Can Oregon Duplicate the Georgia Model?

[FishDuck Article]

Watching Georgia pile up points with a balanced offense, and have a defense emerge that only gave up 13 points per game (prior to Ohio State) in their clubbing of TCU…got me to thinking about the Georgia model. Could Oregon build what the Bulldogs have, only on the west coast? I took a break from my research of casinos in India ...

 

Can Oregon Duplicate the Georgia Model?

FISHDUCK.COM

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Watching Georgia pile up points with a balanced offense, and have a defense emerge that only gave up 13 points per game (prior to Ohio...

[Smith72]

I love everything you wrote in this article today, Charles.  You hit the proverbial nail on the head! I agree with what you said about blocking angles. 

 

The angles not only make it easier for the offense, it creates mismatches and the defense is unsure who is coming to block them.  That split second hesitation helps create an advantage.

 

I liked the play calling by Georgia.  You take advantage of aggressive linebackers by misdirection and counters.  Georgia took advantage of TCU's fast and aggressive linebackers.

 

The best line in your essay was,"What impressed me about Georgia when we played them, (and in the national championship game) is how 5-Star players were never on cruise-control. They played hard every down..."

 

Teaching your players that the only way to play is 100% every second.  Wow, does Kirby create that atmosphere!  Here's hoping Coach Lanning is successful doing the same at Oregon!

 

[Haywarduck]

Great analysis and statements about what programs have done with talent. I would say Lanning has done well with somebody else's talent. Agree about the other coaches outcomes.

 

What I hope to see is the Oregon way with our twist. Innovate with more, don't want to see any attempt at duplication. Get more out of more with innovation. 

 

I will also agree the program should never let up. If the other team gives up, it's on them. Bring in the back-ups, but let them give it their all.

 

Lastly Oregon has had great leadership on the field, and that has been lacking on the defensive side of the ball. I want to see which guy steps up to be Lanning's defensive leader, or leaders. The culture he wanted to see on the defensive side of the ball never materialized.

[Just Ducky]

 In answer to your question Charles. It will be extremely difficult to do so. When USC was in their hay day most of the top recruits stayed out west and that doesn’t seem to happen these days. The culture in the football world is much different in the south and along the Mississippi where football is the only thing.

 

 It can be done but getting those blue blood lineman and linebackers out of those areas will be a monumental task. Time will tell if DL can do it and it won’t happen over night. 

 

 First order of business is to consistently dominate the Pack?? Get that accomplished and we may see those studs we need come in bunches instead of one or two every cycle. 

 

 Watching that game in detail last night was tough with my 4 year old grandson wanting my attention. One thing was clear to me that if the Ducks would have been there instead of TCU the outcome would of been the same. Georgia, even though they had a couple of shaky games this year, is a juggernaut that when they come to play they are as good as advertised on both sides of the ball.

[OhioDuck]

Oregon obviously can't duplicate geography, but there are some similarities between Athens and Eugene. 

 

Both are small cities which love their university's sports.

 

Oregon can't duplicate being in the southeast where people are crazy for their football. 

 

Will Oregon pull players from the southeast? Occasionally. But I don't think that is needed. Georgia recruits Georgia well, but they also recruit nation wide. This seems to be Lanning's strategy.

 

Oregon has been hitting Texas hard recently, still doing well in Cali. Talk about the southeast all you want, those two states still produce more high level football players than any other states. 

 

I loved what Smart said after the game last night. There was no entitlement and no complacency on the team. That I think Oregon can reproduce. This seems to be Lanning's goal, get better every day.

 

And yes I love what Georgia does on both sides of the ball. I said after our game with them in September that it was the best I have ever seen any team at any level block on the edge with receivers, tight ends, backs and pulling linemen. 

 

The edge is where they killed us. We stopped them running inside for the most part, we didn't even come close to stopping the jet sweeps, the flair passes, the bubble screens... partly because we didn't tackle well, but even more because they blocked those plays so well. 

 

Yeah, I think there is a lot of good about Georgia to emulate!

 

Here we go!

 

 

[Duck Fan 76]

Another awesome article!  I think DL came to Oregon because he believes he can build a top 3 perennial power here.  He's super competitive and he's very smart, he sees something here.

 

The current top 3 is Georgia, Ohio St and Alabama.  All three have a different balance point but the underlying formula is the same I think.  Play CFB with NFL players and call a good game.

 

Playing with NFL players is more than just getting 5-star athletes, it's developing them to be "professionals" in their game.  The purpose of college is training advanced skills and while Oregon doesn't have an "NFL major" in academics the program needs to be a major in "NFL studies".

 

To do that the program needs a coaching staff that can recruit the talent and then to actually deliver on the multiyear skills and football IQ development.  X's and O's is also extremely important to actually win the tough games.  Georgia might have been rusty against Ohio St but think of how Georgia played against Alabama and Ohio St in the last two years.

 

For the Ducks to get where the fans and Phil Knight want them to be the program has to deliver on recruiting, developing and play calling.  Drop any one of those 3 out of an elite tier and a Natty would just be a fluke.

[Haywarduck]

I come back to we can't just duplicate, we have to have an edge. I think the edge is both speed, and innovation. 

 

We almost did it once with speed and innovation without the truly elite skill players. I want to see speed, innovation and elite skill players this time.

 

The indicator that things are changing is our WR group. If we can train up the WR talent pool it will become the elite position group we have never had. 

 

Hopefully this spreads to all position groups, because it all take all hands on deck at an elite level.

[David Marsh]

A few thoughts from a great article Charles... 

 

A key line at the end sets everything else above it up wonderfully, it wasn't until year 6 that Smart won his first National Title. He was at Georgia for SIX years. Oregon hasn't had a coach stick around for more than four years since Bellotti and that feels like a lifetime ago now. Oregon needs Lanning to stick around for a long enough period of time to really recruit and develop guys.

 

Now, we live in the age of the transfer portal and NIL and we just saw Lanning turnover HALF of his roster so far which is incredible. However, the transfer portal is usually a place to shop for band-aids in the form of impact now players. These can be some key players who play integral roles on the team during the season but these are players who need to come developed and have to learn the scheme fast. 

 

What Lanning really needs the time to do is to take his recruiting classes and develop those players. I think many of us have been saying for awhile now that it has become clear that under Cristobal the vast majority of players weren't developed. Some who had natural talent seemed to get enough development to make it to the next level but we saw a lot of busts from four-star guys. Lanning needs to find some players he can bring in that are good players (stars still do matter and that was on display lastnight!) and then take those players to the next level. 

 

I think Lanning can do it and this next season is going to be exciting once again for Ducks fans. 

[Charles Fischer]

On 1/10/2023 at 9:14 AM, David Marsh said:

it wasn't until year 6 that Smart won his first National Title. He was at Georgia for SIX years. Oregon hasn't had a coach stick around for more than four years since Bellotti and that feels like a lifetime ago now.

It is a highly understated point, as Dazed and I were talking, (he can't post due to a computer issue) and he pondered out loud, "if Lanning stayed here and worked hard....what would Oregon look like in his sixth or seventh year?"

 

I would like to think we would be a perennial Top-Five. (An Elite)

[Drake]

Oregon needs to consistently recruit DL guys that can rival the level of our OL play last year. Recruiting a Haloti Ngata once is great, but to have that level of play consistently is what the SEC is doing.  Maintaining the OL and DL at that level is what you are up against. 

 

Recruiting guys on the OL and DL that consistently move on to the NFL needs to be the norm. Those guys are the pillars that everything else stands on. 
 

Then all you need to do is recruit and coach at a high level for all the other positions.    ; )
 

 

 

[DUCKED]

Excellent points Charles.

 

Georgia, of course, is loaded with 4 and 5 star recruits, but what I found interesting is that among the stars from last night’s game were two 3-stars and a walk on.

 

Safety Javon Bullard, who had two fumble recoveries and an interception, in the first half, was a 3-star, as was receiver Ladd McConkey, who was the 169th receiver in the nation coming out of high school. McConkey had 2 TD receptions last night.

 

And let’s not forget quarterback Stetson Bennett, who was a walkon.

 

So, while Kirby Smart is clearly one of the very best recruiters in college football, the ability of Smart and his staff to develop talent to is equally impressive.

 

Players are developed over time. Lanning just finished year one, so while the jury is still out regarding his ability to develop talent, the verdict may be a couple of years away.

[Charles Fischer]

As a side note to you all....

 

As you know, I include links to gambling sites because I get paid to do so, and like the advertising--helps pay the bills to keep both sites going.  Today's article has a link to a site in India?  Now this is not advertising, but placed inside for SEO purposes.  

 

And when Oregon loses a game,...the writers cannot use a picture from a losing game, as it will take the reader away to thinking about the game.  I never thought I'd have a use for our Georgia pictures again beyond the first week, but they fit the topic of the article and I happened to find pictures that matched up with what I was writing.

 

And they will probably never be used again from that game!

[DUCati855]

Smith72 quoted this sentence as well. But, I believe it is something Oregon has ALWAYS had an issue with.. "What impressed me about Georgia when we played them, (and in the national championship game) is how 5-Star players were never on cruise-control."

 

When I think of great recruits (high 4 and 5 star defensive guys) like Noah Sewell and Kayvon Thibodeaux I always remember how many plays they took off. Simply going through the motions with very little effort. Great teams/coaches/systems know how to motivate these players. Oregon has never had this (to my recollection) and this is what I feel will allow our Ducks to make the large step to an elite program. We have had many high energy guys like John Boyett (3 star) and Kiko Alonso (3 star) that rose to the occasion. But, for the most part our highly rated defensive recruits have left me disappointed with their effort.

[Charles Fischer]

Again, as referenced in the recent article about trimming the roster to 85, I believe that in this first year, Lanning simply did not want to be too rigid and tough on the players as he needed to first build the relationships and build cohesiveness.

 

But I believe he will be demanding that of the future when he has a full roster that is primarily four and five star players. Then we will see players transfer out, and those who remain will be disciplined and tough.

[Augduck]

Just my two cents here regarding the culture discussion that has spanned a few threads here.

 

I think the 'Lanning effect' is starting to take hold.  I reference the WSU game and the Holiday Bowl and even the Georgia debacle.   They (IMO) NEVER gave up in those games.   In the past you could certainly tell when they did and there are no better examples than the two Utah games last year.   We discussed ad nauseum those two but those will always stick out to me as games where they totally gave up.   I literally was angry watching the second half of that P12 champ game against Utah because it was just so obvious to me.   And as much as the former guy discussed 'family,  culture and physicality',  I am not sure they had a lot of any of those.   There were rumblings that MC and some of the other coaches were starting to ware on the players.

 

I think (and this is strictly and outsiders opinion) Dan also kept a hard eye on guys who he did not think would fit his culture.   I honestly think Justin Flowe was one of those guys.   

 

We'll certainly know more next year but just my observations.