Mickanen's Article a Sensible Analysis for Ducks Going Forward

[Mic]

Dylan Mickanen's article that appeared originally on 'Fan Nation Duck's Digest'  is probably one of the more reasonable and sensible articles coming out of this woodshed beating by Georgia.

 

Mickanen: Don't Judge Dan Lanning and the Oregon Ducks Yet

WWW.YARDBARKER.COM

---

The sky is not falling. It's reasonable to be worried, the loss to Georgia had zero positives, but it was just one game. Despite what Oregon preached all offseason leading into the matchup, the...

 

It's still pretty optimistic but at least it draws some reasonable conclusions based on passed Oregon history (Kelly & Cristobal's tenures) and actual recruiting numbers and status in the Pac-12.  None of us want to jump to conclusions nor do we want to give up on our Ducks.  It's barely September yet. Dylan has taken the time to assess where Oregon stands talent-wise and schedule wise with a reasoned approach. 

 

And he's kinda told us when/if we need to begin our panic attack.  Give him a read.

 

 

[Log Haulin]

The final score had more to do with Georgia than it had to do with Oregon.  There are a thousand reasons this was set up to be the perfect storm.

 

I think the biggest contributor was coaching. It's Kirby Smart.  Remember the Alabama defense many said was the best in history until last years UGA showed up? And who was the DC of that Bama D? Oh yea... Kirby Smart.

 

The biggest difference Saturday roamed the sideline. One side had a first year first time head coach. A complete staff change. Compleatly new offensive and defensive scheme taken from their opponent. A new QB, receiver room, RB room and secondary. 

 

The other sideline? Kirby Smart,  continuity, talent gap, system in place 6 years and a championship ceremony. 

 

Ducks are a lot better than people believe they are.  By the end of the year, the Oregon Ducks are going to be the hottest up and coming team in college football. 

[chrisjenn99]

It felt a lot worse than it was I think.  In person it felt like watching The Passion of The Christ at times.  Since arriving home I have re-watched the game, and Oregon was moving the ball well most of the day.  The O-Line gave up 0 sacks.  The RBs averaged over 4 yds a carry.  Nix for whatever reason killed too many drives in the 1st half, which was magnified immensely because the D was a No Show.  It was still going to be a blowout, but getting 3 more FGs would've been a bit of salve at least.

 

Monken did an excellent job of not attacking the Duck D head on.  Which led to the Ducks having to chase a lot, not wrapping up, and boom.  Game Over.

Stetson Bennett was really good with his fakes, as well as throwing it away when he got into trouble.

 

I know they said Bo had the most experience against SEC Defenses, but it feels like they threw him into his worst nightmares, and he was unable to cope.

 

I saw Butterfield warming up a bit after the half, so I was hopeful they were going to use the 2nd Half of a long decided game to develop him and Ty.  But alas, the 2nd Half was more of the same.

[Jon Sousa]

Thanks for the read. For me, the glass is a lot more than half full.

[Mic]

On 9/7/2022 at 6:23 PM, chrisjenn99 said:

I saw Butterfield warming up a bit after the half, so I was hopeful they were going to use the 2nd Half of a long decided game to develop him and Ty.  But alas, the 2nd Half was more of the same.

I would be rather shocked to see Bo play this entire game.  There won't be many chances for Coach Lanning to get his young QBs some playing time and EWU affords him that.  I won't say he'd be making a mistake by not playing them, but it certainly will give us a clear indicator of where this season's going if we don't see either Thompson or Butterfield.  Pretty much like what we saw last season, I think.

[Kurt Rambis]

This statement alone tells us the current state of college football:

 

"Georgia...has more five-stars than the Pac-12 conference combined."

 

It's essentially the SEC, the B1G, and then everyone else - and even in those two conferences, more than half the teams are mostly lousy and/or occasional pretenders. 

 

Not sure what's worse - the be a bigwig in an also-ran conference, or to be Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Missouri, Rutgers, Maryland, etc. on the big stage but never getting a speaking role.

[Mic]

On 9/8/2022 at 12:25 AM, Kurt Rambis said:

Not sure what's worse - the be a bigwig in an also-ran conference, or to be Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, Missouri, Rutgers, Maryland, etc. on the big stage but never getting a speaking role.

If we look at this in a cynical way: "Even the 'bigwigs' need teams (like O) to beat so they can be Big"  Without the Vanderbilt's, Mississippi States, Missouri's, the Rutger's (and the O's) where'd Alabama & Georgia & LSU & Clemson & Ohio St. be?  

 

If I read between the lines here I think what you might be saying is none of this bodes well for Oregon: joining the Big 10 (or whatever they call it) or staying in a diminishing league with left-over teams used only as fodder for a handful of big teams.

 

Sadly, I have to say I agree. 

 

But we have hopes our new coaching staff will  bring us back to where Oregon almost was, because that was an exciting time for Oregon football fans.  Even though Auburn nipped us and Ohio State thrashed us in the BCS, at least we were there, on the big stage, to make our run at it.  All those teams you mention, they were almost there once or twice, too.  

 

The NCAA needs to figure out some way to level the playing fields for all the other teams or their own Golden Goose could lose its luster.  No one I know thinks seeing the same 5 or 6 teams playing for it all, year-in and year-out, would be a good thing.  No one except the fans of those handful of teams.  

 

Otherwise, all the NCAA is - is a minor league for NFL teams. And we all know how barely popular Minor League baseball is in comparison to NCAA football.

 

 

[Haywarduck]

I completely disagree with his second sentence when he stated 'the loss had zero positives.' 

 

When a team full of talent sees what talent can do when it listens, and works with a higher purpose amazing things can happen.

 

The Oregon team that travelled to Atlanta had no idea what it was going to take to become elite. That same team now knows the level that it will take to reach the top. Now it is time to work towards that height with this new knowledge.

 

For example, as discussed, Seven now knows how hard he needs to work to be in position to catch a pass. He might be magic once he gets the ball, but in big boy football the whole pattern, and time the ball is in the air is a high level competition. In practice it may not play out that way. In top10 football, and at the next level it does.

 

It is time to put the positives of experiencing what it takes to be elite, and put that in better motion. Talk is cheap, getting it handed to you is priceless.

[Mic]

On 9/8/2022 at 1:27 PM, Haywarduck said:

I completely disagree with his second sentence when he stated 'the loss had zero positives.' 

Once again, I concur with you.  Can you imagine what people (or players!) would think if the head coach of a team were to say something like this to his team?  I can only concur that this individual you quoted was overly optimistic and extremely disappointed with the outcome.  

 

Well, we were all disappointed but most of us knew Georgia was probably going to beat us, a young team with a young coaching staff, on the road against a National Championship team. And this is only the first game!