Lanning: “I Feel We can Play Better”
By Ken Woody
Dan Lanning was upfront with his assessment of Oregon’s performance after the Ducks’ 39-18 win over Maryland: “We had good energy and enthusiasm, but we weren’t focused, we put ourselves in bad spots on defense.” He could point to eight penalties on the defense as the bad news; but two sacks, one fumble recovery returned for a touchdown, nine pass break ups, two interceptions and seven quarterback hurries was the good news.
The Ducks make another long trip to play Wisconsin in Madison, with the Badgers having a two-game losing streak to Iowa and Penn State. Traditionally, Wisconsin has been a run heavy, hard-hitting defensive squad, but under new head coach Luke Fickell, the Badgers have a 5-4 season record, which is a disappointment as his offense has inconsistency at quarterback and have an undersized (by Big Ten standards) defensive front.
It would be a big mistake to take the Badgers for granted, however. They play much better at home before a rabid crowd of fans who have nothing else to do but root on their outstanding volleyball team and wait for Sunday when the beloved Packers play.
The defense has been relatively steady, despite their four defeats. They allow only 21 points per game while the offense has averaged 25. Playing at home, they were ahead of Penn State at halftime and it took an interception for a touchdown to push the Nittany Lions ahead to stay, 28-13. The Badgers play tough before a loud, sold-out crowd that will work to give their team an advantage just like Duck fans do at Autzen Stadium.
The secondary has two All-Big Ten players returning: safety Hunter Wohler and cornerback Ricardo Hallman. The defense depends on a good number of players and a creative blitz package that is capable of putting any offense on its heels, although the Badgers have only been able to pick off three passes. Still, the defense gives up only 165 yards per game rushing and 159 yards passing.
Two quarterbacks have run the show and both have had success while also having had some tough times. Miami transfer Tyler Van Dyke left when Cam Ward took over his job to battle sophomore Braedyn Locke who started three games last year. As of late, it appears the job is Locke’s, although he has given up eight interceptions against eight touchdown passes. Locke suffers from a common “young gun” mentality: he has forced the ball to covered receivers because his lateral vision is inconsistent; hence the interceptions that have led to turnarounds in games that were even.
Wisconsin always seems to have outstanding running backs and this year have Oklahoma transfer Tawee Walker who has rushed for 699 yards and 10 touchdowns and Cade Yacamelli who has averaged over eight yards per carry. The Badgers’ veteran offensive line is one of the few offensive lines in the country to have the same starters for every game of the season. This experience could be vital for their upset hopes.
Quarterback Dillon Gabriel is set on re-establishing his dominance in passing after his lowest performance of the season against the Terrapins who have the poorest pass defense in the conference. Although he broke an NCAA record for touchdowns, he was held to only 183 yards with a low 68 per-cent completion rate. The Ducks did not allow a sack, but Gabriel had several off-target throws that brought the offense to a duckwalk at times. He was able to move the offense 75 yards in under two minutes before the half to stretch the Ducks’ lead to 21-10 which made for a more comfortable halftime break than what the team might have expected.
Noah Whittington had his best game of the year, rushing for 77 yards and will welcome back Jordan James, the leading ground gainer (699 yards), who suffered a minor injury against Maryland. Wisconsin gives up 165 yards per game on the ground while gaining 174.
After their tenth straight victory, Lanning said, “It’s a poor, poor, poor performance for us. I feel we can play better although we have to give Maryland credit, coming off a bye week. This week, in particular, we emphasized the importance of turnovers.” The Ducks responded with two interceptions, a recovered fumble returned for a 62-yard touchdown by Tysheem Johnson, and a turnover on downs.
The team’s performance reflects the emphasis of the coaches during practice. Normally the team practices over two hours per day, but at this stage of the season, that can be too much for tired legs. Rick Neuheisel, former head coach and current expert commentator says teams should be practicing no more than one hour and 40 minutes according to his research with national champion coaches Nick Saban and Kirby Smart. Coaches can accomplish more by mixing in mental practice that saves the pounding and fatigue of full speed practices.
It will be interesting to see how energetic the Ducks are for this game in a hostile environment. They are averaging 36 points per game and allowing only 16. That is an advantage over the Badgers that has gamblers betting Oregon wins by 24 points. It’s going to be a wild house in Madison. It’s sold out and Wisconsin boasts its history of upending number-one ranked teams who dare to cross their threshold. The home team has that going for them, plus they are coming off a bye.
Gabriel needs to be better and the defense needs to force more turnovers. The Ducks need to play better than they did last week; they are facing a more talented team than the one that frustrated them in Autzen Stadium.
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 conducts a coaching clinic, free to all, at the 6th Street Grill every Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. during the season. Plays from Oregon games are analyzed, there are scouting reports for opponents, and highlights from referees; all to learn and enjoy football and understand why the Ducks win or lose.
Questions and comments welcomed.
Contact Ken at: woody8783@comcast.net
