By Kyle Golik
As Oregon head coach Dan Lanning approached his postgame press conference, the satisfaction of Oregon’s performance was evident with his opening remarks.
“Alright, feel like we played to our standard today.” Lanning said following Oregon’s rout of rival Oregon State 49-14 in Reser Stadium. Lanning was especially pleased with the offensive performance, “Yeah, offensively, definitely a clean game, thought they did what we thought they would do, and I thought our coaches had a really good plan for that. We were able to take advantage of that plan.”
If anything, we saw today what Oregon can be when they are clicking on all cylinders and why they were a trendy pick to be Big Ten champions and even national champions. They could move the ball at will and dominate on both sides.
Against Oregon State, Oregon averaged a staggering 9.3 yards per play – nearly every time Oregon touched the football it was a first down. On 59 offensive plays, Oregon gained 546 yards of total offense and 26 first downs.
This is a far cry from their struggles in the first two weeks against Idaho and Boise State where Oregon was barely averaging three yards a rush and leaning heavily on senior quarterback Dillon Gabriel to make anything on offense.
In the first two games of the season, the Oregon ground game gained 14 of the team’s 45 first downs. Against Oregon State, Oregon found a better balance. Of the 24 first downs that weren’t from a penalty, nine were achieved via the run. The ground game averaged 7.5 yards per rush.
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Lanning was happy that the ground attack was able to set a tone and wasn’t forced behind schedule, commenting the following.
“It felt better. We weren’t bound in negative plays, right? So when you’re able to stay on schedule, I think we can be really dynamic. I thought, Will (Stein) called an unbelievable game. I thought the offensive staff made some great adjustments. I thought our players were poised and focused on the next play. You know, they weren’t worried about anybody else in that stadium besides the guys on that sideline.”
One of the biggest revelations was the insertion of center Iapani Laloulu into the lineup. Not only did the ground game get going, especially in the second half where Oregon outgained Oregon State 137-15, but the passing game saw its best day so far this season with Gabriel having a clean pocket and time to read and make throws.
Lanning was pleased with Laloulu’s performance and felt throughout the week, Laloulu earned the right from his consistency
“Yeah, early impressions, good. But just consistency, you know, show some consistency. Obviously, we’ve changed up the lineups there at times, and we’re trying to find the right group that we can go to battle with. I think we have some more than just some capable players of playing, but we were able to move them up front tonight. And you know, because of that, we were able to have some success.”
There is a noticeable talent disparity between the programs, Oregon did defeat Oregon State 31-7 last year in Autzen Stadium to clinch a Pac-12 Championship Game berth, the talent gap favored Oregon the first two games of the season and it seemed there were deficiencies at each level.
The complete game this week was highlighted by an offense that began to look like it did a season ago when it was amongst the nation’s leaders in explosive plays and led the nation in first downs averaging 26.6 per game and 372 overall.
Defensively and on special teams there were no gaffes or allowing any big plays. If anything Oregon State being able to possess the ball 21:03 of the first 30 minutes of gameplay is a red flag that Lanning will zero in on. Despite a lack of possession, Oregon was explosive throughout both halves.
On special teams, Oregon had the blocked field goal by defensive lineman Matayo Uiagalelei, though on replay it seemed Oregon State kicker Everett Hayes may have kicked it into his own lineman, and there were no big special teams returns allowed.
Lanning’s biggest takeaway was everyone did their job and when Oregon does their job, “It takes care of itself if you do your job. And obviously we can be better. And what I’m more impressed with or proud of is that our guys able to go figure out what we need to improve in doing that. I thought that showed up this week more than anything. We could care less about what everybody else thinks. As long as we continue to do our job, the rest takes care of itself.”
Lanning isn’t worried about what tone this set across the nation, football is fluid week-to-week. Right now Oregon is on a high they haven’t hit all season.
Was this the best Oregon looked all year? Yes.
Could Oregon be better? Lanning thinks so, “We can be better”
If Oregon can be better than this, their potential is endless.
