Top storylines for Oregon-Arizona State as Ducks take on Kenny Dillingham

It’s the final stretch of this 2023 college football season and with two games remaining on the schedule, Oregon is sitting in a most intriguing spot -- in full control of its path to the Pac-12 championship game and likely the College Football Playoff if it wins out.

That said, the No. 6-ranked Ducks (9-1, 6-1 Pac-12) still can’t look too far ahead.

Even though Arizona State (3-7, 2-5) doesn’t present the toughest challenge on paper this week, the Sun Devils will have the Ducks' full attention and respect -- for one big reason above all.

Former Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham is in his first season as head coach at ASU and despite the rebuilding project he's undertaking, he's kept the Sun Devils competitive in some notable games -- leading Oklahoma State into the second half, drawing to within a touchdown against USC midway through the fourth quarter, losing by 3 to Cal and Colorado, holding Washington to just 15 points and then wins over Washington State (38-27) and UCLA (17-7) in two of the last three weeks.

Dillingham was excellent in his only year in Eugene, was key in bringing QB Bo Nix to Oregon and elevating his game while helping the Ducks return to being known as one of the most electrifying offenses in the country.

It hasn't been easy for him at Arizona State, seeing the conference collapse, enduring a self-imposed bowl ban due to previous NCAA violations and having the school’s athletic director resign.

The Sun Devils have already endured a six-game losing streak this season, but as of late there’s been a change.

Three of Arizona State’s last four games have been impressive. The aforementioned wins against Washington State and UCLA and the 15-7 road defeat against the No. 5 ranked Huskies. Dillingham has his guys playing their best ball yet and won’t go down without a fight on Saturday -- especially against the Ducks.

Dan Lanning and a handful of players spoke with media this week prior to the final road game of the season. Here are some of the most intriguing storylines for Week 12.

The biggest storyline for this matchup in the desert is obviously the connection to Dillingham. Nearly everyone on the team has some sort of relationship with Oregon’s former OC. He has a long history with Lanning and Nix, in particular.

They talked about that connection this week.

“I think his willingness to meet you where you are and coach you from there. I think his story where he kinda had to work for everything he’s gotten I think has really helped put him into a position to see the perspective of every quarterback and see where they are and that’s something I really think he does well,” Nix said. “Now, he is the opponent and he’s saying the same thing about us. It is cool to play against him, but I just think it’s another opportunity for us to go out there and put up a complete game.”

Dillingham's creative play-calling and ability to get his players to give full effort will be on full display on Saturday, no doubt.

“They consistently have great effort on film,” Lanning said. “I think they play disciplined football, they’re not a team that really hurts themselves. And that, you know, they have wrinkles each week that make them tough to defend.”

Arizona State has used four different quarterbacks this season -- for most of the season it's been Trenton Bourguet (1,344 passing yards, 1 TD, 4 INTs) -- with running back Cameron Skattebo also occasionally getting attempts at throwing the ball. Dillingham finds ways to get the best out of his players against specific schemes. Lanning and his defense have seen a lot of what Dillingham brings to the table, but he still can dial up some big challenges.

“Coach Dillingham is not only a good coach, but he’s a great person,” Jackson Powers-Johnson said. “It’s just good to see him.”

Last week’s matchup against USC was Oregon’s second-lowest rushing game of the season. With Nix passing for a season-high 412 yards, the ground game was held to 140. Even with that being the case, the Ducks are still averaging just over 200 rushing yards a game all while having a Heisman-caliber quarterback lead the way. The skill players are doing their thing, but so is the offensive line.

“We’ve had a lot of great players come through here. Honestly, I think it’s the players and the coaching,” Powers-Johnson said. “You look at guys like Alex [Forsythe] and Penei [Sewell] and Tyrell [Crosby], guys like that — those are really special guys. It comes with the expectation when you come to Oregon. We’ve notoriously been known for speed and we’ve been known for airing it out, but you can't air it out without having a good offensive line.”

With all of the new faces coming in during the offseason, the offensive line was arguably the biggest question mark of the season. Four starters from a season ago are gone, but you wouldn’t be able to tell that there is any drop-off. Oregon has the fewest sacks allowed in the country with just 4 all season.

“For us to go from inevitably the narrative was that we were the weakness of the team, we had the biggest question marks, and everybody was also worried about what’s the offensive line going to look like, how's the fluidity going to be? We respond week in and week out,” Marcus Harper said. “We’re just going to keep on that legacy of high-IQ O-line play here at Oregon.”

The Ducks have been known to be an offensive powerhouse for a while now. The Harrington’s, Dixon’s, Mariota’s -- and now Nix -- have helped build up the foundation for what an Oregon offense is supposed to look like. This year, the defense has deservedly been receiving its flowers as well.

“We’ve got more depth and more guys that can play at a high level,” Lanning said. “You have good run defense it doesn’t really matter if you have horrible pass defense right? If you have a great pass defense it doesn’t really matter if you have bad run defense. We have to be balanced from that approach. But if you can take away a team’s running ability that makes them left-handed and lets you play a lot different.”

The Ducks have been able to hold opponents out of the end zone, have been able to create turnovers, but arguably the most impressive thing they’ve done has been stopping the run. Oregon is ranked No. 10 in the country in rushing defense, only letting opponents average 94.7 yards on the ground a game.

“I think it’s just the second year in this defense,” Popo Aumavae said. “Everybody’s comfortable. We’re able to maneuver things off of it whether it's a little adjustment in game or on the sideline. I think it’s just being able to understand what we’re bringing to the table. We have a call menu no matter what. Everybody goes through that. Everybody understands that this is what we’ll run in this situation.”

When a big-time school has a head coaching position open up, there’s always going to be names thrown into the mix. That’s exactly what happened to Lanning when Texas A&M announced the firing of Jimbo Fisher. Lanning, of course, was asked about the rumors on Monday night and said there's "zero chance" he'll be coaching anywhere else next season.

“I think it’s refreshing. As a player those jobs get opened up and it kind of scares you a little bit,” Powers-Johnson said. “To see coach come out and say all that stuff and say how much he loves Oregon — it’s awesome. Having a coach blatantly say ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ I feel proud to be on this team. I feel proud to be coached by him.”

The players, coaches, fans, and city have all bought into the Lanning era of Oregon football and have not been disappointed. The Ducks are clicking on all cylinders during the final stretch, recruiting classes have been elite, and Lanning is building something serious at this “progrum.”

“I mean, you are what you do consistently, right? And I’ve been fortunate to be around some phenomenal people,” Lanning said. “And yeah, loyalty means something to me. It’ll always mean something to me.”