As OBD head into the final third of the season, some patterns have emerged in the team that become concerns to me that if not addressed create a dangerously low ceiling for an offense with much more potential. It should also be mentioned that against inferior competition, these concerns get hidden as the team simply overwhelms the defense on pure talent alone.

Out of eight games played, the Ducks have shown major offensive struggles in three (Penn St, Indiana, Wisky). These are the three I'm most focused on and am talking about. Here are my main concerns.

Offensive game plan: It feels against tougher competition, the plan gets way too conservative which creates predictability that tougher defenses exploit. Way to often, the Ducks seem to find themselves behind schedule then face third and long with inadequate plays designed to get the yardage needed. A three game sample size shows this to be a trend not just a one off.

Conservative passing plays: Kind of part two from the first critique, there seems to be way to much passing behind the line of scrimmage and passing short on third down. A timid passing attack just allows the defense to jam the box with too many defenders that also helps to stifle the running game. All in all I think this conservative approach negates the talent advantage that seems designed to spread out a defense and get playmakers in space.

AWOL playmakers: Time and time again in these tough battles, you see Sadiq with one or two receptions and Moore with two or three and Hill with a couple carries. What? All three of these guys have the potential to be national leaders at their positions but nearly disappear on their own stat sheets. Designing the offense to get these guys the ball should always be the priority. Bonus gripe: Davison should be starting and getting ten plus carries a game.

Where's Moga? Before the season started, I was sure that the offense would feature some Luke Moga trickeration from time to time. All three games mentioned above needed some sort of spark to get the defense out of it's comfort zone. I thought that was why Moga was on the team. By halftime of the three games mentioned the Ducks had 3 (PSU), 10 (Indy) and 7 (Wisky). Seems like shaking things up was in order in all three to me.

Putting it all together, I think OBD makes themselves way to easy to game plan against when they have the talent to be a nightmare. It feels like the ceiling for the offense has been set artificially low. Against lower level teams the talent mismatch gashes the defense and puts up video game numbers but against solid teams it's a perfect serving of sugar free vanilla pudding. I really hope something changes because this could still be a special season with special results.

I don't want this post to come off as to whiney but I'm just concerned that OBD are making things too hard on themselves by trying to play it safe,

The Ducks game planning and strategies need some help that's for sure--way too predictable.

Well, for fun and to stir the pot a bit here are the quarterback stats from last night.

Dante Moore 9/16. 5.7 yard avg. QBR 36.4

Brock Thomas 4/4 11.5 yard avg. QBR 93.8

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Santa Rosa Duck
missing word

Thomas also threw a ball that looked like a devastating interception except it slipped through the defender's hands and landed in the hands of Dakorien Moore.

I stated this in another thread, but this is also a good place for it. Oregon had 9 penalties and four of them came at bad times. Two penalties moved the offense out from inside the 10 yard line and one killed a 2nd and 2 from the Wisconsin 34. The 4th penalty wiped a TD off the scoreboard.

I really don't know football well at all but is it possible Moore is easily confused by certain defenses and has no ability to look downfield during those times? Like I said I have no clue about football beyond I hate the bubble screen with a passion.

Dont the QBs have earpieces these days? Maybe its the play callers that are confused?

Something is off for sure.

I have my own theory of how to fix some things but I'll save that for my Monday article.

I do think it comes down in part to the offensive line and not pairing early game plays with getting the offensive line settled. The line did better as the game wore on and leant on the lien's strengths.

Pass protection is certainly a worry especially at the tackle position as both tackles were retting worked early on against Wisconsin. They were consistently out worked against Indiana and struggled at times against Penn State, though against Penn the refs really didn't throw many flags where they have been more flag happy in the other two games.

I want to see the coaches work on some strategies to settle the offense early on in the game. That might also include rolling Moore out of the pocket more, he did a lot of it against Penn State to avoid their good edge rushers. (Yes, Penn State still has good edge rushers who are getting drafted).

2 hours ago, The Kamikaze Kid said:

I don't want this post to come off as to whiney but I'm just concerned that OBD are making things too hard on themselves by trying to play it safe,

You didn't come across whiney at all. You said what I've been thinking and been unable to articulate. I believe you have said better than most of us so far. For me, they are concerns, but they are correctable. Moore is effective both in the pocket and out of it. I believe he needs more reps outside the pocket-whether that be a moving pocket, max protection that gets him out of the pocket, or simple roll outs.

Another aspect I see is missed assignments. The coaching staff is bent on running the ball, and I've seen far too many missed assignments (and I am not talking about getting beat at the point of attack, I am talking straight up not being where one is supposed to be when they are supposed to be there). This is happening in both run blocking and pass protection.

What I really appreciated about this game is I saw adjustments much sooner than usual. FishDuck pointed out the formation changes in order to unleash the running game. Lanning also decided to just get the victory-no style points needed. He read the flow of the game and simply put pads on pads instead of just continuing what they wanted to do. Lupoi did the same. They recognized strengths and just went with them.

There is nothing wrong with struggling in a game. And in my opinion, the struggle against Indiana was more lethargy than their ability. They didn't dominate us. People said the same thing about Auburn in the Natty. Remember, Cam Newton limped off the field. OBD were the more physical team, and the refs stole a sack/fumble/TD from us. Indiana is a marvel right now because they are boat racing the bums. They didn't boat race us. They didn't boat race Iowa. They are going to have to do more to win in the playoffs because they are NOT that physical.

Long story short. This is experimentation time. This is a time to throw things on the wall-and I mean find out everything QB Moore can do and WHY. We have two blazing fast guys that can outrun every good corner and safety in the country, and we need to get them the ball downfield. We want to spring explosive running plays. Well, that requires setting a defense up to spring them. Bill Walsh used to script the first 15 plays on offense. That was in order to decipher what his opponents were planning to do and uncover what in his game plan would work. I believe we saw some aspects of that last night.

I am hoping we don't fear what happens, rather we observe it and hope OBD handle it putting their best effort and brains into being successful.

HMMMMMMMMMM? Isn't this the same team that put up 750 yards of offense the week before in Jersey?

Wisconsin, with a run D that has played decent football all season, could not have asked for better weather.

The critiques of this game, I get it. But OBD's defense played great, and in a deluge, the Ducks rushed for over 200 yards.

Iowa will be a B1G test. For Iowa not to be in the AP top 25, ditto UW, is male bovine excrement.

The Ducks stayed at No. 6, which IMO is spot on.

Put the Hurt on the Hawkeyes!

Well articulated post Mike. A quick synopsis of my original take would be that OBD seems to be scheming as a cautious underdog not as a talented favorite.

I'm glad UW and IA are on the road because the Ducks seem to play better on the road lately.

Hmm previous week we had 700 yards and all was well.

I’m going to go with it was really wet, we don’t look as focused at home…and yet we still doubled the rushing yards UW usually gives up.

Long season and we are 7-1.

I think teams sell out trying to stop our running game. At times, our play calling gets predictable, and we rely on DM to complete a lot of third and long plays to keep the chains moving. If he misses, we probably struggle against a good offense.

We have a good run game, but against better defenses we probably need to use our offensive tool box a little “Moore” effectively.

That’s as good as it gets for my advice. Goes along with outscoring your opponent is the best way to win.