It’s not particularly sexy and it won’t be something that catches fire with the Oregon fan base anytime soon, but the “drive for nine” – as in nine regular season wins – is on, and it’s a goal that the 2018 edition of Duck football should be pursuing with fervor.
Three to four weeks ago, rallying behind a “drive for nine” campaign would have likely been regarded as aiming too low, as the Ducks were fresh off a 30-27 overtime win over then no. 7-ranked Washington. The victory not only snapped a one-sided two-game losing skid versus the Huskies in which the Ducks were outscored 108-24 over that span, but it also served to readjust expectations for this Oregon team, which had been denied a win over a top 10 team the previous four years.
As it turns out, those readjusted expectations were in need of readjustment of their own. The Ducks dropped their next two games on the road at Washington State and at Arizona and looked like a team that was a pronounced shell of their former selves. Oregon stopped their two-game slide by stopping Chip Kelly and the listless UCLA Bruins this past Saturday, but the game did little to purge the bitter aftertaste that has lingered in the mouths of Duck supporters since the debacle in Pullman.
Offensively, the Ducks haven’t really progressed since the Washington game. As a matter of fact, by all reasonable measure, they’ve regressed. Sure, Oregon won 42-21 this past weekend in lopsided fashion, but that score was largely buoyed by special teams success (take a bow, Ugo Amadi and Blake Maimone), big plays (…you too, Dillon Mitchell and Tony Brooks-James), and significant field position advantages (…with a special thanks to Justin Hollins and UCLA’s Adarius Pickett). In fact, Oregon failed to mount anything close to resembling a sustained scoring drive with their starters in the game. Excluding offensive possessions that were benefited by a special teams play, defensive play, or explosion play, Oregon’s drives went as follows:
- 9 plays, 33 yards – Punt
- 5 plays, 33 yards – Punt
- 9 plays, 39 yards – Punt
- 5 plays, 20 yards – Punt
- 7 plays, 48 yards – Missed field goal
- 10 plays, 43 yards – Turnover on downs
- 7 plays, 6 yards – Punt
That’s seven possessions in which the offense failed to generate points. Seven scoreless possessions against what was ranked as the Pac-12 second-worst defense entering last week’s game. Some will argue that the explosion plays count for something, and they certainly do, but the issue for Oregon for the last several weeks has been the poor execution of a game plan that has been oddly headstrong all too frequently. With a quarterback in Justin Herbert that is as talented as any in the nation, this is a puzzling, if not completely concerning, trend.
And realistically, things haven’t been much better on defense either.
Oregon’s struggles defending the pass have been well documented this season, but their leakiness against the run has been a growing phenomenon dating back to the Cal game. In four of Oregon’s last five contests, the Ducks’ rush defense has allowed no fewer than 194 yards on the ground. The lone exception came against Washington State, which ranks dead last nationally (by a wide margin, mind you) in rush attempts per game (20.44).
The last two weeks have been particularly brutal for Oregon against the run, as Arizona’s J.J. Taylor and UCLA’s Joshua Kelley ran wild versus the Ducks, piling up 212 yards and 161 yards, respectively. And if that wasn’t bad enough, it only stands to get worse for the Oregon defense. With their depth at linebacker dwindling as a result of long term injuries to Isaac Slade-Matautia (shoulder) and Kaulana Apelu (leg), the Ducks will face three of the Pac-12’s top four rushers over the next three weeks in Utah’s Zach Moss, Arizona State’s Eno Benjamin, and Oregon State’s Jermar Jefferson.
A “Drive For Nine” campaign may not tour the Willamette Valley with frenzied fan fare and record merchandise sales, but given how the season has curiously unfolded for the Ducks the past few weeks, it should be celebrated as an improbable accomplishment given the trepidatious path that remains.