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The bad news for the Oregon Ducks as they look to get their season back on track Saturday against Nebraska: Dante Moore is once again listed as out.
The good news?
Well, things can’t get much worse for Oregon’s offense than they were last week in its 17-15 loss to UCLA.
There were the seven turnovers. There were Dylan Raiola’s 43 passing yards and the pair of failed two-point attempts.
And it was the latest example of a larger pattern that has emerged in offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer’s first year at the helm.
I went back and looked at the debut seasons of Oregon’s offensive coordinators since Scott Frost took over for Mark Helfrich in 2013. The numbers are pretty staggering when you compare each coordinator’s first four games against FBS-level competition.
Mehringer’s offense ranks last with 30.3 points per game, last in total offense (388.5 yards per game) and its 105 rushing yards per game isn’t just last — it’s last by a whopping 91 yards per game.
Here are the numbers:
Scott Frost, 2013: 4-0; 57.5 points, 595.0 total yards, 294.8 rushing yards and 300.3 passing yards per game.
Matt Lubick, 2016: 1-3; 36.8 points, 509.5 total yards, 266.5 rushing yards and 243.0 passing yards per game.
Marcus Arroyo and Mario Cristobal (co-OCs), 2017: 3-1; 42.8 points, 496.0 total yards, 239.0 rushing yards and 257.0 passing yards per game.
Marcus Arroyo, 2018: 3-1; 41.5 points, 489.0 total yards, 196.0 rushing yards and 293.0 passing yards per game.
Joe Moorhead, 2020: 3-1; 38.5 points, 491.8 total yards, 202.3 rushing yards and 289.5 passing yards per game.
Kenny Dillingham, 2022: 3-1; 33.3 points, 472.8 total yards, 220.3 rushing yards and 252.5 passing yards per game.
Will Stein, 2023: 4-0; 44.3 points, 515.0 total yards, 197.0 rushing yards and 318.0 passing yards per game.
Drew Mehringer, 2026: 2-2; 30.3 points, 388.5 total yards, 105.0 rushing yards and 283.5 passing yards per game.
The Ducks are hoping, however, that Saturday will kick-start an offense that would rather not make this kind of history.
“There’s going to be some changes, there’s going to be some differences in the way that we operate and what we do and there already is in the way we’ve operated this week,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. “As far as revealing like how we’ll do that, what things look like, I’m not going to share that with you guys.”
What a tease.
The timeline feels off
Look, Oregon has a lot going for it.
Its roster still has talent. It’s still in the Big Ten. It has that massive new practice facility slowly coming toward completion.
But after Oregon’s 17-15 loss to UCLA, one where the Ducks looked dismal in front of Phil Knight, I wondered in my Sunday Duck Report whether Dan Lanning and his staff are facing more pressure than they should.
The real numbers
We’ve all seen it: an announced sellout that doesn’t quite feel like one.
And now, we have the numbers to prove it.
A new story from the Oregon Journalism Project found that ticket scan data show that 1 in 5 people holding Ducks tickets last season didn’t show up. The Ducks’ actual average attendance was 46,696 per game.
As the story details, it’s not just Oregon, though.
Last season, for example, Oregon State University’s announced attendance at home games at Reser Stadium averaged 30,145. In fact, barely 19,000 fans filled the seats, an average no-show rate of 37%.
A kick of a second career
Oregon’s punter isn’t just a 28-year-old sophomore.
Bailey Ettridge is a 28-year-old sophomore who is just getting his toes wet in his second career. After spending 10 years as a welder back home in Australia, Ettridge is in his second season of college football, where he was just named the Ray Guy Award’s national punter of the week.
While personal accolades don’t replace team success for Ettridge, the Geelong native doesn’t have to look beyond Oregon’s practice facility to see how far he’s come.
Inside look
The Traffic Report
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QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I would much rather do this than weld.”
— Oregon punter Bailey Ettridge
UPCOMING GAMES
THURSDAY, OCT. 15
- Men’s tennis: ITA Northwest Regionals (through Tuesday), Seattle
- Men’s basketball vs. Seattle (exhibition), 7 p.m., B1G+
FRIDAY, OCT. 16
- Women’s soccer vs. No. 25 Michigan, 6 p.m., B1G+
- Volleyball vs. No. 18 Indiana, 6 p.m., B1G+
SATURDAY, OCT. 17
- Football vs. Nebraska, 8 p.m., FOX
SUNDAY, OCT. 18
- Softball vs. Western Washington (doubleheader), 11 a.m.
- Volleyball vs. Rutgers, 1 p.m., Big Ten Network
MONDAY, OCT. 19
- Men’s golf: Saint Mary’s Invitational (through Wednesday), Seaside, California
- Women’s golf: Abilene Christian Intercollegiate (through Wednesday), Granbury, Texas, Golf Channel (1-4 p.m. daily)
TUESDAY, OCT. 20
- Women’s basketball vs. Bushnell (exhibition), 6 p.m., B1G+
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21
- Men’s basketball at Utah (exhibition), 5:30 p.m., ESPN+
STORIES I’m WORKING ON
Exhibition season is here for the men’s and women’s basketball teams. Next week we’re going to take a look at how these rosters are shaping up.
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See you on Saturday for the Big Ten after dark,
Tyson
