5 developments Duck fans would love to see in Dan Lanning’s first year with Oregon
The start of the college football season is getting close, and as September 3rd draws near, we can begin to envision what the season will look like for the Oregon Ducks.
Though they are all important, the 2022 season will hold some extra gravity for the Ducks, since it is the first time that Dan Lanning will be at the helm in Eugene. After several years of Mario Cristobal — an era that brought a lot of success on the field, but a number of frustrations when it came to the style of play — fans are hoping for a new start that will bring some of the flash and aggressiveness back to Oregon football.
What will that look like on the field, though? We tried to pinpoint a few areas where we could be focused on. Here are 5 developments that we want to see under Lanning’s first year with the Ducks:
Physical and Dominant Defense
When Dan Lanning filled out his coaching staff with Tosh Lupoi and Tony Tuioti, Oregon fans likely started to have daydreams of an incredibly dominant defense that tore opposing teams to shreds with the front seven. With Noah Sewell set to be one of the best LBs in the country, and Justin Flowe hopefully able to play a full season, the linebacking core should be set to pair nicely with a strong defensive line led by Bradon Dorlus, Popo Aumavae, and Keyon Ware-Hudson. We can answer questions about the offense later, but the Ducks’ defense will hopefully be among the best in the nation this season.
An Exciting Offense
About the offense… Maybe the top complaint about the Cristobal era in Eugene was that it was too vanilla on offense and lacked down-field options and explosion plays. The early days of Kenny Dillingham have shown promise of changing that, with him making a vow to stretch the field vertically and get the ball to his playmakers in space and let them go to work. That’s what everyone knows Oregon football as; an explosive offense that can put up multiple 60-second TD drives on you in an instant and run the score up before halftime. Let’s hope that era of Duck football returns.
Aggressive Play-calling
We’re not done with the offense just yet. Back to that Mario Cristobal “vanilla scheme” that made fans grow weary over the years. A lot of the complaints came from third-down decisions, where the Ducks would often call run plays or screens on 3rd down and distance, rarely converting or giving the offense a chance to keep the drive alive. This goes hand in hand with our desire for a more exciting offense, but let us hope that the play-calling in these situations is more aggressive down the road. It may not always result in a moving of the chains, but I think fans would be thrilled to at least see a change in philosophy.
Improved Special Teams
Over the past several years, the Ducks have struggled in the special teams’ department. According to Football Outsiders’ Special teams Fremeau Efficiency Index, which combines kickoff return, kickoff, punt return, punt, and field goal efficiency into one overall rating, the Ducks ranked 107 out of 130 teams in 2021. To try and fix that, Oregon brought in former Penn State coach Joe Lorig, and we’ve seen an increased emphasis on the unit already in practice. In all facets of the game, we believe that the Ducks will be able to turn things around this year and actually use special teams to their strength.
Healthy Players
Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports
This admittedly is nothing that Dan Lanning or the Oregon coaching staff really have much control over, but in the past few years, it seems like the injury bug has been around to stay for the Ducks. Whether it was the practice regimen, the training staff, or the strength and conditioning philosophies, it’s impossible to pin down the root of the problem for Oregon when it came to injuries. Maybe it was just bad luck. Regardless, I think every Duck fan is extremely tired of seeing some of their top players on the injury list each and every week. Here’s top hoping for a changing in the tide on that front in 2022.
