The Week That Was

 

1. 13-0: The first Ducks team to ever do it. The first Big Ten team to ever beat Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State in the same season. The only team in the nation to go undefeated, and the unanimous #1 team in the country for the last six weeks. It’s all pretty damn cool. The crazy thing about it is that we left week 1 and week 2 questioning just about everything. We went into two of the toughest road environments in the conference and won. We again went undefeated at Autzen, which truly felt like Glory Days Autzen every Saturday. After winning Big 10 Offensive Player of the Year,Dillon Gabriel got his Heisman invitation this week, marking back-to-back Oregon QB’s in New York. Culminated everything with a Big Ten championship where our defense played likely its worst game of the season, but the offense was as dialed as we’ve seen. I think back to Dana Altman’s phrase, “ Sometimes you, sometimes me, always us”. We talked last season after UW about winning the moments in the biggest games, and behind Gabriel, we did that. As far as the big picture goes, we’ve given ourselves a nice long rest and I’m looking forward to watching the 1st round games, specifically this Tennessee vs Ohio State matchup.  Best of all, the Rose Bowl is waiting, a mecca for many, but specifically tons of  Duck fans like me. See y’all in Pasadena.

 

2. Offensive Game Notes: 

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• LOVED the play-calling and plan by Stein (for the most part). I really liked how we ran right at their DEs, specifically Carter, on the first few drives. We clearly identified a matchup advantage with Tez in the middle of the field, and Gabriel was surgical in the pocket as usual. We rarely threw the ball outside the numbers, taking our advantage between the hashes and Stein struck a really nice run/pass balance. Good to see us have success scoring TDs in the red zone, and running the ball efficiently down the field. 

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• It was great seeing Marcus Harper back, but I thought he was understandably rusty. From my untrained eye, he had a few big whiffs in the run game, and I thought Dave Iuli generally outplayed him throughout the game. We’ll see what things look like in Pasadena.

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• Not going to delve a ton into this but Evan Stewart was pretty badly under the weather leading up to and into the game. Credit him for gutting it out and keeping PSUs best DB on him all night. Just helping to explain his lack of targets.

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• Loved the way that Noah ran. His combination of speed and shiftiness is a big asset, and the combination we’ve needed alongside James. I thought he ran very well in space. 

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• Josh Conerly continues to play at an elite level, helping our cause this year, but hurting his chances of returning next season. Josh has an amazing relationship and bond with Lanning and the staff, and I know we’ll put together a very compelling return package. Abdul Carter is as good as it gets at EDGE, but I thought Conerly held him in check as good as you can expect. 

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• Kenyon Sadiq again flashed his amazing athleticism, and I’m looking forward to big things in 2025. The best thing about Sadiq is he is also a willing and dominant blocker.

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• Dillon Gabriel is a big-time QB. To those who wanted Cam Ward after the first month, watch the tape of DG against Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State. He’s been nails in the biggest games, and every big moment. His pocket movement is really high-level, and he always keeps his eyes downfield. He’s calm, always under control and he delivered multiple big throws both inside and outside the pocket. Hard to not feel good when you have the best QB in every game remaining. 

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• Despite the great offensive performance, a couple negatives:

  • Our RPO/screen game was clearly off and that hurt us on a few drives. The downside of the RPO game is that defenses can basically dictate your call, and Penn State “forced” Gabriel into a few throw reads that we missed. The only times we didn’t have success offensively were when we got stuck behind the chains.​

  • Really disappointed with the clock management at the end of the first half. With the ability to score a TD and go up two scores, we had the ball with 40 seconds on the PSU 18 with all three timeouts. For some reason, we ran the ball up the gut and proceeded to not call a TO, ultimately kicking with :10 seconds remaining to go up 7. 3 points were big there, but the clock was low enough to where there was no concern that they would get the ball back with a meaningful amount of time. Would like us to trust Gabriel there and go for the kill.

  • Lastly, after we got the ball back up 8 with 4 minutes remaining, I’d like to see us just run the regular offense that had been so successful. The clock is not a factor yet, and PSU was clearly stacking the box to play run. Once again, trust your QB and give him some run/pass options at least. Run, run, throw away was the last thing we needed there and thank god for Nikko Reed!

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3. Defensive Game Notes:

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• Just when I had declared that our DL was playing the best of anyone nationally, they really struggled Saturday. The entire unit seemed on skates most of the nights, being either pushed back, or out of gaps. Give credit to their OC and OL. I thought their OC did a great job, and the combo of scheme and tempo really had us in a tough spot.  Hope the combination of rest time, coaching and matchups will get this unit back to dominating. 

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• Making matters worse, our LBs and Safeties played probably their worst games of the season as well. We were outside our gaps, taking bad angles, and just generally undisciplined football from a veteran group that has been super dialed all year. The combination of three units having a rough night typically will lead to a rough night.

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• Lastly, our secondary, with a bunch of seniors, struggled with communication and assignments, another thing we haven’t seen all season. The group’s best attribute has been their experience, passing coverages and assignments seamlessly all season. Here though, we gave up multiple long conversions on third and 4th down, in addition to a few blown coverages that led to big plays. Credit to Allar though for making a few really impressive throws in big situations.

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• On the rewatch, I noticed Matayo struggling a lot in the Zone Read game. I’ve shouted him out multiple times this year for how well he’s played this, but he just looked a step off one way or the other all night.

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• Best I can gather, Jordan Burch was still on a pitch count, and their tempo really hurt us. There were drives where he didn’t even see the field until PSU was already in the RZ. 

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• On the positive side, that was a great play by Dontae Manning on the INT in the first half setting up an easy TD. More importantly, the game-winning INT by Nikko Reed was an all-timer. I have PTSD from watching Oregon DB not turn around, and Reed not only turned and played the ball, but made an incredible catch. Big-time play by a guy that hasn’t gotten enough respect for how well he’s played all year. 

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• Overall, no reason for large concerns. The time off will certainly help, and I have no doubts our staff will attack and coach our struggles. There were a ton of reasons we didn’t play our best game, and I bet 80% of them will be corrected over the next month. The reality is that this defense is very good, but not elite. We’ve given up 30+ points to every good offense we’ve faced, and we’ll play more of those types of teams to come.

 

4. Odds and Ends:

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• Punting! As good a punting game as I can remember between long kicks and a pin inside the 5. Keep that going please!

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• Is the game different without the ticky tack PI call on Kingston Lopa on 3rd and 7 up 28-10? He wasn’t even going to get the 1st down if he catches that ball. I love that our staff threw Lopa, a true frosh, in there against a dude like Warren. He’s going to be a great player for us. 

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• Mentioned this many times this season in regards to Fisch, Riley and Day, but Franklin once again solidified himself as the king excuse maker after the game. You cannot convince me that kind of stuff doesn’t filter down within a team. If you haven’t seen it yet, Franklin complained postgame about the following:

  • Our Band playing during his presser. ​

  • Complained about the lack of holding calls, despite the fact there were none on us either.

  • Complained the penalties were lopsided despite the fact 4 of their 5 were the most obvious personal fouls ever. 

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• We had a couple chances to put the game away, where the narrative might have been a bit different postgame. Besides the 28-10 lead discussed above, we had the ball at midfield with a 38-24 lead late in the third quarter. With a chance to go up three scores and put the game away, we instead could only gain 4 yards in the next three plays. 6-7 yards probably puts you in 4th down territory, but we couldn’t quite get a couple blocks on a third down screen and instead punted. Despite the great punt pinning Penn State at the 3, a Harmon personal foul immediately moved them out of danger territory. 5 straight runs later, and they were in the end zone and game on. Frustrating. 

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5. ​The Path Forward: I feel like I’ve argued and debated the bracket, seeding and path all week, and not super inclined to do that again. Everyone agrees we got a tough draw, and that’s that. It’s too bad, but here we are, and you know Dan will use it as nothing but motivation. Rather than complain, I figure I’d preview some of what we can expect from the teams on our side of the bracket to help with some rooting interests. I’ve ranked the teams here in terms of who I’d most like to play to least like to play.

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Clemson: I think this would be the best matchup for us. I don’t think they have the talent on either side of the ball that some of the other teams do, and the best teams they’ve played have pushed them around a lot.

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ASU: Obviously, a super hot team right now with a QB and RB playing at an elite level. I think they’d probably have some success in the run game against us, but I don’t see a world in which they slow us down. 

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Tennessee: A team with a talented OL and DL, and I think they’ll give Ohio State a battle. They run the ball very well, but have had a wildly inconsistent offense behind Nico Iamaleava. If Nico is on, they are tough, but the inconsistency of their team in general has them third for me. 

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Texas: A scary team on first thought for me, but when I really get into why, I’m honestly not sure. Ewers has looked average for over a month, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Clemson beats them. My rationale is this: We’d be facing them in Dallas which would be a home game. Sark is still a very good play-caller, especially with time to prepare. Their defense is objectively very good, and I’m not convinced that Arch won’t just be their QB by then. 

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Ohio State: No interest in a rematch. They are still the most talented team in the country and I think Penn State exposed some stuff against our defense that Ohio State uniquely can do as well. At this point, I simply worry about teams that can match our best game, and as we saw in Eugene, they can. I know they are inconsistent and could roll over like their soft coach at any time. I’d just rather not risk their A game showing up, Go Vols!

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Team Update

 

The biggest benefit of the bye week will be the continued health of our starters. A reminder: players that are redshirting can play while they maintain their redshirt, but medical redshirts can not. For that reason, I wouldn’t expect to see someone like Matthew Bedford out there. However, I expect Jordan Burch to be back to full health and full reps, alongside a fresher and healthier supporting cast with guys like Matthew Harper, Justius Lowe, Jamaree Caldwell and Jordan James. As of now, we should go into the Rose Bowl as healthy as we’ve been all season, only really down Kyler Kasper and Bedford as far as preseason contributors go.

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Recruiting Update​

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Portal season is upon us! As I mentioned last week, we are the only school to not lose a starter to the portal since Lanning took over, and as of now, I’m not expecting that to change. We’ll lose some guys for sure, but that’s the nature of the sport and the level we recruit at right now. Look for some possibilities when it comes to names in the chat. 

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As far as positions we’ll attack, I continue to believe we’ll look something like this: 

 

• 1-2 RB (Assuming James and Whittington Leave)

• 1 Bigger TE

• 1 OT (2 if Conerly leaves)

• 1 IOL 

• 1 WR (If Stewart leaves)

• 1 IDL

• 1-2 LB

• 1 S

• 1 CB

 

Obviously, the biggest piece here is figuring out plans for James, Stewart and Conerly while the season is going. I can confirm these conversations have happened and are ongoing, and ultimately will come down to draft grade. With Conerly specifically, we’ll pay what’s needed to keep him if he’s open to it. Either way, we need at least one Tackle, and I’d guess we are most aggressive from the start at OT, TE and possibly RB. As with last season, you can always expect the Ducks to move quickly and aggressively if a guy like Jabbar Muhammad enters, no matter the position. 

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Once again, continue to monitor the Recruiting Channel in the Ducks Rising Community for updates on specific names and targets. 

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Your $$ at Work​​

We are gearing up for portal season, and ensuring we are able to provide the staff they support they need to retain and acquire the best talent. As mentioned above, this staff has set ourselves up to be an extremely attractive destination again, and we are the only team in the country to not lose a starter to the portal since Coach Lanning took over!

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What’s to Come at DR​​

With the Ducks clinching the #1 seed and Rose Bowl berth, we are spending this week planning some exciting virtual and possibly in-person events leading up to the game. Also, we are working on finalizing our tiers system, and ensuring we are offering some additional premium features for our subscribers at higher levels.