What the Oregon Ducks do over the next few days of practice is going to determine how the rest of their season will go. How they respond to their first loss of the year — a heartbreaking overtime upset to Stanford on The Farm — will tell us what type of makeup head coach Mario Cristobal has instilled in his squad.
How they answer the numerous questions being asked of them right now will shape how we feel about this team not only for the remainder of the 2021-22 season but also impact our perception of Cristobal as a coach going forward.
Those may seem like high stakes, but it’s hard to argue with the notion that the Ducks are at a pivotal point in the season right now. They’ve been regarded highly by the national polls so far this year after an impressive Week 2 win over Ohio State, but subpar performances in 3-of-4 games had many of us a bit skeptical, and familiar problems ended up costing them an undefeated season in the end.
Going forward, it will be interesting to see how they respond. These are five questions that we think the Oregon Ducks need to answer over the next 7-10 days during their bye week:
Is Oregon Satisfied With Its QB Production?
Anthony Brown was bad on Saturday. That’s not just our opinion, but one that is also shared by a vast majority of the Oregon fanbase, as well as the Ducks’ sixth-year senior quarterback himself.
Brown finished the game vs. Stanford with 186 yards passing and one interception with a 53% completion percentage. In his 5 games this season, Brown has completed just 56.5% of his passes for a total of seven touchdowns, with an average yards-per-attempt of 7.7. Through the air, he has been mediocre, at best.
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On the ground, it’s a different story. So far this season, Brown has totaled 198 yards and four touchdowns, often getting out of some trouble when needed. Nobody is taking away AB’s proficiency on the ground, but what we are questioning is his ability to lead this team to the ultimate success at the end of the season.
After the loss on Saturday, we wrote about the need for Oregon to at least have the conversation about benching Brown, instead going with true freshman Ty Thompson. Here is a small excerpt from that article:
It may be time for Mario Cristobal and the Ducks coaching staff to finally have that tough conversation about Brown, and whether or not he truly is the right quarterback to lead this team.
The Ducks’ season is not over with the loss to Stanford, but it definitely got harder. Without a clear path to the CFP, on top of the litany of injuries that continue to pile up, there seems to be a better chance that Oregon ends up settling for a Rose Bowl now rather than a trip to the playoff. But if you had to ask yourself which QB would be better suited to lead the Ducks to one of those two destinations, picking between Brown and true freshman Ty Thompson, who would you choose?
Don’t have an answer? Isn’t that kind of an answer right there?
There’s no telling whether or not Cristobal will actually make that tough choice to move on from Brown this week, but it’s hard to think of a more opportune situation. With an extra week to prepare for a mundane opponent in the California Golden Bears, the Ducks have time to get Thompson ready. On top of that, their game against Cal comes on a Friday night, televised by ESPN at home. The world will be watching and waiting to see how the Ducks respond to their first loss.
Might a new, and perceived franchise QB, be the answer for a successful evening? We’ll see.
Next Question: Injury Issues…