The Duck offense has done fantastic against bad defenses this year and even better against all around bad teams. Oregon’s offense has struggled against teams that have competitive athletes to their own. We saw this at Penn State (yes Penn State, still has some quality athletes), against Indiana, and now Wisconsin. The Badgers’ greatest weakness seems to come more from their offensive side of the ball. This Badger defense held Ohio State to under 100 yards rushing the week before playing Oregon.
Oregon had some offensive issues during the game. Losing Dante Moore at the beginning of the second half taught us two things: Brock Thomas is in fact the No. 2 quarterback for the Ducks, and when the run game is working it is darn good. Where the Buckeyes played in fine weather and had their entire offensive playbook open to them, and they passed for nearly 400 yards, the Ducks found themselves in a massive downpour that I don’t recall seeing in Autzen since the 2013 monsoon against Cal.
When forced to run the ball, the Ducks found a way to get it done as the game wore on, and it went through Jordon Davison, who ran for 102 yards and two scores. Noah Whittington ended up having a pretty good game with 97 yards, and even had a better yards per carry stat than Davison at 6.9 yards per carry (Davison had 6.4). In total, the Ducks rushed for 203 yards against a Badger defense that is actually quite good against the run, ranking 18th nationally, which is good enough for an average of 97.7 yards per game.
So, why does the running back rotation need to change?
The slow starts.
Davison runs through Wisconsin defenders in the rain.
(Photo By: Gary Breedlove)
Whittington is a great back when the Oregon offensive line can clearly out-match the opponent’s line, and Whittington can get into space early and easily. We have seen this multiple times this year; against Oklahoma State and Rutgers, Whittington ran for 60+ yard touchdowns. But against a stingy defensive line, Whittington finds himself running into a wall, or worse — backwards.
Whittington is a fine runner in space, but he is not a well-rounded running back. He is not a great blocker and, again, it was clear in the first quarter against Wisconsin that Whittington just failed to block rushers, which resulted in at least one sack. Whittington is a great change of pace back. When the opposing defense is on its heels, he can make them pay with a big run on the edge. That is Whittington’s specialty, but if you look at each of his runs individually, he doesn’t look as spectacular. He is a home run waiting to happen, which makes him a fantastic weapon — but he shouldn’t start.
But when the Oregon offense needs to establish itself early to put points on the board, it needs a runner who can simply move the chains and set the team up for success.
Davison has a few traits that Whittington, and Jayden Limar for that matter, do not have. He is a big, physical back who can make his own yards. He has thrived finding chunk yards right down the middle. If the offensive line is able to settle down, then Moore is able to pick apart the opposing defense and get the passing game going.
Davison’s ability to consistently move the chains matters significantly in prop betting circles, and according to Jason Ziernicki of Cleatz.com, “Starting a back who can establish early momentum and keep offensive lines engaged changes the narrative of how teams build leads—and that directly impacts the spreads and totals we see in subsequent weeks.”
It feels controlled and the Ducks start to dictate their game to the opposing defense, not the other way around. The first quarter felt like Wisconsin was doing what Indiana did to the Ducks a few weeks earlier, causing enough defensive chaos that caused Moore to panic.
Whittington is a touchdown waiting to happen.
(Photo By: Max Unkrich)
Whittington was not able to establish a run game to force the opposing defense in either game to back off. In both the Indiana and Wisconsin games, it was Davison who came in and established his physical run game that enabled the Ducks to find success on offense. Looking at the successful drives this week against the Badgers, all the touchdown drives came behind Davison. Two of the three were scored by Davison himself.
Feed Davison the ball early and allow him to give time for the offensive line to settle down, then bring in Whittington and Dierre Hill to change up the tempo.
This isn’t even a new recipe for success. Last year, Oregon had Jordan James establishing the run game. Even when the Duck offensive line was in complete shambles, he found a way to create positive yardage. In 2022 and 2023 the run game was established by Bucky Irving and created opportunities for Bo Nix to get the ball to his play-makers.
It’s time for Davison to start and let Whittington be the role player he has always been for Oregon, a change of pace back.
David Marsh
Portland, Oregon
Top Photo By: Gary Breedlove
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.