5 things we’ve learned, 5 things still to learn about the 2023 Oregon Ducks

By almost any metric you wish to look at, the 2023 season for the Oregon Ducks has been a success so far. Head coach Dan Lanning has the squad off to its first 5-0 start since 2013, and Oregon is one of only two teams in the nation to boast both an offense and a defense that rank inside the top 10 nationally.

Quarterback Bo Nix is among the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy; wide receiver Troy Franklin is among the favorites to win the Biletnikoff Award, and the Ducks have one of the best odds in the nation to make it to the College Football Playoff and win a national championship.

If you were to tell an Oregon fan all of those things about two months ago, they certainly would sign up for those results in an instant. It’s safe to say that we’ve learned a lot about this team through the first five weeks, but there is still a lot to find out going forward.

While the Ducks’ numbers look great so far, it is important to note that they have not faced the meat of their schedule just yet. Over the final 7 weeks of the regular season, Oregon will go up against five teams that have been ranked inside the top 15 at some point this season, with a trio of No. 7 Washington, No. 13 Washington State, and No. 18 Utah all in a row coming out of this bye week.

We are certain to learn a lot more about the Ducks going forward.

So at this point in the season, what do we know for sure about this team, and what are a few things that we still need to find out? Let’s break it down in this midseason check-up to close out the bye week:

Learned: Troy Franklin is as Good as We Thought He Could Be

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We’re going to see another 7-9 games of it, but I don’t think we need to see anymore in order to declare Troy Franklin as one of the best wide receivers to ever play for the Oregon Ducks.

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Going into this season, there was hope among Oregon fans that Franklin would truly break out and be one of the best receivers in the conference, and he’s absolutely done that, and more, through five games. At the moment, Franklin has 535 receiving yards (No. 6 in the nation) and 7 receiving touchdowns (No. 2 in the nation). Four of his five games have resulted in 100-plus yards thus far, and he’s had multiple TDs in three of those games.

You could legitimately argue that Franklin is the No. 1 WR in the Pac-12 right now, with the biggest competition being Washington’s Rome Odunze (608 yards, 4 TDs). Regardless of where he ranks in the conference or the nation, Franklin has more than proven that he is an elite playmaker and one of the best pass-catchers that Oregon has ever seen.

Need To Learn: The Ceiling for Jestin Jacobs

(Photo Courtesy of Zachary Neel | USA TODAY)

Whichever way you wish to look at things so far, the Oregon Ducks’ defense has been pretty spectacular so far this season. What’s the most impressive thing about all of that is the possibility that they’ve been doing it without arguably one of their best players on the field.

One of the most underrated and unheralded transfer portal additions that Dan Lanning made this year was getting linebacker Jestin Jacobs from Iowa to Eugene. Jacobs is a massive body in the middle of the field, and has proven to be a dynamic playmaker throughout his career when healthy. The problem so far has been his health. Though Jacobs played throughout fall camp, he has yet to see the field this season while nursing an apparent leg injury that has kept him out for the first five weeks. There is an expectation that he will return to the field soon though, and he could be back directly after the bye week vs. Washington.

Many fans don’t know what to expect just yet, but from the sounds of it, his impact could be massive.

“I’m excited for the world to see what he has to offer because he’s a special player,” LB Jamal Hill said last week. “Like, really, really, really special. I feel like our defense is really good now, but when he comes back, he’s going to give us that extra boost to get from good to great. Honestly.”

Learned: Will Stein is Keeping the Standard

The Mario Cristobal era in Eugene was full of some frustrations on offense, to say the least, so when Kenny Dillingham came to town and ramped things up several notches a year ago, and then subsequently left to take the head coaching job at Arizona State, fans were a bit uneasy.

Would the new offensive coordinator be able to keep up the level of offensive production and have Oregon firing at a similar clip?

To this point, Will Stein has cooled all doubts, and is arguably on a better pace than Dillingham’s offense had a year ago. Take a look at these comparisons of last year’s offensive rankings and this year’s offensive rankings through five games:

Obviously, there are a lot more games to play, so we need a bigger sample size before we can truly compare the two seasons. However, I think that we can say at this point that Stein has done a great job of keeping the standard offensively in Eugene.

Need To Learn: Defensive Proficiency vs. Elite Offense

Photo Courtesy of Ethan Landa

Similar to the offensive proficiency, Oregon’s defense has been elite thus far as well through five games. So far this season they rank as follows in these major categories:

Of course, it has to be noted that the Ducks haven’t faced a very elite level of competition just yet. That’s going to change, though. After the bye, Oregon will face the Huskies, who have the No. 1 total offense and the No. 3 scoring offense in the nation. Not too long after that, the Ducks will host USC and their scoring offense that ranks No. 1 in the nation.

The level of competition is going to rise. We need to see if the Ducks’ defense will rise with it.

Learned: No Setback for Offensive Line

One of the biggest questions that most fans and media members had about Oregon’s offense coming into this season had to do with the offensive line and how it would do replacing four starters from a season ago.

So far, so good.

Through five weeks, the Ducks have given up 3 total sacks, which is 5th in the nation. Center Jackson Powers-Johnson has the highest Pro Football Focus grade of any interior lineman in the nation, and right tackle Ajani Cornelius has gone 183 snaps without allowing a single QB pressure.

With four new starters and a new offensive line coach, it was fair to ask questions about how this unit would hold up early in the season. There’s still a lot of season left to play, but the early results are impressive.

Need To Learn: Are Coaching Mistakes Coming?

One of the few nitpicks that a lot of fans had a year ago were with first-year head coach Dan Lanning, and some of the decisions that he made down the stretch of the season, often late in games that cost Oregon a couple of potential wins. Lanning is an aggressive coach, and that aggression has continued on this season, but there were a couple of times last year where it got him into trouble.

I’m curious to see how that plays out in certain situations this year. It’s going to be a hard result to quantify, because if the coaching mistakes don’t come, people often don’t talk about them, obviously. However, Lanning is a year older and a year wiser this season, so we will see if he learned to pick and choose his spots a little bit better than he did a year ago.

Learned: Jordan James is For Real

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Bucky Irving and Noah Whittington were thought to be the two-headed monster going into this season for the Ducks at the RB position, but Jordan James has undoubtedly crashed that party so far. He currently is tied for the team lead in touchdowns with 7, and he is the second-leading rusher on the roster.

Of course, with the season-ending injury to Noah Whittington, James will need to step up more and shoulder the load alongside Irving, but with what we’ve seen so far from the sophomore, that should be no problem.

Need To Learn: How Does Defense Hold Up vs. the Run?

(Photo Courtesy of Ethan Landa)

This is another question for the defense to answer going forward, but I don’t think it will be an answer we get for a few weeks.

I want to see how Dan Lanning’s squad holds up against a run-heavy team like Oregon State or California. So far, the teams that Oregon has played are mostly pass-heavy, like Hawaii or Colorado, but they haven’t really faced a team that will run it 30-40 times as the Beavers did a year ago.

That will change going forward, though. While neither Washington nor Washington State pound the rock very much, California has the No. 12 rushing offense, while OSU has the No. 15 rushing offense, and USC has the No. 49 rushing offense.

Oregon currently has the No. 26 rushing defense, but they haven’t been tested very much at all. It will be something to watch going forward.

Learned: The Pac-12 is as Good as Advertised

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Going into this season, there was an expectation that the Pac-12 would be among the best conferences in the nation, boasting a handful of top-25 teams and maybe one or two schools that contend for a College Football Playoff spot.

Through five weeks, the conference has far exceeded expectations. At the moment, there are six Pac-12 teams in the top 20, and three in the top 10. Earlier this year, before the conference schedule started, there were as many as 8 Pac-12 teams in the top 25, with four of them in the top 10.

Going forward, it is hard to see anyone running the table with this talented of a league, but you can easily see a path for Oregon, Washington, or USC to make it to the College Football Playoff, and more behind them — Utah, Washington State, Oregon State — could easily play disruptor in the Pac-12 title game.

It may be the last year of the conference, but at least it is going out on top.

Need To Learn: Is Another Recruiting Splash Coming?

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This isn’t a football story in terms of on-the-field play, but Dan Lanning and the Ducks have a major opportunity in the recruiting world coming up. At the moment, they have the No. 12 ranked class in the nation, but are reportedly in a good position to land several blue-chip players going forward, including a couple of 5-stars.

5-star DL Aydin Breeland is announcing his commitment between Oregon and Georgia next Saturday, and Sione Laulea, the No. 1 JUCO player in the nation, is announcing on Sunday evening, with the Ducks in the mix. Oregon is also the heavy favorites to land a commitment from 4-star RB Jason Brown, and could potentially be able to flip a couple of other 5-star players who committed elsewhere, including LB Justin Williams, EDGE Elijah Rushing, and RB Nate Frazier.

There are a lot of “ifs” involved at the moment, but we don’t need to look back too far to see that Lanning and his staff have a track record of closing strong. It was only last December that they got commitments from Matayo Uiagalelei, Peyton Bowens, Daylen Austin, and Jayden Limar on signing day, though Bowens ended up flipping to Oklahoma late. In addition, the Ducks also had the late-signing day drama with Nyckoles Harbor as well.

Oregon didn’t get all of those players mentioned, but they proved that they are in every recruitment until the very end, and I expect the same to be true again this year. We could be setting up for some fireworks down the stretch.

Story originally appeared on Ducks Wire