After Further Review: Sloppy Oregon football still finds a way to win against Texas Tech

Duck fans who were thinking of making reservations for the Pac-12 championship in Las Vegas at the end of the season might be advised to hold their dough until coach Dan Lanning can improve Oregon’s sloppy and undisciplined play to stand up against better teams than the one they snuck by in Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday. In a game played in 96-degree temperatures, Oregon’s offense was snuffed at critical times, there were flagrant defensive mistakes and undisciplined performances by both players and coaches. Lanning was lucky to escape with the 38-30 win over Texas Tech.

Much to work on for Oregon football's offense, defense

Quarterback Bo Nix, a Heisman candidate, put in a noteworthy performance, but not his best, completing 32-of-44 attempts (74%) for 359 yards and two touchdowns. At times, he was rattled by a hard-charging aggressive defense and had five passes dropped in the first half. Oregon’s young offensive line learned several lessons the hard way, struggling to establish a running game that only produced 113 yards, giving up their first sack of the season and committing eight offensive penalties: four false starts, a holding penalty, illegal formation, illegal substitution, and delay of game, several of the calls coming on third-down.

The defense had six penalties costing 80 yards and all resulted in first downs for Texas Tech: three pass interference penalties, unsportsmanlike conduct, personal foul and an illegal substitution where the Ducks had 15 players on the field when the ball was snapped. There are several highly-paid coaches who apparently neglected to inform their defensive players coming on and off the field if the offense does not make a substitution, the referees do not hold the game up for the defense to substitute and get off the field. In the fourth quarter, coaches likely grimaced as they saw four defensive players, two of them walking, yielding to fresher players off the bench. It was embarrassing. It was like a high school junior varsity game. And it did not look like a nice conversation between Lanning and his defensive coordinator as the referees threw flags and blew their whistles.

The pass interference penalties were not even close to being argued. Defensive backs who had their backs to the ball, not being able to see where the ball was, ploughed into the receivers, a result of poor position and communication with teammates who could see the ball. Suffice to say there was no style or finesse in their coverage. This is critical to be cleaned up with all the great quarterbacks lining up in the upcoming weeks of Oregon’s last year of Pac-12 play.

Last year the Duck defense was only able to score 18 sacks, the lowest total in three decades. Against Portland State, they were unable to get any, but against the Red Raiders they got four, caused a fumble, and an interception that was run back by Jeffrey Bassa for a touchdown to clinch the win late in the fourth quarter. A very positive point: Oregon scored 10 points off turnovers while the Red Raiders got none. The bad news is the heralded edge defenders were no shows at times; setting the edge to keep Texas Tech quarterback Tyler Shough from going outside to one side, but not establishing the edge to the other side (overrunning the quarterback or getting pinned inside by a blocker), which allowed Shough to ramble seemingly, at will. For the game, the former Oregon quarterback was able to rush for 121 yards, including a 58-yarder up the middle where there were no linebackers in the vicinity.

Several times Shough aligned his receivers and backs out of the backfield, leaving just himself behind center. He would set, and take off up the middle with the one Oregon linebacker in the middle taking steps opposite Shough’s direction as the ball was snapped, setting himself up to be blocked with no one else around to help. Where I was sitting, several fans said (when seeing no other backs in the backfield with Shough), “watch out for the quarterback, he’s going up the middle.” This happened several times in critical down/distance situations, but the Ducks did not adjust and the 6-2 quarterback, who is over 200 pounds, ran like a fullback over Oregon defenders who were attempting to get in his way.

Ducks fortunate to get out of the third quarter alive

Oregon’s offensive line, all new starters this year, had embarrassing lessons learned as well. Often, their pad level was too high and the Red Raiders defensive line were lower with more leverage, and, as the old saying goes, “low man wins.” The Ducks had taller linemen and as the game went on, in the heat and fatigue, their pad levels came up; they lost their leverage and could not blow Texas Tech off the ball. If it weren’t for some fancy dancing by Nix, Bucky Irving, and Noah Whittington, Oregon was lucky to get over 100 yards total.

The play calling seemed erratic at times, with the Ducks stuck in formations that did not spread the field. There was no noticeable effort to target leading receiver Troy Franklin after he got loose for a 72-yard score in the first quarter. Several short yardage runs were stopped as a result of the offensive line defeated off the snap, including one in the third quarter when Nix was stymied on a fourth-down sneak at the Texas Tech 17-yard line. Oregon’s offensive line has got to improve its thrust if they expect to blow a Power 5 defense off the ball on a quarterback sneak.

The Ducks were fortunate to get out of the third quarter alive, as they had a punt partially blocked when a rusher breeched the shield protection in front of the punter who appeared to take too much time getting the ball off, just like in last year’s Oregon State debacle. The punt team gave up a 33-yard return and the kickoff team gave up a 31-yard return while the Ducks were unable to return a punt and averaged only 18 yards on two kickoff returns.

After Nix was stopped, defensive back Khyree Jackson intercepted Shough’s pass on the next play to buy some time, but Shough came back to pitch a touchdown that extended their lead to 27-18. Things were grim for Oregon: Texas Tech was beginning to run the ball against a Duck defense that looked gassed.

Offensive “big plays” are categorized as passing gains over 15 yards and rushing gains over 10 yards. Texas Tech, behind some big receivers, including a 6-foot-8 tight end, had nine passing and 5 rushing, while the Ducks managed only eight: six passing and a mere two running, both by Nix in the third quarter.

Quarterback Bo Nix drives Oregon to the win

The Ducks were sloppy, undisciplined, over eager and mistake-prone, but nevertheless, came out winners, which should be appreciated. The two position groups most needing quick improvement are the offensive line and the defense. Both units were battling a hostile crowd and an energized opponent in stifling heat and some players appeared slow and out-of-shape as Texas Tech applied its physicality. Lanning surely must be proud of the energy those units came up with in the fourth quarter to defeat a tough opponent backed by a fanatical crowd. Nix was brilliant leading the offense to 20 points in the fourth quarter after Shough had passed for a score and a nine-point lead.

The winning team was going to be the one whose quarterback played best. Nix was the guy, driving his team to a touchdown and two field goals in the fourth quarter to secure the win. Shough, playing bravely, laid it all on the line, rushing for 121 yards, throwing for 282 yards and three touchdowns, but was intercepted three times and sacked four. After the game, Shough was surrounded by many of his former teammates who gave him a handshake and hug, acknowledging a tough performance by an old friend.

Lanning and the Ducks have many “learning opportunities” in store for them this week. Although they prevailed against Texas Tech, Oregon has as much or more to improve as they did last year after getting pummeled by Georgia. The fact remains, for all the Oregon talent the recruiting wizards extol, the Ducks need some serious coaching-up to be competitive and reach their potential against a schedule that looks much tougher now than when the season started. It is said by college coaches that a team improves most between games one and two. In the Ducks’ case, it needs to be between games two and three. There’s not a lot of gimmes in the weeks ahead.

After playing at Oregon, Ken Woody coached college football for 18 years as an assistant at Oregon, Washington, Utah State and Washington State and as a head coach at Whitman College and Washington University-St. Louis. He has been a commentator on Oregon football on Fox, Prime Sports Northwest and KCPQ. He conducts a free, weekly coaching clinic at the 6th Street Grill every Wednesday at 6 p.m. during the season. Plays from Oregon games are analyzed, there are scouting reports for opponents, and highlights from referees; all to learn about football and understand why the Ducks win or lose.

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: After Further Review: Sloppy Oregon football still beats Texas Tech