Oregon has the No. 1 pass defense in the country at 124.5 yds per game and the #4 defense overall.  tOSU is No. 1 and Iowa No. 2.  Some of the OBD defensive players are young and will be Ducks for several more years.

Our quarterback, Dante Moore, started the first four games playing, pretty much, at the level of Bo Nix’ second season and Dillon Gabriel’s only season as a Duck.  So, he was being compared to the two quarterbacks who have more college football experience than any others, ever.  Nix started 61 games, Gabriel, 64.

 

Nix was not well regarded in his early years at Auburn, and Gabriel had detractors at Oklahoma.  He admitted that his spring ball as a Duck was pretty rough.  Each of them opted for more college football at Oregon because they felt that they were not ready for pro ball, and they were correct.  For each their best season was their last season.  Both are starting in the NFL, and both started as rookies. Oregon did well by them.

 

Dante’s first four starting games as a Duck were against probably the weakest defenses OBD will face this year.  He came out of the blocks going full speed ahead.  He was not sacked in any of those games.  When he came on the field against Indiana Dante had previously started 10 games, five of which were at UCLA.

 

As fans, we were spoiled and had unrealistic expectations.  Dante is in only the early stages of learning how to deal with a pass rush. As he gets more experience, he, and OBD, will be just fine with him leading the team. 

While we don’t like to use him much, the OBD punter, James Ferguson-Reynolds, is a weapon other teams must spend a lot of time preparing to face.  He can kick the ball a good distance using a standard kicking style, and he can place the ball well with a “sidewinder” style.  Also, he can run and pass very well, making the fake punt option available on every punt. 

So, we fans have a lot to be happy about, and, I believe, much to look forward to.

Grandpa, there is wisdom in your thoughts!

1 hour ago, Grandpa Duck said:

As fans, we were spoiled and had unrealistic expectations.  \

So, we fans have a lot to be happy about, and, I believe, much to look forward to.

Yes Sir!

Go Ducks!

1 hour ago, Grandpa Duck said:

As fans, we were spoiled and had unrealistic expectations.

Not Me....

The Ducks will be fine but Im not sure about us fans.

Grandpa, thanks for the post.

If it all comes together, the Ducks can finish 11-1. It hasn't been easy to get 14 new starters to bring 'IT' to the field with the same attitude and cohesiveness every week.

The defense's pick-six gave OBD a shot to win the Indiana game, but the defense was unable to prevent Mendoza from driving the Hoosiers 75 yards and a TD for the winning points. The defense also folded in the 4th quarter at Penn State. They are subs, but the subs on defense were duds in the 4th quarter of the Northwestern game.

If the PO committee truly starts from scratch, which I doubt, three of the final four regular-season games should be against teams, Iowa, SC, and UW, all in the top 25 on Tuesday night. OBD needs this because heading into the bye, the best win on paper is against 5-3 Northwestern.

OBD's QB is untested, especially compared to Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel. However, QBs with the same or less experience and lesser supporting casts are lighting it up across the country.

I am not an Xs and Os guy, and more than welcome being corrected if I am off base, but last season's starters at tackle on offense are both in the NFL. 6th round draft choice Cornelius Ajani with the Cowboys, and Josh Conerly starting for the Commanders. Their replacements have not played at the same level, and the play-calling does not seem conducive to helping them out.

D-tackles Caldwell and Harmon are also in the NFL, and both are contributing to their team's effort. Has not having these two guys on the field led to the disappearance of Maytayo U and Tuioti?

Still, it's a one-loss team with a good chance of going 4-0 and being a high seed in the PO field, but three of the opponents today are playing better than many thought they might before the start of the season. (I'm not surprised that USC and UW are competitive, with only two losses, and both could be ranked when they play Oregon. I wasn't as certain about a two-loss Iowa team that has two 'good' losses.)

Compared to the other Power-2 conference, and according to the Coaches and AP Polls, wins in the B1G just mean less, and the losses just mean more. Will the PO committee follow suit?

Thanks again for the positive post.

Win the Bye! Kick Iowa in Kinnick!

They're better than we think every other game since the Beav game.

Great against Penn St

Sucked against IU

Great against Rutgers

Sucked against WI

So they should be back to from against IA

I predicted that Oregon would go 10-2 this year with a floor of 8-4 (worst case) and a ceiling of 11-1. After the dominant early season victories and the upset at Penn State (who was one of my predicted losses), I admittedly became overly optimistic and was guilty in thinking that Oregon was ahead of schedule. The Indiana game brought me back down to earth with a thud and really exposed the Ducks’ flaws (credit to the experienced Hoosier coaching staff).

At this point, our offensive line is not as good as last year’s, IMHO, particularly at the tackles. Our young, inexperienced QB is confused by late shifts/changes and simulated pressure and not as adept as adjusting pass pro, as his very experienced predecessors were (I’ve never seen anyone do it better in college than Bo Nix did). Dante will learn but hopefully Coach Stein can make adjustments during the bye week to help him and the offense.

I’m still not a huge fan our our linebackers and our defensive line is talented but not consistent. The DL, particularly the DTs, absolutely dominated Penn State but perhaps that’s more a reflection of PSU’s O-line?

On the positive, our secondary has been fantastic. It’s shocking considering our #1 corner is a true freshman and the other corner is a redshirt freshman/sophomore! Our wide receiver core is also a lot better than I expected, post the Evan Stewart injury. Our running back room is very deep and the freshman appear to be the most talented of the group. As we’ve beaten to death; hopefully, they get more carries the rest of the season.

I have personally reset my expectations for the rest of the season. This team is capable of making the playoffs and winning a game or two but I would be surprised if they won the national championship, unless we see drastic improvements in our weaknesses. If we couldn’t handle Indiana’s defense, how the heck do we deal with Ohio State’s (probably the best college football defense since Dan Lanning’s Georgia unit)? The positive is that there really isn’t a dominant team this year, as every team has holes. I still think our real window begins next year but am looking forward to seeing how this year plays out.

BTW, another loss could eliminate Oregon from the playoffs. We will not have the best resume (thanks Penn State) and some crazy things could happen with the Big-12 and ACC conference championship auto qualifiers. You would also have to compete with whomever we lost to (Iowa, Washington, USC) and Notre Dame for that playoff spot.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by OregonDucks

I watched some of the Ducks of a Feather podcast with JStew and Kenjon. Their thoughts were that Stein didn't want to do too many things that might cause turnovers in that weather. So, he relied heavily on the run and threw a lot of short stuff to keep them from stacking the box. That said, the pass pro needs work.

One has to wonder about the hypothetical scenario of if he had followed through with his original commitment to Oregon. He would've sat behind and learned from Bo his freshman year and possibly Gabriel for his second, how much more prepared would he have been coming into this season? Probably quite a bit, I think we can all agree that excursion to UCLA was a complete waste of time for him.

1 hour ago, kirklandduck said:

One has to wonder about the hypothetical scenario of if he had followed through with his original commitment to Oregon. He would've sat behind and learned from Bo his freshman year and possibly Gabriel for his second, how much more prepared would he have been coming into this season? Probably quite a bit, I think we can all agree that excursion to UCLA was a complete waste of time for him.

I agree and I would argue that the UCLA did more harm than good for his confidence and development.

However, I wonder if Oregon would have brought Dillon Gabriel in last year, if we had Dante and whether Dante would have transferred elsewhere if we did…