Last week I wrote about how Oregon’s running offense needs to find an extra spark to generate more explosive plays. But the passing game also had its faults this season.
It feels strange to pick apart a 13-1 season, but the reality is that the Oregon offense performed worse in 2024 than it did in 2023 as the team averaged eight fewer points per game and accumulated a whopping 1,316 fewer yards of offense. The rushing offense was 372 yards worse this year than in 2023, but the passing game was worse with 651 fewer yards.
In 2023, Bo Nix was in his second year in the Oregon system and though the offensive coordinator changed, the overall offense did not. Nix also had deep chemistry with the entire offensive unit — in particular the receivers and tight ends. In Nix’s second year he had established relationships with Troy Franklin, Traeshon Holden, Terrance Ferguson and Patrick Herbert. Throw in his adopted brother Tez Johnson and the Oregon passing offense was one of the best in program history.
Additionally, Nix was working behind an offensive line that was experienced and a line with whom he had a strong relationship.
The results speak for themselves, as the 2023 offense averaged 44 points per game.
So what went wrong? The 2024 offense averaged only 36 points per game and only scored more than 40 twice the entire season, against Oregon State and Penn State. The 2023 Ducks never reached 50.
It would be easy to say that Dillon Gabriel is just worse than Nix, but this is too simplistic. Gabriel, like Nix, finished the season as a Heisman finalist, and it was his playmaking ability that brought Oregon an undefeated season. It was the entire passing offense that failed to live up to its 2023 standard.

Bo Nix looks to pass against Oregon State in 2023 with the prolific Duck passing offense.
(Photo by: Craig Strobeck)
Less Effective Pass Catchers
Gabriel and his receivers this season just didn’t seem to be in sync like the 2023 team. Losing an NFL talent like Franklin hurt production, as he led the 2023 Ducks in yards (though because he sat out of the bowl game, Johnson surpassed him in targets). The duo of Franklin and Johnson was absolutely deadly in 2023 as both surpassed 1,000 yards. That receiving dynamic was not replaced this year with the addition of Evan Stewart.
Digging into the stats a little shows how the receivers and the passing game declined. Nix’s average pass went for 9.6 yards in ’23 and this year Gabriel’s average pass was a full yard shorter at 8.6. The receivers were less productive on average, as Oregon’s top three receivers in 2023 were Franklin at 17.1 yards per catch, Johnson at 13.7 and Holden at 12.2. Even Gary Bryant Jr. was a significant factor — he had almost as many total yards as Holden and was averaging 14.7 yards.
This year’s average receiving stats were Johnson 10.8, Holden 16, and Stewart 12.8. A massive decline over last year.
There is an argument to be made that the B1G has better defenses than the 2023 Pac-12, which would play a role in suppressing some of these numbers — but the reality is that the majority of the B1G isn’t that good and the Pac-12 may have been a much more difficult conference to navigate.
Oregon’s receivers were just not as productive, and that also extends to the tight end position. Terrance Ferguson actually had over a hundred more receiving yards this year over last year, which is surprising since the rest of the passing game was in a decline, but Patrick Herbert lost about a hundred yards and was effectively a non-factor in the passing game this year. The rise of Kenyon Sadiq has been a pleasant surprise as his numbers are better than in 2023.
However, the most telling part of the tight end passing game decline this year was their touchdown impact. In 2023 the tight ends produced 12 touchdowns with Ferguson leading the way with six. This year though, the tight ends only accounted for five touchdowns with Ferguson only having three and of those five touchdowns. Three of them came after the regular season in the B1G Championship Game. The tight ends didn’t even score a touchdown until Game 10 against Maryland.
Despite the overall team’s success this season the receiving corps definitely took a massive hit statistically.

Tez Johnson catches a bird bomb for a long touchdown against Ohio State.
(Photo By: Eric Becker)
Bird Bombs
In 2024, Will Stein didn’t seem to call as many deep shots down the field, or at least Gabriel didn’t seem to take as many deep shots as Nix did in ’23. Gabriel was pretty happy in targeting receivers on shorter routes and letting his playmakers make plays. Nix did a lot of this in ’23 as well, as this is a staple of the offense. The Ducks need to stretch the field vertically to create more explosive plays for future success.
The only game this season in which the Ducks did go after the deep ball was against Ohio State, where Stewart and Johnson both burned the Ohio State secondary so badly that the Buckeyes changed their base defense. These deep shots opened up more opportunities for the run game to gain chunk yardage against what is probably the best defense in country this year.
But outside of that one game it felt like the Ducks were far too happy to take shorter gains and march down the field. Both Stewart and Johnson are capable of being deep threats, but for so much of the season we just never saw those shots taken.
Next year this needs to change because the decline of the offense cannot stand. In the Rose Bowl game, the Oregon offense was contained, their short passing game and run game were stifled, and there wasn’t an offensive spark to get the team going. A more explosive offense gives the team the needed momentum to open up the game. That is precisely how the Ducks downed the Buckeyes during the regular season; they made explosive plays.
Maybe this was mediocre quarterback play, a poor offensive line, or just conservative play calling. But something needs to change and the Ducks’ passing offense needs to fly in 2025 to achieve the greater program goals.
This is not to tarnish what was otherwise an incredible season, but Dan Lanning and the Ducks haven’t claimed a National Championship yet. If they are going to do that, they are going to need to get the most out of every single unit. Will Dante Moore be the offensive catalyst for the Ducks offense? We’ll have to wait almost nine months to find out.
David Marsh
Portland, Oregon
Top Photo By Eric Becker
Natalie Liebhaber, the FishDuck.com Volunteer Editor for this article, works in technology in SLC, Utah.
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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.