CO Duck No. 1 Share Posted September 3 Oregon's offensive line has received its fair share of criticism following the team's underwhelming performance last Saturday against the Idaho Vandals. After allowing only 5 sacks during the entire 2023 season, the Vandals managed to sack Oregon’s shiny new (and expensive) transfer quarterback a whopping 4 times during 60 minutes of play. Dillon Gabriel deserves some of the blame for the poor showing. He certainly made mistakes, including occasionally holding the ball a little too long and missing open receivers—but that’s all part of a quarterback’s learning curve in a new offense. He will get better, and as he does, the offensive line won’t look so porous. Turning to the running game, we didn’t see many explosive plays from Oregon's ground attack—with only a handful of plays making it to the second level of Idaho’s defense. Was that an offensive line problem or a running back problem? Looking at stat lines, it seems like a Noah Whittington problem. Jordan James averaged 6.3 yards per carry on 15 attempts (for 95 yards), and his longest run of the day went for 16 yards. In contrast, Whittington averaged a measly 2.4 yards per carry on 14 attempts (for 33 yards), and his longest run was only 8 yards. In other words, Whittington carried the ball nearly as many times as James (14 vs. 15) but only achieved roughly a third of the total yards (33 yards vs. 95 yards). That is a serious drop in comparative production. Whittington’s 2023 campaign was cut short by injury—specifically, a torn ACL. That is a notoriously difficult injury to return from. Anecdotally, while many athletes return to competition within a year, it really takes two full years to return to pre-injury form. Whittington’s stat line against Idaho bears that out—averaging 2.4 yards per carry (vs. 5.6 yards per carry in 2022 and 7.3 yards per carry in 2023 before being injured) and having a longest run of only 8 yards suggest he lacks the explosiveness that elite running backs need to accelerate through narrow holes, break would-be arm tackles, and separate from pursuing defenders. Unfortunately, it will likely take time for Whittington to regain that elite-level explosiveness. He should look great next year. As for this year, Coach Lanning might need to rely more on James and the other talented running backs in his stable to carry the load. 1 3 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Administrator No. 2 Share Posted September 3 Noah does not have another year; this is it. I have faith that Coach Samples sees the same thing and begins to work Jay Harris into some PT. 1 1 1 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JabbaNoBargain No. 3 Share Posted September 3 Noah is listed as a Redshirt Junior btw. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CO Duck Author No. 4 Share Posted September 3 I thought he has this year and next year. He’s listed as a redshirt junior. 2020: COVID Freshman 2021: Freshman 2022: Sophomore 2023: Redshirt (Injury) 2024: Redshirt Junior 2025: Redshirt Senior Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HDuck No. 5 Share Posted September 3 Idaho most often had 7 guys in the box against Oregon 5 man offensive front. A LOT of the time they were bringing a linebacker on a blitz. Gabriel had a guy in his grill most of the time. Oregon seemingly didn't adjust....split the TE instead of keeping him tight with the 5 O-linemen, vacated the backfield so there was no running back to block, thus 6 or 7 on 5 without adequate protection, or a guy breaking thru to disrupt the RB when the RB was kept and designated for a handoff. Then, for whatever reasons, asked Gabriel not to run. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Administrator No. 6 Share Posted September 3 On 9/3/2024 at 1:12 PM, CO Duck said: I thought he has this year and next year. He’s listed as a redshirt junior. I stand corrected--sounds good! Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drake Moderator No. 7 Share Posted September 3 Whittington had open turf in front of him on one of his carries at the end of the 3rd quarter. He stumbled as the hole opened and fell…I believe that was his 8 yard run. That play he had excellent blocking, and should have had a TD, or the very least another 15 yards. Later in that series we stalled out inside the 5 yard line because of a holding penalty, and settled for a field goal. We have all seen it happen before, poor execution, and penalties kill a drive and momentum starts changing. Not a knock on Whittington, but based on his knee injury, and numbers in this game, you have to ask whether he needs additional time to recover. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spartan2785 No. 8 Share Posted September 3 It's too early to say, it is true that some guys need more time to recover, but a lot of the plays I saw he had no blocking, the one where he stumbled has happened to every RB before, if we see similar production in the next two games, then I think it's pretty justifiable to star to give Harris and Limar more time in the backfield. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyToBeADuck No. 9 Share Posted September 3 On 9/3/2024 at 1:37 PM, HDuck said: Idaho most often had 7 guys in the box against Oregon 5 man offensive front. A LOT of the time they were bringing a linebacker on a blitz. Gabriel had a guy in his grill most of the time. Oregon seemingly didn't adjust....split the TE instead of keeping him tight with the 5 O-linemen, vacated the backfield so there was no running back to block, thus 6 or 7 on 5 without adequate protection, or a guy breaking thru to disrupt the RB when the RB was kept and designated for a handoff. Then, for whatever reasons, asked Gabriel not to run. Great observation of what was taking place on the field in real time. There didnt appear ro be any halftime adjustments to change the offensive sets. Noah, or any running back needs blocking to be successful. However 5 lineman cant block 7 in the box. The Vandals committed to stopping or slowing the run game. And blitzing on the edges to not give DG the time to throw deep. The Vandals kept everything in front of them and waiting for OBD's to make a mistake. Those mistakes were mostly penalties that killed drives. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Marsh No. 10 Share Posted September 4 Whittington didn't have enough games last year to show me otherwise but I do think there is something to this. In 2022 Whittington had some good games and some games where he just didn't get anything done. The biggest red flag plays I find with Whittington are the fly sweeps. He just can't seem to hit the edge on those plays and get vertical. He gets hit and dragged down at the line of scrimmage. He had the same problem in 2022. Whenever I see him in that play I just know it will get two yards max. It's a dud play that was called multiple times. Maybe the offensive line and TEs fail to block it but I just don't think Whittington has the speed to stretch the field like that. Whittington is a change of pace back... But honestly I feel if they want to run a fly sweep it should be Tez or Bryant (when healthy) getting the ball. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maebee No. 11 Share Posted September 4 Respectfully, citing “ a whittingham problem” seems a tough take after a game in which the O line wasn’t up to par. I remember a healthy Noah as a stud, have some patience . Also if Dillion Gabriel is having a “poor showing” with 380 yds and an 83% completion ratio, we should all be looking forward to his A game. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CO Duck Author No. 12 Share Posted September 4 On 9/3/2024 at 11:13 PM, Maebee said: Respectfully, citing “ a whittingham problem” seems a tough take after a game in which the O line wasn’t up to par. I remember a healthy Noah as a stud, have some patience . Also if Dillion Gabriel is having a “poor showing” with 380 yds and an 83% completion ratio, we should all be looking forward to his A game. The offensive line certainly didn't open gaping holes for anyone to run through. But that doesn’t explain the disparate production between Whittington and James on effectively the same number of carries. Did James consistently have wider running lanes that stayed open for longer? Or did Whittington, facing similar conditions, simply lack the top-end burst/power/speed/quickness needed to succeed in those conditions? Noah was a stud and I believe he will be again. But, being less than a year removed from a major knee injury, is it fair to wonder if he is a stud right now? I really hope so, but empirical evidence indicates he’s not 100% just yet. We should know more in the coming weeks. I’m really rooting for him. Regarding Gabriel, I don’t think those statistics tell the whole story. Horizontal throws and check-downs will usually result in a high completion % and respectable yards. However, he missed (as in didn’t see or attempt to pass) a number of down field opportunities. An offense needs those plays to keep a defense honest. As others have noted, he rarely had a clean pocket or sufficient time to complete down field throws—so it’s tough to put too much blame on him. He will learn, the line will improve, and the coaches will get better. I expect we will see a significantly better passing game this week. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastBayDuckDad Moderator No. 13 Share Posted September 4 On 9/3/2024 at 8:38 PM, David Marsh said: Whittington is a change of pace back... But honestly I feel if they want to run a fly sweep it should be Tez or Bryant (when healthy) getting the ball. I'd like to see Sadiq on one of those. 230 lbs of elite speed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solar No. 14 Share Posted September 4 On 9/4/2024 at 7:08 AM, CO Duck said: The offensive line certainly didn't open gaping holes for anyone to run through. But that doesn’t explain the disparate production between Whittington and James on effectively the same number of carries. Did James consistently have wider running lanes that stayed open for longer? Or did Whittington, facing similar conditions, simply lack the top-end burst/power/speed/quickness needed to succeed in those conditions? Noah was a stud and I believe he will be again. But, being less than a year removed from a major knee injury, is it fair to wonder if he is a stud right now? I really hope so, but empirical evidence indicates he’s not 100% just yet. We should know more in the coming weeks. I’m really rooting for him. Regarding Gabriel, I don’t think those statistics tell the whole story. Horizontal throws and check-downs will usually result in a high completion % and respectable yards. However, he missed (as in didn’t see or attempt to pass) a number of down field opportunities. An offense needs those plays to keep a defense honest. As others have noted, he rarely had a clean pocket or sufficient time to complete down field throws—so it’s tough to put too much blame on him. He will learn, the line will improve, and the coaches will get better. I expect we will see a significantly better passing game this week. It perfectly explains it. James can bully his way through contact in a way Whittington can't. So if holes aren't there, it favors James. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
