Ducks unproven but still national title contenders

Two things a coach has to do to be successful; Recruit or bring in players that fit what he wants to do and then to fit his game plan to what he has.

Oregon lost a lot of talent but, as the relatively new cliché goes, they are reloading, not rebuilding. The word "proven" shows up a lot in the talent discussion about what Oregon has. Most of us, who follow closely, are convinced there is plenty of powder for the cannon to go off again.

The talking heads are more conservative, sticking with the other talking heads in making their points, Monkey see, monkey do.

Stocking the shelves has been an ongoing successful endeavor since Dan Lanning arrived. Finding spare parts in the portal market has been equally well done. Putting together things from the inventory to create the next machine is a talent well demonstrated. That takes care of the getting players that fit the plan part.

Even with a strong candidate for number one wide receiver going down there has been no scramble to find a replacement, no panic. His loss hasn’t gone unnoticed by his teammates in keeping with the locker room culture but his absence doesn’t make too much of a dent in what Oregon will plan and do this fall.

What is proven is the staff’s ability to coach, to plan, to get the players ready to execute. Not many would have expected the Ducks to produce two early round quarterback draftees, particularly an undersized one and one who had “failed” at another school.

The latter is now a seasoned NFL starter. Each year the number of players moving to the next level. If you check out definition for ‘success’ in football, that’s part of what is in there. That takes care of fitting the game plan to the talent.

The better a team is, the more players who are going to move on (some early) meeting the goal for the program. Sure, each of those leaves a hole needing to be filled. The more holes, the more outsiders believe the task will be perhaps too difficult to complete.

The team wants to see those dreams coming true in front of them. The more they buy into that, the more noise like we are hearing this year is generated because there will be a lot of unproven talent.

A program like there is in Eugene, one that is new to being top five or even ten, carries much less weight in discussion than the established heavyweights like Ohio State, Alabama, and Georgia. The Ducks have never sustained a reputation that says “Don’t worry, we’re still here.” We may be at the beginning of such a streak but most outsiders, the experts, still think it’s more possible than probable.

But we as fans are pretty sure Lanning and company can do those things they need to in order finish in a scramble for the top of the hill.

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