The Week That Was

 

1. Overall Malaise and Clunkiness: Saturday was simply a weird vibe from the time I arrived at Autzen. The crowd was the worst of the season, despite good weather and a 4pm kickoff. With 5 minutes until kick off, good portions of the student section and club section were empty. I’m never one to question the team’s focus or desire to win, but the vibe simply seemed a hair off. Which, for the record, is completely understandable. This was Oregon’s 7th conference game in 7 weeks, coming off a big road win at Michigan. Just as seeing Maryland on the schedule didn’t excite many fans, and I’m sure some of the same sentiments were felt by the players. With 18-22 year-old kids, consistency is one of the hardest things to instill and expect. That was easily the worst game we’ve played since Boise State, and yet the game was never in doubt and we beat a conference opponent by 21 points. Furthermore, in a season that’s had many games over by halftime, I bet the lessons and coaching points coming out of the victory will be welcomed and harped on all week. Thankfully, there is no staff I trust more in the country to get a team ready to go on the road at night at Camp Randall. 

 

2. Offense at a Glance: I thought the offense struggled to gain a rhythm all game, and looked more like the unit we saw against Idaho and Boise State. Although Iuli and Rogers seemed to hold up fine at RG, I’m inclined to believe that some of the lack of continuity contributed to the clunkiness. Another big factor was the inconsistency snapping the ball from Poncho, an issue I hadn’t really noticed all season. During the rewatch, I noticed at least five snaps that really threw off the timing of Gabriel, resulting in incomplete passes that he normally hits with ease. If you remember back to last season, Bama lost their season because their C suddenly couldn’t consistently snap the ball so I’m hoping this was a one week issue that gets cleaned up. Beyond those two issues on the OL, Gabriel also wasn’t super sharp. On the rewatch, he missed a lot of open receivers down the field, often opting to check the ball down to a RB or TE underneath. I have no problem with taking the layups, but in this case, many were contested catches with 3-4 yard opportunities. I’m glad to see Ferguson back to full health, but I’m not sure we should ever have a game where he is getting more targets as Stewart and Holden combined. This was the type of game where the security blanket that Tez has become would have been a huge weapon, and it’s going to be an adjustment anytime you lose your best WR. I continue to hope we see more targets for Kenyon Sadiq down the field, not simply in the screen game. Moving to this week, we’ve just got to be better. We only had two real scoring drives against a statistically bad Maryland defense, and Wisconsin’s unit at night, on the road, will be a bigger challenge.

 

3. Defensive Performance: I’m not as concerned with the defense, and credit goes to Maryland for making some plays and moving the ball. Their receivers are legitimately good, and I thought they schemed good stuff open and their QB made some nice throws. They came into the game leading the conference in passing, and I can see why. The more concerning piece was the penalties, generally most of them warranted by our DBs. I thought Tysheem Johnson specifically had a rough game on the backend and easily could have been called for 4-5 PIs. We’ve got 3 weeks to clean that up until we get tested by another unit like that out wide. Positively, our DL continues to play largely dominant football, and I really like the matchup for them against Wisconsin this week. We’ve got 4 LBs playing good football, and we are as healthy as we’ve been all season at that spot. Also, I wanted to touch on how good we’ve been all season at defending the screen game, swing passes and quick game. I love how willing Manning, Reed and Muhammad are to attack blocks and make tackles, and we are getting teams consistently in 2nd and 3rd and long when they attempt to gain free yards on easy throws. 

 

4. A Look Ahead: I’ve mentioned a bit about them above, but this week’s game in Madison is an interesting one. On one hand, Wisconsin got blown out by Iowa the last time they played and have been inconsistent at best the entire year. Their offense is limited, with a solid running game, and not much outside to challenge us. Their defense has been the better unit all season, but teams with a functional offense have still had success against them. All that said, it’s our 8th game in 8 weeks, and our 3rd trip east in 5 weeks. Wisconsin is coming off a bye, and by all accounts Camp Randall at night is a real home field advantage. Outside Ohio State, we haven’t played one game in conference that’s really been in doubt in the second half, and the realist in me says that we can’t expect to go all season without that. Since September, this was the road game that had me nervous, despite the fact we’re clearly the better team. Coming out of Michigan, I began to feel different but the offensive struggles against Maryland are giving me a bit of pause. I have absolutely zero doubt that Lanning will have this team fired up and ready to come out and play our best and compete in exactly the type of road environment that can lock a team in. As long as Poncho’s snapping issues were an aberration, we should be able to hold up fine up front (Harper or not) to score enough to win. If we play clean, I don’t think Wisconsin should score more than 20. 

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5. News and Notes:

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• Special Teams Execution vs Scheme: I absolutely love our coaching on special teams when it comes to gaining advantages and extra possessions. We saw that again Saturday with the fake punt, and that has been a common positive theme throughout the Lanning era. On the other hand, our execution when it comes to kicking and punting continues to leave a bit to be desired. Too many bad punts, too many kickoffs out of bounds and too many missed kicks. We are bound to play a close game in the coming month and we really need to execute better in the kicking game. 

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• 3rd Quarter Blues: I’ve been willing to set aside our third quarter struggles most of this season, but something clearly feels a bit off in our offensive execution. Again Saturday, we came out in the 3rd and had two straight 3 and outs, lacking both the fire and energy we’ve been from this team in the first half all year. Getting the ball to start the second half can be a huge advantage, especially after scoring late in the first half, but we’ve got to capitalize.

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• Jordan Burch: Just want to give burch a big shout. We looked dominant as a rusher, causing a fumble TD. Also, I couldn’t believe how well he moved on the fake punt at almost 300 pounds. You can see why NFL teams are excited about his future.

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Team Update

 

Jordan James: Clearly limiting his workload the last month, and I also don’t think he’s completely healthy. Have heard hip, and that makes sense. I imagine the staff would love to give him the next two weeks off, but I’m gonna guess he plays this week. Thankfully, Noah looked really good again Saturday.

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Jordan Burch: Got dinged late, and seems to be an ankle. Like James, I bet the staff would love to give him this week off going into the bye. Stay tuned for updates on his status in the chat.

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Marcus Harper: Initial timeline was 1-2 weeks so it’s very possible we see him this week. Stay tuned for updates as the week goes.

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Tez Johnson: Don’t expect him this week, but Washington is in play. 

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Recruiting Update

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• LB: The big news of the week is the secret visit of Auburn LB Commit Elijah Melendez. Now that his name is out, we can pass along that he’s the top of this staff’s board at LB, and I expect them to push hard for a flip. Both Melendez and Kaleb Burns’ senior tape has them clearly the top two names at LB, ahead of previously discussed targets such as Noah Mikhail. Watch those two names as ESD nears. 

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• TE: With the commitment of Vander Ploog, the staff can move forward with trying to land one of Cure, Olesh and Roberts to round out the TE class. Cure remains priority #1, and if I were a betting man, I’d wager we will see him on campus for the UW game. It’s unfortunate he couldn’t make it out this weekend, but if we can secure the UW visit, that’s even better for us.

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• Jared Curtis: Another big visitor this week in the 2026 5-star QB. Latest I have heard is he doesn’t plan to commit soon, but we’ve lined ourselves up in a good spot. That said, I think it will be incredibly hard to sign both him and Jonas Williams.

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• Jakeem Stewart: We are right in it. He’ll visit during the bye week, and I’m sure will get some big time love from the staff, as well as ironing out some $$ details. I’m really excited to see how we finish this 2025 class in the coming month.

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• 2026: We are in a great spot with so many top 50 players in 2026. Zion Elee, Elbert Hill, Curtis, Kendre Harrison and more. I think we’ll begin to see more 2026 guys commit as well, and bet we secure another 3-5 commits in the coming months. 

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Your $$ at Work​

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We are beginning to gear up for the 2025 season, both in terms of finishing the 2025 HS class, and retaining and bringing in talent in the portal. The offensive side of the ball will be a big focus for the staff in the portal, and we’re making a big push at DR to help provide the resources to make that happen! Every dollar counts, and please continue to help spread the word about this community! 

 

What’s to Come​​

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We have shifted our interface on the Ducks Rising Community on Lockerverse, and are really excited about the new layout. If you are a subscriber, you can find all our exclusive videos and articles in the “Exclusive Content” feed. Look out for our final installment of my interview with Marshall Malchow this week!

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Also, join our Wisconsin Gamer this Saturday at 4:30pm to discuss all things Ducks in the community. Look out for a link later this week and we hope to see you there!