Inside Read 3-2-1: Oregon’s possibilities are becoming decisions

Today on the DSC Inside Read, a look at the state of where Oregon stands following their second scrimmage of fall camp.

THREE OBSERVATIONS:

3. I liked where the defensive improvement showed up

I do not know that there is much value in simply saying the defense "won" the second scrimmage. One side has to come out looking better in a closed practice. Without seeing the film, it is hard to know whether that means the defense was dominant, the offense had a bad day, or a handful of plays tilted the whole thing one direction.

What I did find interesting was Dan Lanning's point about where the defense had success. He specifically mentioned third-down stops, red-zone stops, and takeaways, all of which have been part of the discussion around this defense since camp started.

Chris Hampton has talked quite a bit about finishing. Oregon was able to create pressure last season, but too often the quarterback got away, or a disruptive play still left the offense on schedule. The red zone was also an area Hampton made pretty clear had to get better, so hearing that the defense was getting off the field on third down and making stops once the offense got close to the goal line caught my attention more than hearing which side won the scrimmage.

I can't say Oregon has fixed anything yet. Lanning also said, "I think we still got to get better against the run based on what I saw today." Given the expectations surrounding this defensive front, I wouldn't gloss over it just because the rest of the report was positive.

Still, if you are looking for progress from the first part of camp, I think this is probably one of the better places to find it. The Ducks have talked about finishing defensive plays and drives for most of August, and on Saturday, they seemed to do a better job of both.

2. Special teams looked a lot more comfortable Saturday

I thought special teams was one of the areas worth watching closely coming out of the first scrimmage because there was enough inconsistency there to wonder how quickly everything would settle. Saturday sounded much more like what Oregon probably expected when camp began.

Rocco Graziano went 4-for-4, Gage Hurych also kicked well, there were three attempts from beyond 50 yards, and Lanning said the punt locations were better. Oregon also did not repeat the kickoff mistake from the first scrimmage, and overall there was just a much cleaner tone to the way Lanning talked about the group.

"I don't think it's anything that these guys are doing different," Lanning said. "Maybe it's a level of focus when they're out there."

I actually think that answer makes sense when you look at the way Joe Lorig has talked about developing these specialists. Oregon did not wait until Atticus Sappington left before starting to prepare Hurych for the job. Lorig has talked about creating pressure situations for him in practice and getting him actual game work so that his first meaningful kick would not also be his first meaningful experience.

Bailey Ettridge is a little different, but there was a plan there too. Oregon liked his Australian football background, his age and the variety he can bring to the punting game, especially after James Ferguson-Reynolds gave them so many different ways to change field position.

None of that means the Ducks suddenly have these jobs completely figured out, and I would not go that far after one clean scrimmage. But I also do not think replacing two proven specialists looks quite as uncertain as it did a few weeks ago, especially if the operation continues to look like it did Saturday.

1. I am starting to think we have been asking the wrong question about Evan Stewart

We have probably reached the point where there is not much reason to keep asking whether Stewart is having a good camp. Enough people have said it, Lanning has continued to say it, and Stewart added another big play during the game-on-the-line period Saturday.

I think the better question now is what Oregon wants the receiver room to look like around him. Ross Douglas gave a pretty interesting answer Friday when he said he does not necessarily think the Ducks need a traditional No. 1 receiver. The more I thought about that over the weekend, the more I liked what he was getting at.

That does not mean Stewart cannot be the best receiver on the team. I would not be surprised if he leads Oregon in catches and yards, and there may be games where Dante Moore looks his direction over and over because the matchup is there.

But I do not think Oregon wants to enter a game, ahead oftime, deciding that Stewart needs 8 or 10 catches to justify his role. If the defense is giving Jeremiah McClellan a matchup, or De'Corian Moore is getting space, or one of the tight ends is creating a problem inside, then the offense should be good enough to take what is there.

Douglas has also spent a lot of time talking about everything receivers do when they are not getting the ball. Blocking matters, route detail matters, and being able to line up in more than one place matters, especially in an offense that wants to move people around without changing personnel every time it changes the picture.

That may be the most important part of this receiver depth. Oregon can have Stewart playing like a No. 1 without having to structure the whole offense around proving that he is one. I think that makes the group more difficult to defend if everybody is willing to live with the ball moving around.

TWO QUESTIONS:

2. When does the offensive line stop experimenting and start settling in?

I still think the offensive line is the biggest question on this team, though it is not the same question we were asking when camp started. Back then, there was some concern about whether Oregon really had enough players ready to replace three starters without going into the portal for a major rebuild.

I am not really worried about whether they can find five players anymore. Lanning sounds like the staff already has a pretty good idea who the realistic group is, and Saturday he said some players have "made it more clear with the way that they compete and their consistency."

The part that is still unresolved is how those players fit together. A'lique Terry has used the word "cohesion" several times, talked about finding the right pairs, and said that they would eventually start "gluing" the group together once people separated themselves.

That is where I think we are now. Having six, seven, or eight offensive linemen capable of playing is a good problem, and over the course of a long season Oregon is probably going to need most of them at some point.

But offensive line is also different from almost every other position because it is so dependent on the guy next to you. A tackle can play well individually, and the protection can still break down if he and the guard are not seeing the same thing. The same is true inside when the center is making calls, and everybody has to react almost immediately.

I think Terry has had the luxury of moving people around because Oregon wanted to find out how much depth it really had. Once the opponent work begins, I would expect that to start changing because the best five or six need enough repetitions together for some of those decisions to become automatic.

There is still time to do that, but we are also getting close enough to the season that I would like to hear the conversation move from who can play to who is playing together.

1. Is the run defense actually something to worry about?

Right now, I say no, but I've noted Lanning's comment for future reference. He was complimentary of the defense as a whole and then still made a point of saying they need to get better against the run based on what he saw in the scrimmage.

We have no idea what that looked like. There are no rushing totals, no film, and no way to know whether he was talking about a couple of bad fits or something that showed up throughout the practice.

That makes it almost impossible to turn into a real concern right now. I would rather wait and see if it comes up again during the week before putting much weight behind it.

The reason I am watching it at all is that the defensive front has been one of the most consistently praised groups on the roster. Oregon has a lot of size, a lot of experience, and enough depth to rotate players without immediately giving away much in terms of talent.

If that group is going to be as good as everyone thinks it can be, it needs to control the run and create problems in the passing game. One comment after one scrimmage is not enough to change how I feel about the group, but if Lanning or Hampton is still talking about run fits later this week. I think it becomes a little more notable.

For now, I would file it under something to watch rather than something to worry about. There is a pretty big difference between the two this time of year.

ONE PREDICTION:

1. By the end of this week, most of the important depth-chart decisions will probably be made even if Oregon never tells us what they are

Lanning said the Ducks will start preparing for opponents later this week. However, he also made it clear they are still primarily focused on Oregon right now. The transition is when many of the competitions we have been discussing all month will quietly become much less open.

The backup quarterback is a good example. Oregon could spread repetitions around early in camp because Dylan Raiola, Brock Thomas, and Akili Smith Jr. all needed work. Still, once the staff is preparing an actual game plan, somebody has to get enough snaps to be ready if Moore has to leave the field.

The same thing applies on the offensive line. If Terry is still rotating everybody equally deep into game week, I would be more concerned than I am now because the likely starters need work together, even if Oregon plans to use six or seven linemen over the course of a game.

Receiver and defensive rotations will probably become a little clearer for the same reason. It is one thing to say a player deserves to be in the mix during fall camp. It is another thing to decide that he is the guy you want on the field on third-and-8 when the opponent gives you a particular look.

I do not expect Lanning to walk into a press conference and give everybody a clean two-deep. That has never really been how Oregon operates, and there is no reason to help an opponent by making those decisions public before they need to be.

We will start hearing the decisions in the way coaches talk. Players who were "competing" a week ago will start being described as consistent, dependable, or ready for a specific role. Some of the competitions that generated long answers earlier in camp will probably start getting much shorter ones.

Oregon spent most of August trying to figure out how manyplayers could help this team. By the end of this week, I think the staff will have a much better idea of which ones it plans to trust when the games actually count.