Monday Thoughts: The Real Grind Begins for Oregon
As of today, we are exactly one month out from the early signing period in the 2025 recruiting class. And while Oregon doesn't have a ton of work to do, they still have some heavy lifting to try and compete this class. At the moment Oregon is doing a lot of big game hunting including some names like Jahkeem Stewart Na'eem Offord Linkon Cure just to name a few.
Which means not only does Dan Lanning and his staff have to prepare a team each week, they've got to put in some time to recruit. And Oregon only has two home games remaining on the schedule. I don't think Oregon will host many this weekend. Which means the Washington game will be a relatively loaded list. Not on the level of Ohio State, but solid nonetheless.
The Ducks remain undefeated in football play with three tough games ahead. Oregon is fortunate to have one of the easier remaining schedules out there among the top ten. I'm not trying to sell you that Maryland and Wisconsin are very good. But we do know Oregon will get everyone's best shot. And I have no doubt Washington is already scheming for their game with Oregon trying to come up with any tricks they can put together.
Oregon, like everyone else, is banged up. It's that time of the year where nobody is healthy. Injuries are stacking up. Guys will go light at practices trying to nurse minor injuries to health. They are getting tired and the season begins taking a toll on the body.
Look Max, myself, anyone covering a team have a job to do at this point. Both Max and I are really impressed with Oregon to this point getting to 9-0, the only stat that matters. But that doesn't mean we can't critique the team in certain areas. If Dan Lanning is preaching a standard, which I know he believes in, then it means we can at least point out some areas that might have room for improvement. Is it nit-picking? Sure. But in the same breath you will never hear us say this team isn't good or getting the job done.
I don't care if Oregon scores 0 points in the third quarter the rest of the year as long as they win. But it's an area that can improve. Oregon scored 3 vs Michigan, 3 vs Illinois, 0 vs Purdue and 0 vs Ohio State. That's 6 3rd quarter points in the last four games. To say that isn't an area for improvement isn't being fair in our analysis.
The balance on offense is great and I'm curious to see how the team responds without Tez Johnson for the undetermined amount of time. Obviously against Michigan, Traeshon Holden really stepped up in the pass game.
Really this defense hasn't skipped a beat without Jordan Burch the last few games. They are playing really good ball on the defensive side. Good enough to keep Oregon in any game if the offense were to struggle. And lately they certainly are not struggling.
The special teams aren't necessarily a liability, but they aren't necessarily a strength either. I'd love to see a little more in the return game but I'll settle for just no more mistakes.
It's an exciting time to be a Duck but also very tough on the nerves too. We've been down these roads before. Had our hearts broken. We know college football is the best because of the upsets each week and the reality that anyone can beat anyone on any given day.
The good news: there isn't a dominant team out there right now. I mean shoot, maybe Oregon IS the dominant team. They've been the most consistent since the Ohio State win. I always fear a Kirby Smart-led team at the end of the day but you can certainly see that team is not dominating its competition right now.
Since the loss to Oregon, Ohio State only has a 4 point win over Nebraska and a 7 point win over Penn State. Granted Penn State was ranked the No. 3 team in the country but I never saw them as a threat. Fringe top ten team at best IMO.
Texas has a loss to Georgia and a 3-point win over Vanderbilt the last two weeks. While Vandy is a pretty awesome story, that's a team Texas should still beat by 20. I think Oregon would.
Since the Georgia win, Alabama is 2-2 with losses to Vandy and Tennessee and a 2 point win over South Carolina while blowing out Mizzou.
My point is nobody is really dominating at the level Oregon is right now. And in most cases the scoreboard doesn't accurately reflect Oregon's domination in those games.
I'm happy to report Oregon is a really good football team with a favorable schedule remaining. I'm also happy to say they have a couple of areas that are quite fixable and could make this team even better.
And last but not least, I'm thinking that bye week Oregon has ahead of Washington could not come at a better time.
Here's to the rest of the season. One that we all seem to be a bit scared to recognize for fear of breaking our hearts.
