Like Sitting Ducks, Oregon Goes Down to Indiana, 56-22

BY KEN WOODY

Oregon fans around the world woke up Saturday feeling the same way James Madison fans felt after their playoff loss to the Ducks in the first round of the college football playoffs, 51-34—only worse. A meager grouping of fans in green and yellow journeyed to Atlanta for the semi-final meeting with the Indiana Hoosiers and were humiliated, along with their team, 56-22.

Maybe it was Atlanta, where coach Dan Lanning began his head coaching career four years ago; against Georgia, who scored the first seven drives of the game and won in a laugher, 49-3. Never have statistics been so even in a game that was never in doubt. Oregon gained more yards offensively (378 to 362); first downs (19-18); passing yards (285-177) and yards after catch (174-23).

Unfortunately, the Ducks also lead in turnovers (5-0); blocked kicks (1-0); sacks allowed (3-1); tackles for loss allowed (10-4); yards allowed rushing (185-93) and third down conversions allowed (11-14-78%).  On the game’s first play, quarterback Dante Moore showed he’s not quite ready for the NFL. With a split end to his right, he dropped back and threw a 10-yard sideline pass that was never open: the defensive back on receiver Malik Benson was aligned outside him, and stayed there as Benson released, making no effort to get the defender’s feet turned back inside. Moore should have seen that before the snap and looked to another receiver as the defensive back was more open than Benson. The result was a 25-yard interception for a touchdown and a roar from the mostly red-clad fans among 75,000 present.

A gift touchdown, and the rout was on. Momentarily, the Ducks came back to play football and showed it with an excellent comeback next drive: 75 yards on 14 well-balanced plays that resulted in a 19-yard touchdown pass to Jamari Johnson. The Hoosiers scored on their next three drives of the first half and their first possession in the second half while the frustrated Oregon squad gamely battled on, scoring on their first and last possession of the second half to finish 56-22, exactly double the deficit James Madison suffered at the hands of the Ducks.

With a 35-7 halftime lead, Indiana’s coach Curt Cignetti offered his short assessment of the contest: “We’re whipping ‘em upfront.” The whipping would continue on both sides of the ball. Oregon’s proud defensive and offensive lines were ineffective: dominated by Indiana’s tougher and stronger front players, most of them three-star recruits compared to the Ducks’ highly-rated four and five-star athletes.

Indiana’s captain, Heisman quarterback Fernando Mendoza was too much for Oregon’s defense. He completed 17-of-20 passes (85%) for five touchdowns and a modest 177 yards. Usually, the winning team is led by the better quarterback and this game was no exception: Dante Moore was 24-of-39 (62%) for 285 yards, two scores and the game-opening interception for a touchdown. He was throwing off his back foot and slightly behind receivers as the game wore on. The fierce rush and ineffective blocking by his offensive linemen had Moore totally out of kilter.

In his defense, Moore had the worst offensive line protection of the season outside the loss to the Hoosiers in Eugene where they gave up six sacks. He fumbled twice attempting passes and with the interception, three easy touchdowns came to the Hoosiers to go along with a blocked punt late in the fourth quarter that made the Ducks look like a bunch of country rubes.

Mendoza also gained 38 yards rushing, most in scramble situations on third down where the Ducks often left the middle of their defense open. Defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi was frustrated in his choice of defensive maneuvers. It seemed that the Mendoza’s execution of the game plan was always a play ahead of Oregon’s counter.

The Ducks blitzed many times but in taking that gamble, were continually burned by Mendoza’s antics and the hard running of Kaelon Black (63 yards) and Roman Embry (53). Oregon’s youthful secondary, seriously outplayed in the October game in Eugene, played much better, but the Hoosiers have the best group of receivers in the country—there were so many contested catches made with Ducks all over them in coverage. The only way to beat that is to get a pass rush that gets the quarterback out of rhythm and forces passes that are a bit off target, which Mendoza never was.

Oregon’s defensive strategy did not allow for key players to be put in positions where they could make a critical play that would stop a drive or put Mendoza on his heels, as Indiana was successful in going after Moore, who too frequently did not have the time, balance or vision to find an open receiver. After this game, it might be wise for Moore to ignore the smart-ass pro football experts, and spend another season in Eugene, polishing his skills as Bo Nix did in his final season. One disadvantage of being a top-round draft pick is that it usually goes to a poor team, with lousy pass protection, which is what he endured in Atlanta.

Oregon had a lot of wounded warriors going into this game. Three top running backs were out: leading rushers Noah Whittington and Jordan Davison, along with Jayden Limar. Lanning doesn’t like giving out injury information, and there were 15 players who entered the transfer portal before the game and were not included on the roster, save for Jay Harris, who Lanning allowed playing time to fill in for injured running backs. He was a stud, rushing 16 times for 35 hard-earned yards and catching three passes for 32 yards.

The offensive game plan, outside of Oregon’s first drive of the game, lacked energy and creativity. There were no observable adjustments by formation or motion to put pressure on Indiana weakness or protect their quarterback.

Observing the play of the offensive and defensive lines, it was obvious they were not on their usual game: although they appeared to be making an effort, the effort was not going anywhere, just frustrated Ducks being manhandled. It has been a long season, too long for my liking and too long for college players to be at their best every game on the schedule. Two players who stood out were senior linebacker Bryce Boetcher and safety Dillon Thieneman who were all over the field, combining for 20 tackles including 12 solo. It appeared that there were some players missing reps on the field who normally would be among the leaders in defensive stops.

Although Harris may be leaving the squad for another opportunity, he was critically important to this game and Lanning might want to re-think eliminating registered transfer portal candidates before a bowl game. It is one more reason to not have the transfer portal open until after the final football game of the season and something to watch as the college football experts continue to tinker and destroy a past time that is beloved across the nation, all in the pursuit of money.

After the debacle, Lanning, always thoughtful and philosophical, did not mince words, offering respect and congratulations to a great Indiana team and thoughtful insights into the future for his team that was dominated in this game.

Lanning: “I think every man can learn from adversity. I just told that whole locker room, this is going to be about how you respond in life. This is going to be a life lesson that a lot of people never get. We just got our butt kicked, right? That’s going to happen in life, and not just Dante. Every single person in the locker room, every coach, every person can learn, hey, how do you respond to that?

Some people crawl into a hole, don’t face the music. Some people say, “okay, let’s figure it out.” Let me challenge myself so I can be better. Let me be an example of how you handle moments like this. I think there is a way to handle that. Dante has been exceptional. Bryce, these guys have been exceptional, stewards of what we wanted to look like all year long. And it’s gone right for us 13 times. Didn’t go right tonight. And you can’t let that overshadow. Every one of us has unbelievable disappointment. Learn from it. But there’s a lot of lessons to be learned for everybody in life, and we’ll learn the hard lessons here. And you know what? Most people will never be in the position where they get to learn that lesson that we get to learn from. These guys were in that position.”

The hardest part of being on a football team is when your season and eligibility is over. Lanning concluded, “And the hard part, you know, you got guys like Bryce that they don’t get to be a Duck anymore. They will be a Duck forever, but he does not get to go wear that uniform and go play a game for us again. I really wanted that for them, really wanted them to be able to enjoy that and experience that, and they don’t get to. And I didn’t do a good enough job of getting them there.”

Ken Woody coached college football for 18 years as an assistant at Oregon, Washington, Utah State and Washington State and as a head coach at Whitman College and Washington University-St. Louis. He conducts a coaching clinic, free to all, at the 6^th Street Grill  WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14th AT 5:00 P.M.  Plays from Oregon game are analyzed, there are scouting reports for opponents, and highlights from referees; all to learn and enjoy football and understand why the Ducks win or lose.