Well, that's more like it.
After a few weeks of floundering, the Oregon Ducks finally found some offensive identity under new play-caller Jay Johnson. Oregon was struggling to move the ball down the field under former offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer, but with Johnson calling the plays, the Ducks look like their former selves.
According to Oregon head coach Dan Lanning, the Ducks were much more aggressive against Northwestern. Under Mehringer, Oregon was playing it safe on offense. But the Ducks are not known for playing it safe, especially Dan Lanning.
"This game was about letting it hang. You didn't see it, but we called a halfback pass. We called a reverse. We took a shot. We pushed the ball down the field. We threw a fade down there in the red
area and said, 'Let's go let our guy win,'" Lanning said.
The most obvious example of this was when Oregon had the ball, and it was fourth and goal on the 2-yard line. The Ducks were down by three at the time, and early in the season, they probably would have kicked a field goal to tie it. But this was not the day to play it safe and go for the tie. Oregon went for the jugular and scored a touchdown to go up 27-23 with 14 minutes left in the game. It might have been a difficult decision early in the year, but on this day, the decision was quite easy, according to Lanning.
"There was fourth-and-two down there at the 2-yard line, and you know, our mindset was, 'Hey, we're either going to punch this in, or they're going to have to drive 99 yards, bringing it back.' And obviously, we were able to punch it in, and that was a big, big, big play in that game," he said. "I thought Jay did a great job of having a feel for the game as well.”
Oregon is going to need more of the same next week as they go to Ohio State and for the rest of the season. If the Ducks want any shot at a playoff berth, they're going to need a lot more of the same. This was definitely a good start.
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: How Oregon found some identity under new play-caller Jay Johnson
