Oregon’s Offense Needs to be Explosive to Compete With Ohio State

The Ducks have talented veterans that need to take it up a notch come Saturday.

In year two of Joe Moorhead as Oregon’s offensive coordinator, there was a lot of hope that Oregon’s offense was going to look different from year's past, particularly with regard to explosive plays. But in the first game against Fresno State, the offense lacked big plays and looked very similar to the Marcus Arroyo years.

Now, it’s very possible that the Ducks were holding some things back for the Ohio State game. If that was the case, it still almost cost them a game. If this is truly the offense, Oregon can't reach its goals unless we see some change. 

Mario Cristobal touched on the offensive game plan to try and take more shots down the field.

“It’s always in the game plan.” Cristobal said of the approach against Fresno State. “You want to stretch a defense vertically and horizontally. I think sometimes it’s a misconception when it’s like it wasn’t in the game plan. It’s always part of the game plan and we planned for it. Sometimes it didn't work out because it got taken away or maybe we ran out of time to throw the football. We have confidence in it, and we’re going to continue to emphasize it and get better results.”

When push came to shove and Oregon needed to win the game, they went to who they’ve gone to many times in the last few seasons when they've needed a play: senior running back CJ Verdell.

“He’s critically important.” Cristobal said. “You talk about establishing an identity. You want to be physical. You want to be balanced. Then you want to score points. The key to making sure you continue to elevate in this industry is you want to continue to evolve.”

The running back tandem of Verdell and Travis Dye have been together for three years now. They're both solid backs that complement each other well and are clearly a major component of Oregon's offensive attack. Moving forward, the duo will be key to the offense finding its groove and reaching its potential, particularly with regard to producing explosive plays.

“CJ is a huge part of that because they come in the run game, they come in the pass game, they come sometimes in the form of when he’s protecting to get a ball off.” Cristobal said. “Him and Travis [Dye], we like to speak of them in the same sentence because those two together, they've played a lot of football for us. We’ve depended on them in big games and big moments, and they’ve come through. Certainly, I know they’ll have a great week of preparation.”

If Oregon is going to go into the Shoe this Saturday and make it a game against the Buckeyes, the Ducks will need to do more than just run and dump the ball off to the running backs. Anthony Brown will need to be push the ball down the field to keep the defense honest. 

Cristobal wants to see more from the offense in terms of execution and production, and he believes the playmakers are in place and the opportunities are there.

“Wrinkles come with that, schematic changes come with that, coaching changes and adaptions.” Cristobal said. “We never want to lose our physicality. We certainly want to be more explosive all the time. We didn’t get the explosive plays that we thought we were capable of having in game one. They’re there to be had. We have to improve upon that. It starts with basics, fundamentals, technique, and executing.”

Only time will tell if Oregon’s offense is in a place where they can compete with Ohio State and it will be the litmus test of the season. Verdell’s experience in big-time games in big moments will be needed, as well as a passing attack we haven’t seen from the Ducks in a long time.

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Cristobal not concerned about offensive line rotation

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