November 19, 2012

Grades and Analysis: Offense

The Oregon Ducks met the Stanford Cardinal in Autzen Stadium on Saturday and suffered their first loss of the season.

Summary Oregon 14 - Stanford 17 C+:

The Duck defense played very well despite being short-handed neither the Ducks' offense nor their special teams were very special. The offense was out of sync and out of rhythm all game long against the Cardinal, in part because of an exceptional performance by Stanford's defense, in part because uninspired performances by many of its offensive stars and in part because of a series of boneheaded plays made at exactly the wrong time. Put them all together and you had Duck fans leaving Autzen stadium shaking their heads for the first time in a long time.

Offense D (14 points, 405 yards, 20 first downs, 4-17 third down)

AJ: Nobody watching Oregon play on Saturday would recognize the offense as the one they had fielded the other games this season. The passing game was off-stride, the running game was getting out-muscled, the play-calling frustrating. Everybody knows what the group is capable of which is probably what made Saturday so surprising. It all started up front with the Cardinal loading up the box and single covering on the outside when the Ducks put more than three receivers wide. The Ducks were not able to take advantage of the single coverage, nor did they seem to recognize that Stanford was not going to give up the stretch play at the expense of giving away space behind the linebackers.

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