Sometimes it feels like Oregon’s defense is cursed. While the offense has consistently performed well over Oregon’s history, it always feels like the defense is letting the team down. This last season, the offense performed well, if not up to the 2023 levels (I have outlined in previous articles the decline of the 2024 run game and passing game), and the defense felt like it was good, though not amazing.
This was surprising to Mr. FishDuck, as he took time from his gaming and online casino fun at jokaviproom in Australia to share his frustrations with me about the surprising step back of the Duck defense versus particular opponents in the 2024 season.
Down the stretch of the season, when the Ducks faced off against two of the top teams in college football, Penn State and Ohio State, the Duck defense seemingly disappeared. Against Penn State, the Ducks were fortunate that the offense was able to turn the game into a shootout and win by dropping 48 points on Penn State. However, against Ohio State, the Ducks weren’t so fortunate: the offense never found a rhythm, and the defense was outright demolished.
Even earlier in the year, the defense at times felt like a liability. The Duck offense was in shambles against Boise State, and the defense did a good job taking control of the game initially, until they too fell apart and let Ashton Jeanty run free. If you were to take away Jeanty’s two massive runs, the Ducks’ defense kept him pretty bottled up. Though the reality with football is that we can’t ignore a few plays because we like how the statistical trend looks otherwise. The harsh truth is that the Ducks’ defense let Jeanty run for almost 200 yards.
Even against non-playoff competition, the Ducks defense had some shocking problems. Against Purdue, the Oregon defense gave up over 200 rushing yards. Sure, Purdue didn’t manage to score on the Ducks, which makes this feel excusable, but the reality is that it shouldn’t have happened.
Against Wisconsin, the Ducks gave up 130 on the ground, which doesn’t seem bad, but considering the Ducks only ran for 136 yards and the final score was 13-16, those 130 yards came on all the Badger scoring drives and this was only a one-score game.
Then on the flip side against Michigan, the Ducks kept the Wolverines in check all game long, keeping their total yards to 270. But early in the third quarter, the game tightened up because the Michigan passing game showed some life. Michigan, a team that was completely inept in the passing game, threw for more yards than they ran for (165 passing yards), and both touchdowns came through the air.
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A PSU receiver drops a pass against the Ducks as Jackson tracks him down.
(Photo By: Eric Becker)
Is This the Real “Lanning Defense”?
In all three of Lanning’s years at head coach at Oregon, he has put together good defenses with the personnel he’s had. However, it feels like he hasn’t put together his vision for what the defense should be. He has had to dip into the transfer portal the previous three years to find starters at key positions. It’s mostly worked, as Lanning has posted double-digit wins in all three seasons, but the defense has always felt more like a mercenary force than something homegrown.
Lanning’s defense is rather complex and requires all its moving parts to move in sync with each other. Bringing in one-and-done players doesn’t make this job any easier.
At Georgia, Lanning had the best recruits in the country at his disposal, so his defensive scheme worked brilliantly, especially with the guidance of Kirby Smart. Additionally, at Georgia it was common for four- and five-star players to not see the field as starters until their junior or senior years. Now, Lanning is entering into his fourth year at Oregon, and many of the recruits he brought in are entering their sophomore or junior years, so they should start to emerge in the lineup. This will be a test of his recruiting ability, as transfers come in as mostly ready-made players.
The question still remains: does Lanning need to make some fundamental changes to his defense? This isn’t Georgia, Oregon doesn’t sit in the heart of recruiting territory, and though Lanning has done an incredible job bringing in talent from all over the country, the fact remains that it is hard to get top defensive talent to Oregon.
Lanning has already shown he can make changes to the defense based on the personnel. Look at 2022 for instance, where he had a roster effectively of Mario Cristobal players, and Lanning adopted a bend-but-don’t-break defense since his scheme wouldn’t work in its truest form with the players he had. Should he pursue a change in his base defense now to try and leverage the talent he has to elevate this team to National Championship caliber? Or should he stay the course and wait for his players to develop and emerge in the Lanning defense the way it is meant to be played?
David Marsh
Portland, Oregon
Top Photo By Eric Becker
Andrew Mueller, the FishDuck.com Volunteer Editor for this article, works in higher education in Chicago, Illinois.
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David Marsh is a high school social studies teacher in Portland, Oregon. As a teacher he is known for telling puns to his students who sometimes laugh out of sympathy, and being both eccentric about history and the Ducks.
David graduated from the University of Oregon in 2012 with Majors in: Medieval Studies, Religious Studies, and Geography. David began following Ducks Football after being in a car accident in 2012; finding football something new and exciting to learn about during this difficult time in his life. Now, he cannot see life without Oregon football.