The Sunday Duck Report: Hard lessons, man

Dan Lanning laid it out pretty clearly: Not everyone gets second chances. Not in life and especially not in college football, where one afternoon of bad play can change the trajectory of a career and, possibly, a program.

And make no mistake, Dylan Raiola deserved the hook last week against UCLA, a game where 18 points at Autzen Stadium would have kept the sky from falling in Eugene.

The Ducks didn’t get that. Raiola got benched. And Oregon prepared for Nebraska with the one-time Cornhusker and former five-star recruit on the sideline.

Lanning gave Raiola that news on Thursday. On Saturday, with Oregon down eight points in the fourth quarter and its hopes of reaching the playoff slipping through its fingers, Lanning delivered Raiola a shot at redemption.

He was going in. The Ducks needed him to win the game.

Good luck, right?

To that point, the Ducks had totaled 91 yards. They couldn’t run the ball. They couldn’t block. And a week after Brock Thomas came on in relief of Raiola, the Sheldon walk-on couldn’t throw the ball, either.

When Raiola came out for his first drive, down 14-6 and backed up against his own 12-yard line, Oregon had 54 passing yards and five first downs.

Then something happened.

Raiola led a 17-play, 69-yard drive that ended with a field goal. And after Oregon’s defense forced another punt, he directed a 20-play, 82-yard march that ended with a 4-yard touchdown pass to Jamari Johnson and a two-point conversion to Hudson Lewis.

Oregon finished the game with 15 first downs, 113 passing yards, a 17-14 win and a coach who couldn’t have been prouder of the composure Raiola showed after a month of roller-coaster emotions.

Was it pretty? No. Lanning even admitted that fans were well within their rights to boo during a game that, at halftime, had a box score similar to 1983’s Toilet Bowl — without the monsoon.

But Oregon won. And while there may be arguments for why the Ducks began with Thomas and stuck with him for so long, Oregon’s decision to give Raiola another opportunity helped improve its record to 4-2.

“He’s 21,” Lanning said of Raiola. “As a 21-year-old, it’s really hard, but (I told him), ‘I promise this growth will be the best growth that you ever experience if you’re able to handle it the right way.’ And he was really unbelievable about it. I think everybody will have self-doubts or thoughts in a moment like that.

“A lot of people don’t necessarily get second chances. Dylan got a second chance to go out there tonight and execute for us when he was ready.”

Maybe, just maybe, it might be worth giving these Ducks a second chance, too.

Now, that shouldn’t paper over what fans saw for the first three quarters. Oregon won’t make it much farther this season if it needs to wait until just before midnight to start playing acceptable offense.

It’ll be too late against Ohio State. Heck, Northwestern back at Autzen in two weeks could be downright daunting.

But the offense is seemingly the only glaring issue.

The Ducks’ defense limited Nebraska to 242 yards, intercepted Anthony Colandrea, sacked him three times and was ready for the challenge of keeping the game within reach long enough to buy the offense time. Same for Oregon’s special teams, which saw Gage Hurych drill three field goals and punter Bailey Ettridge total 305 yards on seven punts. 

“Our guys didn’t flinch. They just responded,” Lanning said. “Our defense ultimately played outstanding throughout the day. Even the plays that were made, they were contested. It wasn’t easy.”

After a first half of a season in which Lanning’s program has taken more criticism than at any point in his tenure, the Ducks didn’t quit. And on a Saturday when five of the nation’s top seven teams lost, simply finding a way to win counted for something.

Are things fixed? Far from it. But given an opportunity to self-examine, Raiola showed that getting benched didn’t have to define him.

Lanning seems to feel the same about this season. 

“Nobody else cares, but I think this will be the year that I’ve grown the most in my position,” Lanning said. “It’s challenged me in a lot of ways to really dig deep and figure out where I have to get better and improve and how I can make this better. Because ultimately, I’m responsible for all of it, and it has to look better than it has and be more consistent at times. I’ve learned a lot of hard lessons…Hard lessons, man.”

This story is part of Lookout Eugene-Springfield’s new Sunday Duck Report. For the full report, subscribe to the free newsletter here.