Some interesting discussion by John Canzano and Oregon fans....

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Q: Is it possible that Lanning’s team is pacing itself? Is that the secret buried in the flow of this season?

A: I spoke with offensive coordinator Will Stein a few weeks ago. Something he said in our conversation stood out. Stein mentioned watching Ohio State play its best football in December and January. We talked about the art and science of that run. I wondered if UO’s plan this season was to slowly rise to meet the challenges and moments each week, but keep its cleats on the turf for when it counts.

Q: Do you think the Ducks are sandbagging games to disguise, disrupt, and obfuscate future game opponent strategies?

A: There’s no “sandbagging” going on. But I do think Oregon is pacing itself better this season. The substitution patterns with the defensive backs caught my eye earlier this season. You can tell UO’s coaches are playing more players, looking to distribute the snaps, and trying to build toward playing their best football in December and January. It’s what Ohio State did last season.

I certainly don't think we were sandbagging during the Iowa game; with three top receivers lost....we were fighting to win a game, IMHO.

Sandbags are used to hold the water out. Hard to do when you’re playing in the rain all the time.

It's an aspect of playing in the Big Ten, and preparing to play physical.

2025 season total plays/games – national rank

6-Rutgers 726 in 10

15-Indiana 694 in 10

41-Purdue 643 in 10

46-Nebraska 635 in 10

84-USC 595 in 9

98-Maryland 587 in 9

101-Oregon 583 in 9  (64.8/game)

There are 11 B1G teams located between Oregon and No. 133

I don’t think we are sandbagging. Responsive pacing would be closer to the truth, as in the sense of how a good boxer figures out, and then anticipates the moves of an opponent in order to defeat him with counter punches.

Edited 8 hours ago8 hr by Washington Waddler
spelling

Sandbagging would be very foolhardy. You can't turn on and off the emotions of a game in the game.

Although Sam Houston State did put on a rope-a-dope and a thanks for the check clinic in Corvallis.

No

WW is right, pacing is a better description. Any body who has watched the Ducks play or swim the games against NW, IU, PSU, Whisky and Iowa knows there was no sandbagging.

With 7 games left until we hoist the trophy it has been great that many players have been able to play and give the srarters a break.

Best of all, look how great the #2's and some #3"s played in a big rime game.

Is,that sandbagging?

Yes and no, do I think that against some teams (Rutgers, Northwestern, and Wisconsin) Oregon is holding some stuff back, probably, but I don't think we're deliberately trying to play possum. We're doing what we need to do to win those games. Iowa and Indiana it was just a mix of bad play, bad play calling, and some bad luck with injuries/bounces/officials.

We aren't good enough to sandbag against the better teams on our schedule.

There is no way that Coach Lanning is squeaking out close victories by choice. That would be asking for disaster - one more loss and the college football playoff committee will decide our post season fate.

I’m sure Coach Lanning would prefer the less stressful route.

Edited 6 hours ago6 hr by OregonDucks

My opinion is this may be a coping mechanism in response to seeing outcomes we'd rather not see . . . "they must be holding back."

I don't believe the Ducks are holding anything back, and if you asked any coach/player, I'd bet there's no way any of them are okay flirting that closely with losses just to pace themselves or hold back for later. I don't believe those close wins are "part of the plan".

The Ducks have some things they need to work on, but the beauty of it all is that they have the coaches, players/talent, and motivation to learn, develop, and get better in time to reach all their goals this year.

Go Ducks!

My thought is that there's not as much difference between a 4 or 5 star player as there is 2 or 3 star players from 10 years back.

The playing field is getting more level as time goes on. Its now about depth and coaching smarts.

I say no to sandbagging.

Resting players who are slightly dinged up, because we have depth is more like it.

For example, consider HDuck's chart:

"2025 season total plays/games – national rank

6-Rutgers 726 in 10

15-Indiana 694 in 10

41-Purdue 643 in 10

46-Nebraska 635 in 10

84-USC 595 in 9

98-Maryland 587 in 9

101-Oregon 583 in 9  (64.8/game)"

Compare OBD to Indiana To do that you have to adjust the OBD total number of plays because they have played one less game than Indiana. You can make the adjustment by dividing Indiana's plays by their number of games, which equals 69.4 plays per game. Then do the same for OBD and you get 64 . 8 per game, a difference of 4.6 plays per game. To make the comparison more accurate you would have to know how many possessions each team had and whether they were either running clock at the end of a game, or had a final two minutes like OBD had vs. Iowa where there were a lot of plays in a short time. Also, what was the impact of turnovers and field position? In other words, the chart is virtually meaningless without a lot more data.

When I see questions about planning a pace for the season I often think of Chip Kelly's mad pace and how he never "won" the time of possession stat. Chip knew that in order for his players to get back to the line of scrimmage and snap the ball in the fewest seconds possible they had to be in outstanding physical condition. So that was his primary emphasis in the preseason. When the NCAA's proposed two-year suspension for the $20,000 payment to LaMichael's "finder" came at him, Chip took the "opportunity" to beat it to the NFL and try his system on the Professional players for the Eagles. It worked for more than half a season. When the roster limitation and trying to keep the reluctant older guys in shape took its toll, the flaws in Chip's system became apparent.

There's no way Lanning and company could intentionally do less than everything possible to play the games at full throttle. You never know when players will be injured. Our depth chart has been really deep, until suddenly we're playing Iowa and it isn't deep enough. Or maybe, key players can't get on the field. Just too many variables to have them take plays off until the team is so far ahead the opponent cannot possibly catch up.

But I can see backing off on conditioning after the season starts. Have the players get into their best possible condition before the first game, and then focus more on maintaining that level and try to increase stamina, but not work on strength to the point that a player is tired at game time.

In this conference, we're seeing teams rise up and make a close contest where the point spread indicated the game would not be that close. It's not exactly that anybody can beat their next opponent, but that is the case for roughly 14-15 of the teams. No room for sandbagging.

4 hours ago, spartan2785 said:

Iowa and Indiana it was just a mix of bad play, bad play calling, and some bad luck with injuries/bounces/officials.

We aren't good enough to sandbag against the better teams on our schedule.

In my opinion, Stein actually adjusted against Indiana. Dante missed two very execution laden TDs in the third quarter. Stein actually set the WTa up well, then shut it down the rest of the game.

If Moore can duplicate that last drive in Iowa the rest of the season, we're talking about a totally different team. Maybe Stein should go the way of Buffalo's Superbowl teams-two minute offense all game. Moore seems to shine in those moments.