Saturday’s loss to Illinois didn’t just knock Oregon to 4-3. It pushed the Ducks further away from the kind of season fans thought they were signing up for when the year began with Dante Moore back after a deep playoff run. What once looked like a playoff path now feels like a season that has slipped well off course.
There are plenty of reasons Oregon’s offense has fallen apart, and the source of those problems is obvious enough. Moore has been out with a concussion since the first half of the USC game.
Jeremiah McClellan has been injured. Evan Stewart has also dealt with injury, and Stewart along with two other receivers were seemingly suspended for Saturday’s game.
Those are real obstacles. But they do not absolve Drew Mehringer.
Mehringer has not just had a difficult hand; he has been part of the problem. Even before Moore went down, Oregon’s offense was already showing cracks. Since then, the absence of a top-end quarterback has only made Mehringer’s flaws more visible, especially in how he handles play calling.
The Illinois game put that on full display. Oregon was missing Moore, McClellan, Evan Stewart, Messiah Hampton, and Jalen Lott, and with the passing game so limited, the Ducks should have leaned hard on the run.
The backs were producing. Jordon Davison averaged 6.6 yards per carry, Dierre Hill Jr. averaged 6.4, and Brandon Smith averaged 5.5.
Yet the trio combined for only 29 carries, while Dylan Raiola threw the ball 41 times.
That imbalance kept showing up. Oregon would build momentum on the ground, then bog down after getting overly creative with the calls or putting the ball back in Raiola’s hands. The clearest head-scratcher came late in the third quarter, when Mehringer dialed up a strange jet sweep to Dakorien Moore and left the entire offensive line watching.
This wasn’t just a bad day. It was another reminder that Mehringer hasn’t found a way to generate points or create explosive plays when the margin for error is thin.
Good coordinators adjust. They find answers.
They squeeze production out of what they have. Mehringer hasn’t done that, and if Oregon wants to contend for championships, that has to matter to Dan Lanning.
He might be a fine coordinator somewhere else. At Oregon, though, if the standard is championship football, this season has made the case that Mehringer isn’t the answer.
In Other News...
Bo Nix And Bucky Irving Kept Oregons NFL Buzz Alive
Former Oregon standouts kept the Ducks pro pipeline in the spotlight over the weekend, with Bo Nix and Bucky Irving both turning in performances that will resonate back in Eugene. Nix sparked the Denver Broncos with a 62-yard touchdown run and finished with 222 passing yards and a touchdown, while Irving gave the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a jolt on the ground with 106 rushing yards and two scores.
Tez Johnson also found the end zone for Tampa Bay and added rushing yards, adding another layer to Oregons presence across the league. On the defensive side, Dillon Thieneman and Noah Sewell helped the Chicago Bears in their win over the New England Patriots, a reminder that the Ducks NFL footprint is stretching well beyond the usual spotlight names. [Read more 🡒]
Oregons Scoring Problem Just Put Dan Lanning Under Real Pressure
After a 21-10 loss to Illinois, Oregon made a change on the offensive side that had been building for weeks, parting ways with offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer in his first season on the job. For a program that came into the year expecting more from its attack, the move underscored how quickly patience can disappear when the offense stalls and the losses start to pile up.
Dan Lanning did not immediately name a replacement play-caller, leaving the Ducks with an obvious next question as they try to steady things before the season slips further. The timing makes the decision as much about urgency as accountability, and it puts the spotlight squarely on how Oregon plans to fix an offense that has struggled to find consistency. [Read more 🡒]
Oregons Trip To Ohio State Suddenly Feels Like A Real Opportunity
The calendar has finally put Oregons visit to Ohio State on the board, with the Big Ten announcing kickoff time and TV details for the November 7 matchup. It is a game that already carried plenty of weight, but the atmosphere around it has shifted noticeably in recent days as both teams head into it with questions that were not on the table when the schedule was first drawn up.
Ohio State will have to adjust without starting quarterback Julian Sayin, who is out indefinitely with a shoulder injury, and backup Luke Fahey is expected to get the nod. Oregon, meanwhile, comes in unranked at 4-3 after parting ways with offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer, but Dylan Raiolas recent improvement has at least given the Ducks a clearer path into a game that now feels far more open than it did a week ago. [Read more 🡒]