Nick Saban didn’t sound alarmist when he looked at Oregon’s 1-1 start, but he did zero in on the two things he believes are holding the Ducks back: defense and a coaching staff still trying to settle in.
Speaking on “The Pat McAfee Show,” the seven-time national champion pointed first to the side of the ball that has long defined Dan Lanning’s teams.
“I think the problem is Oregon hasn’t been able to play very well on defense, which is uncharacteristic for Dan Lanning and his teams because he’s a defensive guy,” Saban said. “They’ve always been good.”
That’s a notable place for the Ducks to be after entering the season ranked No. 2 and even featuring quarterback Dante Moore on billboards in Tokyo as part of his Heisman Trophy campaign. Instead of cruising through the opening stretch, Oregon has already taken an upset loss to unranked Oklahoma State and needed a close win over Boise State just to get to 1-1.
Saban also pointed to the staff changes around Lanning. Oregon had to replace offensive coordinator Will Stein, who left for Kentucky, and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi, who became the coach at Cal. For Saban, that kind of turnover matters even more when the roster is also in flux.
“I think some of the issue is they have two new coordinators, which is kind of like your second lieutenants when you’re a head coach,” Saban said. “And when you have all these changes on your roster and then you have some guys coming back, I mean, how does that all mesh together?”
Lanning kept the hires in-house, promoting Chris Hampton to defensive coordinator and Drew Mehringer to offensive coordinator. Saban said the hardest part of replacing assistants is finding the right mix of culture and system.
“First of all, you’ve got culture, then you’ve got system,” Saban said. “So what I always wanted to do when I hired new coordinators was hire guys that were going to have the character, the leadership, the ability to present so that they could affect players in a positive way.”
He also made clear he never wanted a coordinator to arrive and try to overhaul everything on the fly.
“I didn’t want to hire independent contractors that was going to come in and change everything for 50 players in the room who already knew the system that we were in, that was already successful, that they were loyal to,” Saban said.
On Saban’s view, Hampton and Mehringer fit what Oregon needed. He still left room for the possibility that the new coordinators are simply still adjusting.
“Hopefully, they can get it right and get it back on track,” Saban said. “But right now, they haven’t played very good football the first two weeks.”
Saban’s point wasn’t that Oregon is broken. It was that the Ducks haven’t synced up yet. There’s still plenty of season left for Lanning, Moore and the rest of the roster, and how they handle this early stretch could shape everything that follows.
Oregon’s next chance to steady things comes at home against Portland State on a short week, before Big Ten play begins on the road against No. 12 USC.
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