Saturday morning, there were four keys to the game for the Oregon Ducks:
#1: Oregon’s offensive line must be effective, cohesive and consistent.
#2: Ducks must establish some balance, moving the ball effectively and reliably through the air.
#3 Oregon’s defense must contain the run and get pressure on the passer
#4: Oregon must limit self-inflicted wounds, turnovers, and giving up big plays in special teams.
The Duck Stops Here missed badly on the final score, believing the Ducks would achieve these goals. But we pretty much nailed the keys to the game. Here are the grades in each category, with analysis:
photo top left: LSU’s Michael Ford finds running room in the second half against a worn-out Oregon defense. (msnfoxsports photo)
#1 Offensive line
The Ducks managed just 95 yards rushing on 28 attempts, a 3.4-yard average, never getting untracked in the running game. Interestingly, they only had -8 yards in rushing losses, although during the game it seemed like every other running play was stopped for loss. There were a terrible number of missed blocks and assignments, as well as false starts, holding, leg whipping and other penalties. The left side of the line had a particularly miserable game, and the problems up front were magnified by hesitation and excessive wiggling in the backfield.
One positive: in 54 pass attempts, the line did not give up a single sack.
Duck tracks: the offensive line was neither effective, cohesive and consistent, although new center Hroniss Grasu did a decent job in his first start. Grade: D+
#2 Achieving balance with an effective passing game
In the second quarter, coaches did a great job of adjusting by going to the short passing game and the Ducks put together a 19-play, 79-yard drive for a touchdown. After imploding in the third quarter with two costly turnovers, the game hopelessly out of reach, the Ducks did sustain two drives in the fourth quarter, again working mostly underneath with the short pass, 13 plays, 68 yards in 4:53 minutes to cut the lead to 33-20, then a garbage-time touchdown with time running out, 10 plays, 70 yards in 2:39, De’Anthony Thomas with his first touchdown of his career on a four-yard run. These drives didn’t do enough to win the game or even keep the Ducks close, but moving the football with the short passing game was something the team can use going forward, one positive building block from a disastrous performance. As noted before, the pass protection was very good.
Darron Thomas had his worst game as a Duck in Cowboys Stadium. He appeared overamped early and had a very forced and inconsistent game, missing high and wild, low and away, delivering many balls that were poorly placed, poorly timed or difficult to catch. He wasn’t consistent, and had uncharacteristic problems with his mechanics and his footwork, appearing perhaps to try too hard playing before his friends and family. Thomas has given Oregon fans so many achievements and great moments in his short career that he’ll readily be forgiven a bad game, but there’s no doubt this one didn’t meet his expectations or his coaches. He was erratic and out of synch for much of the night.
Oregon’s receivers had several drops, and faced with a fast, athletic secondary, they couldn’t get open much of the time, especially downfield. The Ducks longest pass play was 18 yards, to The Black Momba on a screen, and going forward, it’s vital they develop a credible deep threat to keep safeties out of the box and stretch the field. Oregon’s promising freshmen receivers all stayed home this trip, and unless Huff, DAT, Barner, Paulson and Hoffman can break free with some double moves or play action routes, Chip Kelly may be forced to hurry them into action in the coming weeks. The Ducks averaged just 4.4 yards per pass attempt and 7.7 yards per completion, not enough to adequately spread the field. Without an effective pass threat (and the threat of the quarterback running the ball) there is no Oregon spread.
Thomas didn’t connect with Rahsaan Vaughn, and only found tight end David Paulson 3 times for short gains, two of those on the last few plays of the game.
Duck Tracks: The passing game must show dramatic improvement before they begin league play and defense of their conference title. Oregon needs more consistency from Darron Thomas and his receivers and they need to find speed and explosiveness. Grade: C-
#3 Defense, containing the run and getting pressure on the passer
This is a tough one for several reasons. LSU racked up 40 points, but one of those was an outright gift, a special teams touchdown on a fumbled punt at Oregon’s own three yard line run in for a touchdown. The defense was put in difficult holes all night, and was on the field for all but 2:44 of the disastrous third quarter. They wore down. For the game LSU had 18 first downs, 273 total yards, 175 rushing and 98 passing.
Ordinarily the raw numbers would suggest a decent performance by the defense, but they didn’t produce any stops or reverse the flow. As the game wore on the LSU twin tailbacks grew more and more effective, pounding the line for 99 and 96 yards respectively. The Ducks did hold them to an average per carry of 3.6 yards, 3.9 yards overall per play. Reasonable numbers, but the LSU’s offense is so pedestrian and inept it’s hard to measure how ready Nick Aliotti’s unit is for the high-octane offenses of the PAC-12, with three of the nations best passers and a fleet of fast receivers. Jarrett Lee wasn’t pressured often enough, sacked just once for -6 yards, in spite of being a very stationary target in the pocket.
On the positive side, safety John Boyett played a terrific game with 14 tackles. His preparation and effort makes him the leader of this young defense, a great role model for the young players in the defensive backfield rotation.
Duck tracks: Tough to grade the defense because they were placed in so many holes, and the offensive competition was far from top drawer. But they didn’t dig their way out of any of those holes, and succumbed to the adversity. Grade: D
#4: Limiting self-inflicted wounds, big plays in special teams and turnovers
This was the key to Oregon’s latest terrible, no-good, very bad day. They suffered 90 yards in penalties, drive-killing false starts and holding, two pass interference infractions on third down with the ball thrown erratically, three fumbles and an interception, one of the fumbles for an easy touchdown. They were miserable in special teams surrendering what amounted to 20 points and two extra possessions. They had fumbles on back-to-back plays in the third quarter. In this respect the game didn’t remind long-time fans of Boise State; it reminded them of Indiana in the home opener of 2004 , a talented and promising team imploding in as many ways as possible.
Duck Tracks: This grade writes itself. Oregon has to develop discipline, make better decisions and take better care of the football. Grade: F
The good news is, these aren’t final grades. This is a 10-point quiz in the first week of class. Oregon is still the defending conference champion. They still control their own destiny for the Rose Bowl and a very successful season, and they can use this experience to develop leadership and become a better football team. They get to play Nevada at Autzen Stadium in five days, and rediscover the fun of playing football again, before a loud, enthusiastic and positive crowd. A solid performance in game two will make game one far less important and painful.
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