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Dan Lanning discusses Oregon’s early offensive line struggles
By Sydney Hunte
Published:
Dan Lanning is well aware of the struggles Oregon has been having among its offensive linemen.
“One of the early ones was a mistake of holding the ball,” the Ducks’ head coach said after their 37-34 win over Boise State. “We’re going to cut protection to try to chop them down, and they have a really good defensive line. We wanted to be aggressive early and held the ball a little longer than we needed to. Some of the other ones we’re going to have to watch the film and figure out what that looks like so where can attack that.”
Oregon is 2-0, but those wins haven’t come easily. It led FCS Idaho 17-14 but was able to avoid a catastrophic upset loss, holding on to win 24-14 thanks in part to a Dillon Gabriel touchdown pass with 5-and-a-half minutes remaining.
Then, against the Broncos, the Ducks were again pushed to the limit, but eventually won via a last-second field goal.
Underscoring the OL struggles is the fact that Gabriel’s been sacked 7 times in 2 games, including 4 times on Saturday. Oregon gave up 5 sacks in all of 2023. It gave up 5 sacks in all of 2022.
The Ducks are missing a projected starting guard in Matthew Bedford, but the issues can’t all be pinned on a lack of health. Stalwarts on the line have struggled.
And despite some youth in the OL room, Lanning said Oregon will continue to rotate players, especially at center and guard.
“If you’re good enough, you’re old enough,” he said. “Ever since I’ve been here we’ve rotated on the offensive line when we had players that were able to do that. Jackson Powers-Johnson was rotating early on in his first year. Last year we had (Iapani Laloulu) rotating in (as a true freshman), so that’s not uncommon for us to get the best guys in the lineup and keep guys fresh.”
Oregon faces Oregon State in Corvallis next Saturday, with kickoff set for 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.