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Oregon Football: Ducks Crash and Burn, Raising Tough Questions

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Losing raises a lot of uncomfortable questions. First of all, let’s tip our collective hats to the No. 23 Utah Utes, which was clearly the better team and prevailed in literally every facet of the game in its 38-7 victory over the (formerly) No. 3 Oregon Ducks on Saturday night at Rice Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. Let’s not kid ...

 

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Good article!  Sums current situation up well.  Thanks!

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A painful defeat, much like the loss to Iowa State in the bowl game last year. What do those two games have in common?

 

Granted, AB did not play well, but when a team is beaten this soundly all the blame cannot be attributed to the QB. 

 

Utah executed their plan better, and seemed both more passionate and more poised. Perhaps they are just a more mature football team, with players who are not necessarily more talented, but who are a good fit for their system and more experienced. Not to make excuses, but the injuries were certainly a factor. 

 

Schematically: 1) on offense, Utah went with two or maybe three tight ends or spare offensive lineman, as Stanford often did in their glory years against Oregon. Thibodeaux was neutralized by double-teams. Oregon usually had five men on the line of scrimmage and two linebackers. Utah was gaining yardage even when there was no hole simply by pushing the scrum. Their lead running back was not flashy, but powerful. 

 

2) on defense, Utah consistently had seven men in the box, with a four man front and three linebackers. Quite sensibly, they decided to make Anthony Brown not Travis Dye beat them. Moorhead elected not to run against this formation, but rather to establish the pass to enable the run. We all saw the results. 

 

I admit that I have a tough time being analytical watching a game on TV that is going this badly, but Oregon's staff did not seem to make effect adjustments to what their opponents were doing. 

 

Are there no counter-measures to these schemes? 

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This will not help the recruiting efforts what so ever.

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Brown peaked a long time ago. I was hoping that one of our "prized" back-ups would get some meaningful snaps. Like a star pitcher, Brown didn't have his good stuff last night. Bring in a reliever. 

I'm not pinning the blame for the disaster on Brown, but his poor throws to open receivers, got our offense off the field in a hurry and forced our tiring defense back on the field. His accuracy on anything but short passes has been shaky all season. 

I sincerely hope that Pittman's departure was not a factor in our team's attitude and lackluster spirit. 

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Oregon's offensive line are great run blockers!  However, they are too slow to set up for pass blocking.  Coach decision to work the passing game from the outset was fatally flawed!  

 

Oregon's defensive decision all season to rely upon zone pass defense has given opposing quarterbacks record passing yards.  How many times have we seen a wide open receiver catch a pass surrounded by 3 or 4 ducks guarding "turf"?  The easiest pass for any quarterback is a slant or dig across the middle.

 

We have 4 & 5 star defensive backs.  Why can't they be taught to cover man and take away the easy inside pass route?  By the way why is the future #1 NFL draft pass rusher dropping back into zone coverage and guarding "grass"?

 

I facetiously asked yesterday on the game thread  "Where is Tom Osborn?".  He was the Special Teams and Tight End  coach at Oregon back when special teams were awesome!  Our coaching effort in this area needs major improvement.  Supposedly we have more talent on this team.  Highly recruited backups can't be motivated or taught?

 

Lots of bad decisions yesterday!  Mostly by all the coaches!

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Burn the tape, move on, and don't let this game beat you two weeks in a row.

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Even some very short passes were thrown into the dirt or well behind the receiver.

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I was interested in the attitudes and culture issues which seemed to be coming out of the closet. The defense seem to give in a little. The offense seem to have some disfunction between AB and the rest of the players.

 

The defensive effort seemed like the OSU game last year. While Sewell is like a large shopvac, which sucks up anything within sight, reach. I will be interested in others insights, but the defense which has been formidable, was anything but. Next week against an offensive coach, it will be difficult if we don't remedy the problems.

 

On offense AB was, well AB, but this time the team didn't rally around him and make up for his weaknesses. What I saw was Mycah type attitude in Devon. The young receivers showed their potential, but they couldn't make up for the weaknesses of AB. The running game wasn't intimidating with AB even struggling with going north, south. 

 

With Camden even missing field goals kicks, it seemed the whole team was on the same page, the wrong page. Can we get to another chapter in Oregon football or we just need to turn the page, that is the question. For those who enjoyed Lost in Space, you might enjoy the play on B-9 and how our machine didn't fair too well.

5uzsp2.jpg

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I would like to know why are there so many injuries? It seems like since Radcliff left the Ducks have more injuries more often. 

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Guest KingT

Eight starters out due to injury, Special Teams beat you, and you just got plain whipped at the line of scrimmage. Let's not go crazy here. You lead the North, have a great chance to win your Division and get a crack at Utah for the PAC12 again and get a great NY6 Bowl. There's lots to be happy about in spite of a painful loss. If people want to make program changes, it's probably time to replace your Special Teams coach after the season.

 

Thereafter, I'd start to find ways to get Butterfield, Ty, 7, and Benson more snaps, if possible to test their readiness. But I wouldn't abandon AB, this wasn't his fault -- this one may have more to do with being outmatched and depleted along with an awful Special Teams execution (no pressure on their punt team, poor return game, poor coverage game) and ill timed Penalties -- there's a lot of pain here, but there's also a ton of positives with these young guys coming into the program.

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I think the injuries are too much to overcome for this year. The Ducks were beat before they even took the field.

They looked worn out to me.

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This game is summed up with two words "bonehead plays".

 

How many times were perfectly effective drives totally derailed by stupid penalties such as illegal motion or a lineman blocking too far downfield etc. etc. The offensive lineman have made more penalties this year than I ever remember. These untimely penalties were usually followed by another bonehead play like a sack where no one even touches the QB or a complete collapse of protection on the O line leading to a bad pass, ineffective scramble and/or dump off 10-15 yards short of the line to gain for a first down on 3rd and infinity. 

 

The coaching facilitated bonehead plays time and time again. When are we going to learn ball and clock management at the end of halves and games???? How long has this been a systemic problem in this program? Three guesses......as long as Cristobal has been coaching here.

 

Back to the drawing board. 

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The glass is half full .......

 

BBall lost by more to the other Beehive state team.

At least is wasn't an upset as the favorite won.

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Altitude of 4,637 feet at Utah had a lot to do with it. Every player on the team was working with reduced oxygen, putting them one step behind on every play. Only way to compensate for that is to arrive in SLC about 3 or 4 days ahead of time.

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On 11/21/2021 at 2:12 PM, magee said:

Altitude of 4,637 feet at Utah had a lot to do with it. Every player on the team was working with reduced oxygen, putting them one step behind on every play. Only way to compensate for that is to arrive in SLC about 3 or 4 days ahead of time.

But wasnt the other team ?

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EPIC FAIL! 

 

Chance to erase the 2019 at ASU no show; no show Fiesta Bowl; 2020 Ls vs CAL and OR ST? How is it possible to take an L vs Stanford your 2nd unit should defeat? What Oregon CFB head coach in recent history would lose a game in this manner? Not Bellotti. Not Kelly and likely, not even Slick?

 

Oregon looked like a lower-level Mountain West team last night. Not a San Diego State level team that beat Utah, a BYU team that beat Utah, or anywhere close to an Oregon State team that beat Utah.

 

Yet, Mario continues to receive all kind of support because of his recruiting and defeating a 3L Wisconsin team in the Rose Bowl by 1 point, with the NFL rookie of the year at the wheel. He is an excellent recruiter as proved at Bama. And a very good OL coach as he proved at Bama. He is a good man and a good person as he proved at Bama and has proved at Oregon.

 

He is a mediocre at best head football coach. Which is OK. Most of us reach a certain level in life at what we do professionally and if advanced beyond this level, most of us fail and fall back.

 

Oregon is competing in a CFB, billion dollar arena. Oregon's coach can close the deal on the recruiting front but not on the playing field. And the field Mario is playing on is a piece of cake compared to competing in the B1G, SEC and even the B12. Every excuse: give him more time; too many injuries; the team is young; altitude; is at this point in time simply BOGUS! 

 

Do I as much as I admire Mario as a person, have a better option for the Oregon HC? YES. But why would anyone come west to coach in a conference that has not made the PO since 2016? A conference with an insolvent network. A conference with many the football budget less than AAC and Mountain West schools? A conference that has many games KO when most of the country is in bed?

 

It's time for the TEAM to move on. In terms of a HC, and so as not to be saddled by inferior partners who do not have the money or the desire to compete at the highest level of CFB.

 

 

Edited by Jon Joseph
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On 11/21/2021 at 3:18 PM, Jon Joseph said:

Oregon looked like a lower-level Mountain West team last night. Not a San Diego State level team that beat Utah, a BYU team that beat Utah, or anywhere close to an Oregon State team that beat Utah.

 

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

 

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Mr. FishDuck

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Guest KingT

Someone in the thread brought up the altitude and I noticed the fatigue along the D very early on (1Q). It's not going to be discussed much but I think this was a huge factor compounded by the inability to get off the field on 3rd down. Assuming we are at full strength, I'd expect a much more robust effort this week against OSU and if we see Utah in Vegas, a much better result there, if only due to the lower altitude impact.

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On 11/21/2021 at 3:18 PM, Jon Joseph said:

He is a mediocre at best head football coach.

 

Even his wins, more often than not, have been painful to watch.

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painful, true, ad infinitum.

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