#1 Oregon @ Wisconsin (Nov. 16, Sat 4:30 PM NBC)

[OregonFan4Life]

Honestly there was a lot going against Oregon this game but they came out on top! Dealing with the injuries they have and playing 8 straight games and the last two coming against teams coming off of a bye is such a competitive disadvantage for Oregon, both for the players and coaching. While the offense was concerning I think there’s a good chance the bye could fix a lot of things. I’ve never been so excited for a bye as a duck fan!

[JIDuck97]

I had thought it couldn't get worse than Pac12 reffing but that was much, much worse.

[bdkipe]

I think we need to give this team a little more credit and not be so doom and gloom.

There is “living on the edge” akin to what BYU just found out about itself tonight.

Then, there is staring adversity (whether opponent-induced or self-inflicted) in the face and not blinking.

I’ve seen enough of this team so far to come to the conclusion that they just…don’t…blink.

This will serve us well moving forward.

[lmduck]

I think we need to give this team a little more credit and not be so doom and gloom.

There is “living on the edge” akin to what BYU just found out about itself tonight.

Then, there is staring adversity (whether opponent-induced or self-inflicted) in the face and not blinking.

I’ve seen enough of this team so far to come to the conclusion that they just…don’t…blink.

This will serve us well moving forward.

^^^^this


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[DmoneyDuck]

Had this game pegged as Oregon's 2nd toughest game (behind Ohio State) pre-season and I still feel that way. Badgers are at home, at night, and coming off of a bye week. Ducks are dealing with some significant injuries on offense and frankly did not look sharp against Maryland. If Oregon pulls this one out, I think the defense will be the ones who lead the way.

The writing was on the wall.

Ducks ranked #1, night game in a raucous environment, a team coming off a BYE playing a team in the midst of EIGHT straight conference games without a BYE.

Oregon is banged up. Tez is the biggest offensive weapon. Burch has been a wrecking ball off the edge. Harper solidified the OL.

I told my friend at halftime, this game will either turn out like Cal in 2010 or Stanford in 2012. I think people forget how god damn hard it is to go undefeated. You're not going to be a beauty pageant every, single week. Even the most dominant teams in CFB history (2021 UGA only beat Mizzou on the road by 4, that NFL-studden 2001 Miami team beat Boston College 18-7 on the road).

Great teams find ways to win and that's exactly what Oregon did. I think the BYE week will do this team a lot of good.

I will say the one area that concerns me as we move towards the end of the season and into the playoffs is our redzone efficiency. Someone mentioned Stein's play-calling, but I really think its a byproduct of DG's redzone struggles (4 picks this year). Also, not being able to rush it in in goal-to-goal situations is something to watch. We had to settle for FGs against Ohio State and Wisconsin.

11-0. Go Ducks. Huck the Fuskies!

[OregonFan4Life]

I rewatched the fake kick, it was actually a great call. Patrick Herbert completely missed his block and if he makes that block it’s a touchdown. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a duck player regress as much as Patrick Herbert this season. At this point he simply should not be on the field.

[nogerO]

Takeaways- 1) red zone offense is just isn't good. Gabriel likes to throw into coverage inside the 20. He's been lucky that he had receivers that can make plays.
2) Gabriel looked scared out there, and has struggled all season when pocket the collapses. If he can't see over it then he either just needs to tuck the ball and run, or find a way to get outside of it.
3) The play calling in general this season has been stale and predictable. I wonder how much of it has to do with Gabriel's limitations.
4) i had a 4th but forgot. Probably had something to do with offensive adjustments need to be made going into the 3rd quarter.

The games our red zone offense is bad, it’s really bad.

There was a stretch though of 5 drives where we didn’t even get close to the red zone. I think just moving the ball in general was ugly today. OL wasn’t terrible but they weren’t great. Gabriel missed a few open guys that I noticed, including a touchdown to James. We clearly miss Tez too. Kind of a perfect storm of things to go wrong for us.

That's what the 4th thing was. Gabriel missed A LOT of open receivers this game. Part of that can be attributed to poor blocking and not having time to see them, but it seems like it's been an issue in several games. Missing James in the end zone by himself just can't happen.

He had Sadiq wide open on the right sideline on one play that probably is a score or a first and goal

[pezsez1]

Pretty much everything that could go wrong did. Officiating ****ed us hard in the first half, a Gabriel pass that was slightly off turned into an INT, Wisconsin found a weakness in our D that it took us a while to adjust to, open receivers literally fell down for no reason, and of course key guys are banged up and we're just not operating optimally... and clearly Wisconsin's bye week paid off in terms of their preparation.

Ducks won anyway.

My only real complaint about the game was the return of Bad Lanning calling that fake FG instead of just kicking it. I mean dear god man, just kick the damn ball, take the 3 pts, and trust your D to not allow a touchdown. Thankfully, that gaffe didn't send us into OT, where things could have gotten really scary given Oregon's struggles with short fields.

Gritty win. Hopefully we get Tez and/or Harper back soon and we can be back to our usual selves.

[Alan]

At the time I thought “just take the three” but Lanning has had a lot go right this season. Last week the fake punt, kicking the ball off the other player for the onside kick and big men scoring. I don’t think it was out of line to try the fake but I did want the three point at that point in the game. Lots of other things went wron in the game to bring us to that point. Sometimes Dillion looks great and sometimes he, well doesn’t. For having some open field speed he at times has a hard time scrambling.

[duckpoint]

Honestly there was a lot going against Oregon this game but they came out on top! Dealing with the injuries they have and playing 8 straight games and the last two coming against teams coming off of a bye is such a competitive disadvantage for Oregon, both for the players and coaching. While the offense was concerning I think there’s a good chance the bye could fix a lot of things. I’ve never been so excited for a bye as a duck fan!

Yeah, I think a lot of people are overlooking the injuries, including the 'walking wounded' that every team is battling through this time of year. Oregon has sufficient quality of depth to eek out a win instead of folding, and the bye weeks make a big difference to recover from the dings & dents (that and SEC cupcake week).

Like everyone else, I'm not thrilled about poor performance, but I'll take the win and hope the bye week gets us some players back healthy(er).

[Zyme]

At the time I thought “just take the three” but Lanning has had a lot go right this season. Last week the fake punt, kicking the ball off the other player for the onside kick and big men scoring. I don’t think it was out of line to try the fake but I did want the three point at that point in the game. Lots of other things went wron in the game to bring us to that point. Sometimes Dillion looks great and sometimes he, well doesn’t. For having some open field speed he at times has a hard time scrambling.

The fake FG was interesting but understandable. 3 v 6 doesn't move my needle at that part of the game but I would have felt better odds with a regular 4th down play.

[Duck07]

The reason the offense struggles in the Red Zone is kind of the same reason a lot of other offenses struggle in that area: They run plays, they don't have a scheme for their run game.

Once you condense the field so that the Safeties and CBs aren't dropping as deep (or at all), you have to win upfront and that's where running plays and not a scheme hurts because you aren't making defenders go through a cycle of plays in their head that they have to react to. We've got a LH QB and he's thrown 4 INTS in the RZ when we flood routes to the right side. There aren't enough designed plays that get us into a situation where we roll Dillon off the right hash going left and often he's having to scramble right and throw across body.

I think Stein is still a really good OC and you can see on film how they certainly design plays to attack their opponents but coming out of UTSA he was never a "attack with the run" kind of guy and the team has to do better in that area when the field gets short.

[dthomas=ddixon]

The reason the offense struggles in the Red Zone is kind of the same reason a lot of other offenses struggle in that area: They run plays, they don't have a scheme for their run game.

Once you condense the field so that the Safeties and CBs aren't dropping as deep (or at all), you have to win upfront and that's where running plays and not a scheme hurts because you aren't making defenders go through a cycle of plays in their head that they have to react to. We've got a LH QB and he's thrown 4 INTS in the RZ when we flood routes to the right side. There aren't enough designed plays that get us into a situation where we roll Dillon off the right hash going left and often he's having to scramble right and throw across body.

I think Stein is still a really good OC and you can see on film how they certainly design plays to attack their opponents but coming out of UTSA he was never a "attack with the run" kind of guy and the team has to do better in that area when the field gets short.

Appreciate this explanation. Explains a lot of what a casual football observer like myself noticed but couldn’t actually diagnose.

I agree with the points about us being banged up and playing our 8th straight game but it also reveals Stein’s issues as an OC. He seems to require ideal circumstances, and when he has them our offense is as good as it gets, but when we don’t it really sputters. The red zone issues are a perfect example. Or his play calls in crucial short yardage situations like at UW last year.

[OregonFan4Life]

At the time I thought “just take the three” but Lanning has had a lot go right this season. Last week the fake punt, kicking the ball off the other player for the onside kick and big men scoring. I don’t think it was out of line to try the fake but I did want the three point at that point in the game. Lots of other things went wron in the game to bring us to that point. Sometimes Dillion looks great and sometimes he, well doesn’t. For having some open field speed he at times has a hard time scrambling.

The fake FG was interesting but understandable. 3 v 6 doesn't move my needle at that part of the game but I would have felt better odds with a regular 4th down play.

It was 100% the right call by DL and the play was 100% there.
Unfortunately Patrick Herbert made a horrible effort on the block allowing the defender to trip Ross James. If Patrick makes a decent block it’s a touchdown.

[webfoots2001]

My only real complaint about the game was the return of Bad Lanning calling that fake FG instead of just kicking it. I mean dear god man, just kick the damn ball, take the 3 pts, and trust your D to not allow a touchdown. Thankfully, that gaffe didn't send us into OT, where things could have gotten really scary given Oregon's struggles with.

“Bad Lanning” wouldn’t have taken the first half field goals. 3 or 6 doesn’t matter in the last two minutes, a touchdown still wins. The odds that a senior tight end makes a single block to get the first down is far more likely than assuming they make a 30+ yard kick and really really hoping it doesn’t get blocked.

The only argument is whether to run the fake (which should have worked) or just leaving the offense on the field.