Do the Ducks have another gear?

[StevensTechU]

This is a fluff post. Just optimistic musings this early season.

Heading into week four, to my eye, Oregon looks good enough to potentially beat Penn State in a few weeks if they can avoid mistakes but not good enough to win a natty if the playoffs were to start soon. To my eye, the defense still looks like it's behind Texas and tOSU (and maybe LSU & Miami), and if we had to win 3-4 times in a row against elite teams, I just don't think we'd survive.

But you would have said the same thing about tOSU early last season. You would have said Notre Dame would have no chance of making it to the championship game if you watched them early in the year. So Oregon can get there, but they have to grow in order to be a national championship caliber club, and I think they still have another gear.

1. Defensive backs still aren't healthy, and young guys will get better. I've seen enough to say that Na'eem Offord still needs some seasoning, and I would expect Theran Johnson to be the guy who gets called on in clutch moments in important games. Sione will also get healthy, and between Sione, Ify, Finney Jr. and Austin, I would expect all those young guys to be better at the end of the year than they are now so long as they can keep their confidence up.

2. Jerry Mixon is emerging as LB2. I've said elsewhere that Devon Jackson hasn't taken the step forward that I would have hoped given his incredible measurables, but when I think about clutch moments and needing your best guys on the field, I feel comfortable with Lupoi having both Boettcher and Mixon out there. We still need to see that they can stop opposing rushing attacks, but I think they aren't as good now as they will be late in the season, especially if they'll get Brayden Platt back who plays more of a downhill style.

3. Young defensive linemen will get better with reps. Terrance Green, Aydin Breland, Tionne Gray and others are capable of more than they've shown so far. You need to play a lot of 4th and shorts before you get to be a savvy vet that knows how to create an immovable pile. While the DBs won't get tested as much by playing in the Big Ten compared to the old Pac-12, the defensive linemen and linebackers perhaps benefit the most in their development by seeing more traditional schemes.

4. If they stay healthy, the offensive line can only get better. Given the number of transfers on the squad, I have a hard time believing they're anywhere near their peak as a unit, so the longer they can stay healthy, the better they should become. They're already doing a phenomenal job in pass protection, but the run game will be aided by better timing, chipping and double teams, as well as Will Stein recognizing what their strengths and weaknesses as players are.

5. The pass game still has under-utilized weapons. We started to see Jamari Johnson make some plays as a receiver against Northwestern, but he has the talent to be a go-to type of player in the redzone. Dillon Gresham will hopefully get healthy, and we could perhaps see Roger Saleapaga emerge, as well.

[OregonFan4Life]

I just worry about health at this point. As of right now a lot of guys are seriously injured or dinged up, with the news of Dakorien Moore I worry about Oregon’s chances at Penn State. Ultimately what may happen is Oregon loses at Penn State but as young guys improve and the team gets healthier and get guys like Stewart, McNutt, and Moore back they’ll get revenge on Penn State either in the B1G champ game or the playoffs.

[bdkipe]

Who are you and what have you done with the real STU?

[ducks5ever]

The LB core is the biggest issue, and it unfortunately might not be remedied this season. Boettcher is good but he's probably not going to get any noticeably better at this point. Hopefully Mixon can get better at this season progresses, but he's our main realistic hope. Getting 1 of the younger MLB's back might help but there's not enough tape on them to really make any conjectures

[greenyellow]

Devon Jackson missed a good portion of fall camp with an injury from spring and is still working his way back. It'd be nice to get Dylan Williams and Brayden Platt back as well.

[StevensTechU]

The LB core is the biggest issue, and it unfortunately might not be remedied this season. Boettcher is good but he's probably not going to get any noticeably better at this point. Hopefully Mixon can get better at this season progresses, but he's our main realistic hope. Getting 1 of the younger MLB's back might help but there's not enough tape on them to really make any conjectures

I know this is an optimistic thread, but I would admit I'm a lot less optimistic about the LBs than I was in the spring. Platt had a great game. So did Mothudi and Mixon. Maybe Platt can be that run stuffer when he's healthy, not sure, but there's at least a little tape from the instrasquad to suggest it's possible.

[hslack]

Obviously I want to win against Penn St. but if we lose that game... its still early enough to recover (losing at the beginning of season is better than the end). If the ducks do lose, it might light a fire under their a** and would probably usher along the growth we are expecting by the end of the season. Love where the team is now. I'm just saying everything they want out of this season is on the other side of hard. A loss would only help the sense of urgency on the team, but by no means is the season over if they lose. Some struggle might help them find that next gear.

[SuperDuck]

I'm concerned about the the defensive front seven. I wasn't before I saw NW run at will, get decent chunks of yardage, first downs, etc and milk the clock.

If we don't improve quickly Penn State may run all over us. They have 2 stud running backs, as well as a good O-Line. Some have said their O-Line may be one of the best in the country, and they go 7 deep. QB Drew Allar is obviously well experienced, as well as having a couple good WRs brought in through the portal.

I think their biggest problem, as well as ours, is that they haven't played anyone yet, so it's hard to measure just how good they are.

Oh, and they'll have 2 weeks to prepare for us, as they have a bye this week.

[Duck07]

If there is another gear its simply playing like they did at home against a top opponent. While we don't have the WR corps that that OSU team had, I do get CJ Stroud vibes from Dante Moore in that if we had to pass 40+ times I think we'd be okay and could shred.

In a shoot-out type game I'm less worried about our Rush Defense than the Pass Defense and that's also why Dan schemes the Mint Defense to focus on the higher EPA plays which are more Pass than Run.

As far as Penn State getting an extra week, I don't know if that actually helps this early in the season and surely there's no need to worry about any kind of motivation for that one like you might pin on the N'W game starting early.

[OregonFan4Life]

If there is another gear its simply playing like they did at home against a top opponent. While we don't have the WR corps that that OSU team had, I do get CJ Stroud vibes from Dante Moore in that if we had to pass 40+ times I think we'd be okay and could shred.

In a shoot-out type game I'm less worried about our Rush Defense than the Pass Defense and that's also why Dan schemes the Mint Defense to focus on the higher EPA plays which are more Pass than Run.

As far as Penn State getting an extra week, I don't know if that actually helps this early in the season and surely there's no need to worry about any kind of motivation for that one like you might pin on the N'W game starting early.

If I remember correctly the 2019 LSU defense was very average, but their passing offense was so dominant and light years ahead of the rest of the country they were able to roll their way to a natty. Ironically the only team I felt had a decent enough pass defense to maybe slow them down was Oregon that year, but Mario and Avalos and their stubborn ways with the offensive philosophy which caused Oregon to lose to Auburn and ASU (two games Lanning would never lose).

I don’t think Oregon will have that good of a passing attack, but if Stewart and Moore get healthy and if Dante continues to improve and if the OLine only gets better at pass protection, I wonder if Oregon could become the type of team that has such a dominant passing offense, we don’t need a dominant run defense and LB group to win a natty this year. I think the passing offense has the potential to be dominant this season.