For Oregon Ducks, Selling New Offensive Vision is Crucial to Besting USC

The Spring Game featured plenty of downfield shots and that was completely intentional.

Duck fans got their first look at the new Oregon offense during the annual Spring Game, but it’s not just the fans the coaching staff wanted to impress.

The Oregon faithful will show up regardless. But the elite recruits are far from a guarantee. For a program like Oregon, one with National Championship aspirations, that talent level is a necessity. 

Make no mistake, the vertical passing attack shown off during the glorified scrimmage made one thing crystal clear: the Mario Cristobal offense is gone.

Oregon WR Seven McGee

Scott Boldt/Ducks Digest

Seven McGee runs after the catch in Oregon's spring football game.

"I love the offense. I feel like it's a Chip Kelly offense from back in the day," Seven  McGee said in spring practice. "Just utilizing everybody and just putting people in positions to win and create one-on-one matchups."

Shaking the notion of being a conservative rushing offense became even more critical following USC’s hiring of Lincoln Riley, one of the greatest offensive minds in college football. While the Trojans failed to live up to their historical standard under Clay Helton, the Ducks made unforeseen gains recruiting the West Coast. 

More often than not, if elite recruits were staying in the Pac-12, they were heading to Eugene.

However, since the hiring of Riley, the Trojans have a new-found traction out West, landing three five-star commitments in the 2023 class already. USC has been a sleeping giant within college football for years and Riley has reenergized that program.

It’s not all doom-and-gloom for Oregon though. Dan Lanning has been a dynamite recruiter in his coaching career and has already pulled off huge head-to-head wins against USC signing Jahlil Florence and Josh Conerly Jr.. 

Oregon Cornerback Jahlil Florence

Scott Boldt/Ducks Digest

Jahlil Florence goes through drills in Oregon spring practice.

Those recruiting wins were monumental victories where Lanning planted his flag and effectively stared down teams in the Pac-12 South. It may not have been the case last year, but the conference title should still run through Eugene year-in and year-out. 

But, both Florence and Conerly made sense to be Oregon leans. A cornerback would naturally be more attracted to playing for a head coach who helped lead the nation’s best defense in 2021 and Conerly was close with new Ducks offensive line coach Adrian Klemm. While they may be huge moments, they're not full-proof indicators of incoming successes among skill position players, an area where Riley's coveted offense excels in selling prospects with NFL aspirations. 

Oregon needs to make massive progress was on the offensive side of the ball after some putrid offenses recently. Despite having Joe Moorhead calling plays the last two seasons the offense was stagnant and boring for all of Cristobal’s tenure. Remember, he had Justin Herbert throwing screen after screen with some handoffs to a running back mixed in.

Former Oregon QB Justin Herbert

© Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

Justin Herbert throws a pass against the Wisconsin Badgers in the 2020 Rose Bowl.

While recruits watch a lot less college football than you would expect, Oregon could only coast on the offensive reputation from the Chip Kelly years for so long. Additionally, the transfer portal granting immediately eligibility to players allows highly-touted prospects to leave once they realize the offense wasn't what they were sold during their recruitment. 

For example, Mycah Pittman stated the run-first offense was a key reason he decided to transfer midseason.

Thanks to the elite recruiting of the old staff, the 2022 Ducks roster has as much offensive talent as Eugene has seen since Marcus Mariota hoisted the Heisman. Plus, Lanning and his staff have been able to keep many key players at Oregon, including Seven McGee and Sean Dollars, who announced his intent to transfer before returning, a good indication they can sell an enticing offensive vision.

Oregon RB Sean Dollars

Scott Boldt/Ducks Digest

Sean Dollars runs for the Yellow Team in Oregon's annual spring football game. 

Since Lanning’s hiring, he and Offensive Coordinator Kenny Dillingham have stated they want to field an aggressive, vertical passing attack. But Ducks fans heard that with Moorhead, only see passes behind the line of scrimmage on third-and-long.

It’s one thing to declare something, it’s another to do it. That’s why seeing the Ducks grant downfield opportunities to all three scholarship quarterbacks was a welcomed sight during the spring game. While no single quarterback stood out as the next Heisman winner, at least one of them should be a quality starter who gives Oregon a fighting chance at a conference title.

As long as Dillingham can scheme players open and grant opportunities to the dynamic skill position players like McGee, Bryon Cardwell, Troy Franklin and more yet to break out, the Ducks will go back to a world where its mascot leaves Autzen Stadium having done hundreds of pushups. 

That vision coming to fruition is crucial in bringing elite recruits to Eugene, and after the Spring Game, the program's trending in that direction. 

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