It is always fun to guess what Our Beloved Ducks are doing, and then seeing later how close we got. Our forum-friend, 30Duck, has tech issues and will not be able to rejoin us for a few weeks, but I spoke with him on the phone yesterday, as well as Mike West, and both gave me their thoughts on the offense that got me to wondering...

What IS Will Stein up to?

Thus far, he is doing the opposite of last year, whereas in 2024--he did a slow rollout of the offense that many here found pedestrian, almost boring at times. We were winning, but not winning BIG, while this year we are scoring boatloads of points, and showing stuff you would not think would appear until a big play in a much bigger game.

What do YOU think is going on?

Do you think he and Lanning decided to "go-for-it," as some games, (like the Rose Bowl last year) require a ton of scoring to win the game? Or that he is just messing with the Penn State DC in advance to make their preparation that much more difficult...and Stein pulls out new stuff for them?

Or is this a head-fake and Stein reins the offense back in again...to keep opposing DCs guessing? I love what we've seen, but wonder what the bigger plan is the entire season, and what they're doing now--how it plays into their overall plan?

Last year, Oregon was the number one team in the nation for a good number of weeks until they weren't.

This year's blitz of points brings to mind the Oregon Women's BB team's motto during the 2020 campaign... "Leave No Doubt."

Maybe that is the answer. Maybe DL wants to "Leave No Doubt" as to who is the best team and where the Ducks stand among the elite teams across the nation. Maybe we will not be the best team at the end of the season, but no one will doubt how good and dominant they are.

This was one of the frustrations we had with Mari-- Cristobal. He seemed to WANT to win by less than a touchdown. When you flirt with one score games too often, you are bound to lose some that you shouldn't. (Take a knee!!!)

Don't let up until the game is truly over! That doesn't mean that you wait to put in more back-ups... especially when there are so many 1a/1b/1c situations! (Aren't we blessed??)

Is the play calling such that opposing DC's do not have much of anything on Dante's maturity in the pocket and think they can storm the bastille and rattle our young quarterback? My money is on the sneaky dudes ..... Lanning and Stein. GO DUCKS!!

Last year I think Stein wanted to do more but Gabriel and the offensive line didn't have the ability to do so for whatever reason.

He was also limited in terms of running backs as James was THE back for the majority of the season.

The offensive line wasn't settled in a rotation until week 3 which limited what they could do in terms of a run game and pass protection.

Stein has the luxury of having a QB that has gone to school studying his offense for over a year. I think he rolls out the “deception” plays because they work, are fun to run. Plus, you are probably correct that our future opponents have to watch that tape.

The hire of Ross Douglas as receivers coach, probably added some plays to the arsenal, as well as being a great addition for teaching players.

The Ducks are fun to watch, which also helps future recruiting efforts.

But, to answer the question of what is going on. I think our schedule overall is soft, and the coaches know that scoring a lot of points is needed to separate ourselves from the pack.

5 minutes ago, Drake said:

I think our schedule overall is soft, and the coaches know that scoring a lot of points is needed to separate ourselves from the pack.

Yep, unfortunately, style points are still important...

One of the obvious benefits of scoring in bunches early on is that the game is essentially over at halftime, allowing for LOTS of playing time for your young and talented roster. One of the things I recall from Georgia (and Alabama's) natty runs, is that they were deep at every position, and when a player went down, often a player of equal (sometimes better) talent stepped in. Lanning has assembled that kind of talent in Eugene, and there's no time like the present to get them on the field accumulating real game reps. Come playoff time, we are going to be deep & experienced.

"If you're good enough, you're old enough."

I would not pretend to know what Stein and Lanning are trying to do here but shocking the opposition into submission after two touchdowns on three plays is going to work almost every time. Putting the game away in the first quarter is true intimidation. Bring on Northwestern!

GO DUCKS!

I went home for a late lunch and had the show B1G Today on, and ol' coach and analyst Gerry DiNardo was effusive in his praise of Will Stein and what he witnessed in his trip to Eugene prior to the season. He stated that the QB meeting he sat in on with Stein...."the coaching and discussion of progressions in a play was the best I've watched in my life."

Here is the clip so you can hear the correct quote...I remembered it as best I could, but the actual sounds better....