Oregon’s personnel picture against Oklahoma State was anything but static, and the Ducks spent a lot of Saturday juggling bodies to survive the heat and keep the defense organized.
Before the game, WR #2 “Strap” Hooks, RB #22 Simeon Price, and OL #55 Douglas Utu were listed as questionable and did not appear. OL #77 Tommy Tofi was also questionable, but he did get on the field for a number of snaps as a sixth offensive lineman.
WR #1 Dak. Moore came in listed as probable and played most of his snaps at wide receiver.
Up front, Oregon opened with OL #58 Ziyare Addison at left tackle, OL #56 Trent Ferguson at left guard, OL #72 “Poncho” Laloulu at center, OL #74 Dave Iuli at right guard, and OL #59 Fox Crader at right tackle. That setup didn’t last the whole way. Ferguson exited at the end of the first quarter, and OL #73 Kawika Rogers stepped in at left guard for the rest of the game.
The Ducks also kept shuffling pieces in the secondary. Freshman DB #5 Davon Benjamin and Baylor transfer DB #15 Carl Williams split time at nickel in the first half, but neither settled in cleanly.
Benjamin was pulled after halftime following a touchdown allowed to Oklahoma State’s most productive receiver, while Williams still mixed in occasionally after the break. For most of the second half, Oregon moved CB #4 Brandon Finney inside to nickel and used CB #2 Na’eem Offord on the outside.
One other thing stood out: Oregon was extremely rigid about where its defensive backs lined up, separating them into boundary, field, nickel, and safety roles. In the “Y-set,” with one safety in the middle of the field, that deep role has gone almost entirely to DB #3 Koi Perich, who never came off the field Saturday. That may not be the best use of Perich’s skill set, and before Finney moved inside, it also gave Oklahoma State clearer chances to attack the nickel spot.
Compared with Week 1, there was much more rotation in this game, and the extreme heat almost certainly played a part. A fuller breakdown of the personnel usage is still to come later this week.
In Other News...
Dan Lanning Pushes Back On Oregon's Simplest Loss Narrative
The final offensive series will get replayed plenty after Oregons 39-31 loss to Oklahoma State, especially the fumble by Dierre Hill Jr. that stalled the Ducks at the worst possible time. But Dan Lanning was quick to push back on the idea that the game can be reduced to one play, pointing instead to a broader offensive effort that never found enough consistency to pull the Ducks through.
Hill still gave Oregon useful production with 74 rushing yards on 15 carries and two catches for 8 yards, but the bigger picture was harder to ignore. Lanning pointed to problems up front and an uneven passing day from Dante Moore as part of a larger offensive struggle, which is why the postgame conversation in Eugene is less about a single turnover and more about how many things needed to go right for the Ducks that simply did not. [Read more 🡒]
Arkansas Is About To See How Big This Week 3 Test Really Is
Week 2 gave college football plenty of movement at the top, and Oregon was part of the churn even without a statement win of its own. Texas rallied past Ohio State, Michigan took down Oklahoma and the Ducks came out of their loss to Oklahoma State with plenty of questions still attached, especially as the early AP Top 25 picture starts to settle around what teams have actually done on the field.
That makes the next test even more meaningful for Arkansas, which is about to learn just how much this Week 3 matchup can reshape the conversation around both programs. With the projected poll already sorting contenders from pretenders based on recent results, Oregons standing and the stakes around its next opponent are all tied together now, and the coming week should show whether last Saturday was a bump in the road or something more concerning. [Read more 🡒]
Oregons Loss Exposed A Contender Concern Fans Didnt Expect
Oregons recent loss to Oklahoma State laid out a few issues the Ducks cant ignore, and the most jarring part was how many areas faltered at once. The offensive line had trouble creating anything in the run game, while the defense spent too much of the night chasing answers in pass coverage and trying to hold up after Oklahoma State moved the ball with ease.
The red zone work stood out most because it turned a shaky performance into a game the Ducks never really controlled. Add in a pass rush that couldnt consistently disrupt the quarterback, and the loss starts to look less like a bad break and more like a warning sign about how much cleanup still needs to happen. [Read more 🡒]