I went back and watched film from the game yesterday. Most of the following thoughts will be on the defensive side of the ball, but there are a couple of thoughts on offense sprinkled in:
1) I know the first half result was awful yesterday, but watching the film back today, we had a ton of chances to mitigate the damage in the first half (i.e. allowing some long 3rd down conversions instead of getting off the field). I also felt that many of the miscues were from a couple of consistent positions, rather than from all 11 positions. That doesn't change the fact that Oregon dropped 24 on us in the first half, or that they still moved the ball pretty well in the third and fourth quarters, but it does provide some perspective.
2) While I thought the adjustments at halftime by Stanford were pretty solid, I felt both the offensive and defensive gameplans left something to be desired in the first half. In particular, I thought the rather vanilla defensive gameplan in the first half (without as many edge pressures and stunt blitzes) played into the Ducks' hands. On offense, I watched film on only two Oregon games prior to yesterday (Boise State Las Vegas Bowl, and Bowling Green this year), and even from that film, I could tell that edge rushes would be a potential problem for our OL. In the end, the Ducks were even faster last night than they were in those two games, and even when we started to put points on the board in the 4th quarter and OT, it felt like our OL was being held together by tape in the face of a consistent edge rush onslaught. While we have the personnel that we have, and we ultimately made adjustments, if we wait that long to make adjustments against ND and UW during the course of a game, we will lose.
3) I want to avoid being overly critical, so I will list jersey numbers instead of last names, but Oregon was consistently targeting No.3 and No.4 in coverage (on second TD for Oregon, No. 4 was actually out-run to the spot by a TE). I am so happy No.4 got the INT to finish off the game in OT, and I know he is an experienced player who provides great leadership to the team, but No.4 also had trouble with the speed of TCU's receivers in the Alamo Bowl (got beat on long TD, nearly beat on a second TD after falling down). I wonder whether Obi Eboh could provide something with additional snaps at CB.
No. 3 is a great player, and it was his first game back from injury, but he appeared rusty and out of position on plays.
No. 5 had a tough assignment in having to potentially clean up plays after mistakes/errors in front of him, but he took very poor angles on three plays that led to the third TD of the game (as opposed to a potential 15-20 yard run), on the pylon run (originally TD, ultimately out at 1), and the long pass play to convert 4th and 1 that set up Oregon's last TD. Again, in all three instances, none were his primary responsibility, but it turned potential bends in the defense into breaks.
While we are on the pylon run, that play was initially caused by another over-aggressive pass-rush from No.90 (he had a couple against SDSU and USC that led to long runs), thereby vacating the space that sprung the Oregon back. No.90 has great potential, and is still in his first couple of games, but that is something that I am sure the coaches will be working with him on.
All in all, it was a rough rough night for the safetys, and we really missed Ben Edwards with his injury. However, Noah Williams was a big bright spot at safety (most notably on the Verdell forced fumble). Hopefully, he will see some additional PT moving forward.
I also thought No. 27, after playing extremely well in the first three games, had a rough night, despite a tall ask to keep up with Oregon's receivers in coverage. In particular, No.27 was beat on three plays on Oregon's last TD drive, including the fourth and 1 where he pursued Herbert instead of staying with his man. Again, I know Herbert had a sensational night, and it is a tall order to defend Oregon, but lapses in coverage by ILB led to some big plays in the center of the field. I am glad for No. 27 that he came up with the biggest fumble recovery of the game though, and I fully expect him to bounce back.
4) I thought Dalyn Wade Perry had a great game last night. With his size, I think he was able to hold up better against Oregon's massive OL than some of our smaller DT, but he also had one chase down tackle of a speed RB, and nearly pulled off a second. With ND's large OL, DWP might be a good play for additional snaps in the game next week.
5) Paulson Adebo, particularly in OT, had a special night. He nearly forced a fumble on an Oregon RB in the third quarter, and his PBU on 2nd and goal in OT was nothing short of spectacular (wish I could upload a screenshot of the play). With the exception of maybe 1-2 plays (particularly on first play after we were stopped on 4th and 1 in 4th quarter, where Adebo didn't follow his man in motion, and nobody picked him up, leading to a big pass play), even when he was beat for a completion, it was still extremely tight coverage.
6) While we made mistakes (some of which were listed above), Herbert produced an all-time performance from the QB position. There were countless throws where the coverage was pretty tight, and he threw a perfect ball. The good news is that I expect that Herbert is the best QB we will end up facing this year (Browning and Ian Book included).
I actually think it speaks to the talent on our team that Oregon had 11 more minutes of possession, nearly ran 80 plays (32 more than us), had a QB post a 92% completion percentage in regulation, and we still managed to win (albeit with some luck).
1) I know the first half result was awful yesterday, but watching the film back today, we had a ton of chances to mitigate the damage in the first half (i.e. allowing some long 3rd down conversions instead of getting off the field). I also felt that many of the miscues were from a couple of consistent positions, rather than from all 11 positions. That doesn't change the fact that Oregon dropped 24 on us in the first half, or that they still moved the ball pretty well in the third and fourth quarters, but it does provide some perspective.
2) While I thought the adjustments at halftime by Stanford were pretty solid, I felt both the offensive and defensive gameplans left something to be desired in the first half. In particular, I thought the rather vanilla defensive gameplan in the first half (without as many edge pressures and stunt blitzes) played into the Ducks' hands. On offense, I watched film on only two Oregon games prior to yesterday (Boise State Las Vegas Bowl, and Bowling Green this year), and even from that film, I could tell that edge rushes would be a potential problem for our OL. In the end, the Ducks were even faster last night than they were in those two games, and even when we started to put points on the board in the 4th quarter and OT, it felt like our OL was being held together by tape in the face of a consistent edge rush onslaught. While we have the personnel that we have, and we ultimately made adjustments, if we wait that long to make adjustments against ND and UW during the course of a game, we will lose.
3) I want to avoid being overly critical, so I will list jersey numbers instead of last names, but Oregon was consistently targeting No.3 and No.4 in coverage (on second TD for Oregon, No. 4 was actually out-run to the spot by a TE). I am so happy No.4 got the INT to finish off the game in OT, and I know he is an experienced player who provides great leadership to the team, but No.4 also had trouble with the speed of TCU's receivers in the Alamo Bowl (got beat on long TD, nearly beat on a second TD after falling down). I wonder whether Obi Eboh could provide something with additional snaps at CB.
No. 3 is a great player, and it was his first game back from injury, but he appeared rusty and out of position on plays.
No. 5 had a tough assignment in having to potentially clean up plays after mistakes/errors in front of him, but he took very poor angles on three plays that led to the third TD of the game (as opposed to a potential 15-20 yard run), on the pylon run (originally TD, ultimately out at 1), and the long pass play to convert 4th and 1 that set up Oregon's last TD. Again, in all three instances, none were his primary responsibility, but it turned potential bends in the defense into breaks.
While we are on the pylon run, that play was initially caused by another over-aggressive pass-rush from No.90 (he had a couple against SDSU and USC that led to long runs), thereby vacating the space that sprung the Oregon back. No.90 has great potential, and is still in his first couple of games, but that is something that I am sure the coaches will be working with him on.
All in all, it was a rough rough night for the safetys, and we really missed Ben Edwards with his injury. However, Noah Williams was a big bright spot at safety (most notably on the Verdell forced fumble). Hopefully, he will see some additional PT moving forward.
I also thought No. 27, after playing extremely well in the first three games, had a rough night, despite a tall ask to keep up with Oregon's receivers in coverage. In particular, No.27 was beat on three plays on Oregon's last TD drive, including the fourth and 1 where he pursued Herbert instead of staying with his man. Again, I know Herbert had a sensational night, and it is a tall order to defend Oregon, but lapses in coverage by ILB led to some big plays in the center of the field. I am glad for No. 27 that he came up with the biggest fumble recovery of the game though, and I fully expect him to bounce back.
4) I thought Dalyn Wade Perry had a great game last night. With his size, I think he was able to hold up better against Oregon's massive OL than some of our smaller DT, but he also had one chase down tackle of a speed RB, and nearly pulled off a second. With ND's large OL, DWP might be a good play for additional snaps in the game next week.
5) Paulson Adebo, particularly in OT, had a special night. He nearly forced a fumble on an Oregon RB in the third quarter, and his PBU on 2nd and goal in OT was nothing short of spectacular (wish I could upload a screenshot of the play). With the exception of maybe 1-2 plays (particularly on first play after we were stopped on 4th and 1 in 4th quarter, where Adebo didn't follow his man in motion, and nobody picked him up, leading to a big pass play), even when he was beat for a completion, it was still extremely tight coverage.
6) While we made mistakes (some of which were listed above), Herbert produced an all-time performance from the QB position. There were countless throws where the coverage was pretty tight, and he threw a perfect ball. The good news is that I expect that Herbert is the best QB we will end up facing this year (Browning and Ian Book included).
I actually think it speaks to the talent on our team that Oregon had 11 more minutes of possession, nearly ran 80 plays (32 more than us), had a QB post a 92% completion percentage in regulation, and we still managed to win (albeit with some luck).