, which come into play a little on the crossing patterns. It also almost seems like he is guessing where the receiver might end up when he ends up throwing long. Mario hinted it was also the receivers not running routes well, but when a receiver runs long, it is about depth perception, and processing this information visually.

 

It might just be the slower the receiver the better for AB? Maybe only throw long with the DB falls down and there is no safety?

 

He had a very good game, but he didn't process the defense well in situations most qb's should excel at.