The pressure to develop the highest-rated quarterback room in Oregon football history lies squarely upon Oregon’s 32-year-old offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham. Dillingham’s fast-track career trajectory is suddenly tied to fielding an elite-level QB and offense. Will Dillingham meet the Duck fans’ high expectations, or will he fail and tarnish his professional image? Friday’s 5-Star commit Dante Moore joins fellow 5-Stars …
Will Oregon’s Offense Instantly Improve Under Dillingham?
Mario Cristobal’s biggest flaw at Oregon was his inability to create an explosive offense. Determined to combine old school, smashmouth football with modern spread principles, Cristobal’s Ducks never fielded an offense that came close to the standard set by Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich. With fans starved for exciting plays and high-scoring games, new head coach Dan Lanning hired offensive …
Oregon Won’t Become Georgia Overnight
By all accounts, the Oregon Ducks knocked it out of the park by hiring Dan Lanning. The young, talented coach is an ace recruiter, a defensive mastermind and a forward-thinker. Considering Mario Cristobal left the cupboard pretty full for Lanning and his staff, it makes sense to assume the Ducks are positioned to continue making a push toward the College …
BOOM or BUST? How Lanning Can Silence the Doubters
Dan Lanning was a risky hire. The 36-year-old former defensive coordinator has no head coaching experience, and frankly, he has little experience as a coordinator, as well. Aside from spending two years working at Arizona State, he has no ties to the West. And while there are one-off success stories of young, hot-shot coordinators knocking it out of the park …
Does Oregon Need to Have An SEC Mindset?
The biggest myth in college football is that teams in the Southeast — specifically the SEC — are successful because “it just means more” to them. Fans residing in this part of the country love to boast about how dedicated their programs and fanbases are to football excellence, and they believe that dedication drives their success. New Oregon offensive coordinator …
Who Is Set to BREAKOUT for Oregon in 2022?
While tradition, pageantry and gameday atmosphere are all part of what makes college football, it’s the superstar players that sell tickets. For the fans who tune in on Saturdays to see the headliners, the 2022 season certainly won’t disappoint. The country is full of premier players this season. Bryce Young will begin his Heisman defense tour, but CJ Stroud and …
Three Questions Lanning Must Answer This Spring
Nothing beats the energy and excitement of college football’s opening weekend. But for all of us football-deprived fanatics, the start of spring ball comes pretty close. Optimism is in season; every team has a blank slate. Newcomers make their collegiate debuts, position battles dominate the headlines, and we even get a scrimmage to top it off. This spring is a …
Kenny Dillingham’s Offense and the Inclusion of the Pistol
There is a sentiment among those who follow Oregon football that we have no idea what Coach Kenny Dillingham plans on doing offensively with the Oregon Ducks. But we actually have a pretty good idea. It’s uncommon for a coach who learned under an extremely successful coordinator/play-caller to drastically deviate from that system when he becomes “the guy.” Coach Dillingham …
Lanning Got It Right: Adding Nix Was the RIGHT Move
The Transfer Portal is one of the most polarizing developments in college football history. While most fans are glad that college athletes are finally gaining some autonomy, many are also disturbed at the thinning of the line between college athletics and professional sports. The Transfer Portal might as well be a fancy way of saying “Free Agency,“ as players are …
How Can Oregon Reclaim Its Offensive Identity?
Under Mario Cristobal, Oregon began to lose the identity that put it on the map not too long ago. Speed, innovation, and most importantly, exciting offensive football, are the elements that nearly brought the Ducks to a title in the early 2010s. Cristobal, conversely, championed toughness and physicality — traits that sounded good in theory, but resulted in a bland, …
Lanning Laws: “That Won’t Last a Week at Oregon”
The Oregon fan base is excited about the arrival and results thus far of Head Coach Dan Lanning. Yet we know very little about him beyond the obvious résumé stuff we all read. What are his unique values and priorities in making a championship defense, that he is now embedding into the complete team at Oregon? Normally at this time …
How Dan Lanning and Lincoln Riley Can Balance College Football
“How do we fix college football?” That’s the prevailing question just a couple of days removed from yet another all-SEC title game. The 2021 season provided more parity than usual; Michigan and Cincinnati both made their College Football Playoff debuts. But if three particular teams continue to outpace the rest of the country in recruiting, this season will be an …