These three areas need improvement for Oregon prior to week two against Boise State

Well, that was certainly not the game that most Duck fans were expecting. After eviscerating their 2023 opening FCS opponent Portland State by 74 points, the Ducks struggled this past weekend, barely eking out a 24-14 win over the Idaho Vandals. Oregon entered the game as 45.5-point favorites but found themselves up just three with less than 10 minutes left in the game.

Improvements will need to be made if the Ducks want to be great this season and as head coach Dan Lanning said after the game: "a great team can learn from wins."

Let's break down the key improvements the Ducks must make as they head into week two. 

1. Downfield passing attack

Last season, a common critique of Bo Nix was that he was a "check-down merchant" and didn't push the ball down the field. Among the 69 Power Five quarterbacks with at least 200 dropbacks, Nix's 9.5 yards per attempt ranked fourth, but his average depth of target (commonly referred to as ADOT) of 6.8 yards placed him second to last among that group, only ahead of Florida's Graham Mertz. Among that same group, Oregon's new starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel's ADOT of 10.2 yards tied him for 19th while was at Oklahoma. While it was expected that Gabriel's ADOT would come down in offensive coordinator Will Stein's quarterback-friendly scheme, his mark of just 4.3 yards on Saturday was truly shocking.

Among the 65 Power Four starters with at least 20 dropbacks after week one, his ADOT ranked 63rd, only ahead of Georgia Tech's Haynes King and Houston's Donovan Smith. Gabriel nearly completely disregarded the deep attack, only attempting two passes over 20 yards downfield while only throwing eight total passes beyond 10 yards. Last season at Oklahoma, 15.7 percent of Gabriel's pass attempts traveled over 20 yards while 40 percent traveled over 10, well beyond the four and 16 percent marks he posted on Saturday. Even while finishing second to last among Power Five starters in ADOT last season, Nix still attempted nearly 11 percent of passes over 20 yards downfield and more than 30 percent over 10 yards.

Gabriel did injure his throwing hand in the first quarter after hitting it on an opponent's helmet while following through on a pass attempt but said postgame that "the hand is good." If that really is true, he will need to help the Ducks generate many more explosive plays than they did on Saturday if Oregon wants to contend for a national championship.

2. Offensive line play

The Ducks' offensive line was arguably its greatest strength last season, finishing first among Power Five teams in PFF's pass-blocking grade and 15th in run-blocking. With three starters (Ajani Cornelius, Josh Conerly Jr., and Marcus Harper II) and one major contributor (Iapani Laloulu) set to return, expectations were high coming into the 2024 season. Those expectations were not met on Saturday as Oregon's offensive line struggled to find consistency in both the pass and run game.

The Ducks' O-line allowed three sacks on Saturday, 60 percent of their 2023 total, and allowed Gabriel to be pressured 11 times on 53 dropbacks. That's a 20.8 percent pressure rate, which exceeds the 15.8 percent pressure rate that Nix saw last year. This wasn't helped by Gabriel's 27.3 percent pressure-to-sack conversion rate blowing Nix's incredible 7.6 percent mark out of the water, but regardless, the Ducks need to protect their quarterback better, especially with projected first-round picks like Mason Graham, J.T. Tuimoloau, and Tyleik Williams still to come on Oregon's schedule. None of Oregon's starters played a clean game Cornelius, who was the Ducks' highest-regarded lineman coming into the season, allowed three pressures while Harper and Laloulu each allowed two, and Conerly and Charlie Pickard each allowed one. Laloulu notably struggled, receiving the lowest grade from PFF at just a 58.2 but has faced unfortunate circumstances in the preseason. A former four-star recruit at guard, Laloulu made the transition to center over the offseason as he headed into his sophomore year before being forced to switch back to guard when an injury to projected starter Matthew Bedford occurred late in fall camp.

The offensive line also struggled to create a push in the run game, which was evidenced by a crucial 4th and 1 stop in which Jordan James was stuffed at the line of scrimmage. The Ducks' ballcarriers averaged just 1.8 yards before contact on Saturday, well below the 2.6 yards they averaged in 2023. 

3. Health

The third thing the Ducks must improve on is simply their health. As previously stated, the camp injury to Bedford threw a wrench into the offensive line, forcing Pickard — a walk-on junior — into the starting lineup at center. Bedford was in uniform on Saturday and went through warmups after being listed as questionable, but didn't see the field during the game. He went through drills at practice on Tuesday after Lanning said he was optimistic that he can play this week against Boise State. Another key player who didn't receive a snap on Saturday was wide receiver Gary Bryant Jr. who finished fourth on the team last year with 442 receiving yards after transferring from USC. Bryant was listed as questionable on Saturday and warmed up in uniform before not playing in the game. He was also listed among the players Lanning is optimistic will make their 2024 debuts against Boise State.

One key injury that occurred on Saturday was to linebacker Jeffrey Bassa, the leader of this year's defense who has represented the unit at conference media days in each of the last two years. Bassa played just 10 snaps against Idaho. Lanning said that Bassa "can play in the future". The Ducks will certainly need him to do so.