Oregon offense urgently needs a different mix to stay potent

Only true believers are buying stock in the Oregon offense for 2025. Tez Johnson and Traeshon Holden are gone.

Even Stewart is out with an injury. Josh Conerly and Jordan James are in NFL camps. Dillon Gabriel is in a battle to become the No. 2 quarterback for the Cleveland Browns.

In all about 80% of the production and protection from last year is missing. This is an overhauled offense, one where Will Stein has to craft a new mix to find points and yards.

The Big Ten remains skeptical. On the podcasts and preseason previews, the Quack Attack is a giant question mark, even as a top ten team.

That's true at a lot of stops around college football. Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Ohio State and Michigan all have new quarterbacks this season with limited experience. The Ducks aren't alone.

For the Oregon offense to work without Gabriel, Tez, James, Holden and Terrance Ferguson, Will Stein can't rely on the same package of plays that made it so effective from 2022-2025.

He has a less experienced, less mobile quarterback in Dante Moore, one who struggled as a true freshman at UCLA two seasons ago, throwing 11 touchdowns versus nine interceptions. Moore doesn't have the improvisational skills of Nix or Gabriel.

Out here in Oregon fans are thoroughly on the Dante Moore hype train and veteran observers like Josh Pate agree about his potential. He ranks the former five-star from Detroit third among Big Ten quarterbacks.

Glowing reviews from Dakorien Moore and Johnson suggest Moore can get it done. They touted him for the Heisman Trophy this offseason. To put him in the best position to succeed, Stein has to switch it up.

He'll still dial up the base of easy completions that stretch the field sideline-to-sideline, the dumpoffs and the quick game, but overall the offense should rely more on a mix of the running game, the tight end, and shots down the field.

To compensate for Moore's relative lack of experience and the shortage of proven receivers, the Ducks have to look for more explosiveness. This is likely to be a unit that struggles a little to put together long drives or convert on obvious passing downs.

What they do have is a dynamic tight end with a top speed of 22 mph, and a running game Phil Steele rates No. 6 in the country.

They'll need to rely on chunk runs by Makhi Hughes, Noah Whittington and Dink Riggs, plus big plays to Kenyon Sadiq. The young cast of receivers has a much better chance of getting separation when set up by those primary weapons.

Hughes, Whittington and Sadiq are the logical focal point. They'll provide enough firepower to get the Ducks past Montana State, Oklahoma State, Northwestern and Oregon State.

Hopefully by the time the Ducks travel to Penn State, they'll have a clearer understanding of what Moore is ready to handle. The defense will have to pick up some of the slack as well.

Even with questions, the Ducks have far more weapons on offense than most of the teams on their schedule. It's how they'll match up with PSU, Indiana, Iowa, USC and Washington that will dictate the width of their path to the playoff. The conference will be tougher this year and the margins narrower.

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