If there is a reason for USC football fans to be very optimistic about the upcoming game against Oregon, it's more than just the Ducks' substandard performance. Oregon's coaching staff, with new offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer aboard, might be out of its depth.
Mike Ostrom of Duck Sports Central has more on this:
"Oregon Tipping a Run or Pass - This isn’t sign stealing; this is good old fashioned film study and insight. Oklahoma State saw something on film and the result was Cowboy players knowing whether a run or pass was coming.
"'We were noticing earlier in the week that their (Oregon’s) offensive line had tendencies that helped us key into run (or) pass and a couple areas we could take advantage of,' said senior linebacker Tate Romney,
'and obviously our defensive line was keyed into that. That was one big thing that gave us a big advantage.' What were those tendencies? 'Just their offensive line had a few stance indicators for most of the time run/pass,' said Romney."
Oregon and Dan Lanning did not have these problems under previous offensive coordinator Will Stein. Lanning had highly professional offensive coordinators the past few years with Stein and predecessor Kenny Dillingham calling plays. The drop-off from them to Drew Mehringer seems steep, and it's a big reason not only for Oregon's decline, but for USC's increased chances of being able to beat the Ducks later this September.
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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Fresh evidence Dan Lanning's new offensive coordinator is struggling
