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2014 Oregon Ducks Regular Season Report Card

By Xavier Raymond

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With the conclusion of the regular season and still a few weeks before the Rose Bowl matchup with Florida State, it’s a good time to reflect on 2014. Oregon lost key players to the draft and graduation on both sides of the ball from 2013’s team. De’Anthony Thomas, Josh Huff, Terrance Mitchell highlighting departures. Add a preseason injury loss of Bralon Addison, so who stepped up to keep Oregon at the top of the Pac?

Overall Offense A –

 Winning a Pac 12 title is tough. Winning a Heisman Trophy is tougher. And despite the Heisman going to Marcus Mariota alone, and he was obviously the best player on the team and in the country. A few dropped balls here or shorter runs there and maybe he’s not able to boast the eye-popping numbers he did this season. For that reason you have to give the overall offense an A. Also incredible the NCAA’s best turnover number, 8 turnovers total for the year. The minus is for struggles against Wazzu, Arizona and early in the Utah game.

Oct 18, 2014; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks offensive lineman Jake Fisher (75) motivates the crowd against the Washington Huskies at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

Offensive Line B- 

It’s easy to look at the Arizona game and say this grade is too high. But if you go back and review the game, Scooby was the biggest problem the line had. Receivers struggled to get open at times. You can’t ignore the enormity of injuries Greatwood overcame to keep this team from losing more than one game. Fischer and Grassu were excellent and both of them missing a fair amount of time will actually pay huge dividends next year.

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Quaterbacks A+

I’m not a pushover, and I understand that this is a grade I’ve assigned to an entire class based only on the starter, but we had no meaningful reason to see anyone else. Marcus Mariota was the unquestioned leader of this team and delivered time and time again this season. A microcosm of this season was the third and long scramble and shuffle pass to Royce Freeman for a first down against Michigan State. No matter what he’s able to do at the next level, Marcus’ on and off field impact to this program is an advantage the program will see for many years to come. His mastery of this offense made everyone around him better.

Runningbacks B+

Royce Freeman was outstanding. As good as Byron Marshall was last year, Royce’s production and maturity forced him to the tazer position. That alone is a huge plus for the group. Tyner took a decided step backwards this year. That being said there are reasons to be optimistic about him returning to form in 2015, Stanford was what we’d come to expect from Tyner. It’s hard to ignore the threat of Mariota keeping the ball and that impact on the running game. We’ll know what we have from Tyner and Freeman next year as they’re unlikely to have a Heisman winner next to them at signal caller.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends B-

If you took away their blocking this grade would be lower, but you can’t do that. Devon Allen looked fantastic to start the year but as the year went on he was able to be covered up easier. Charles Nelson showed more than just flashes at the end of the year. The strength of the Tight End position group was lost in Salt Lake City, when Pharaoh went down there was a significant drop off. This class was highlighted by underclassmen however and that will pay dividends when that next quarterback lines up behind center. Byron Marshall, well honestly where would they be this year without his performance in the slot? He was fantastic. You take the experience gained with Bralon Addison’s return and this grade should be much better next year. Special shout out to Hroniss Grassu and his 1 reception for 1 yard!

Overall Defense B

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Don Pellum’s defense in it’s first year was a bit of a rollercoaster. I’m sure I’m not the only person that yelled at the screen, especially early on in the Michigan State game “Why are you only rushing 3?” or four depending on the play. But as the season went on, the defense got much more comfortable and Pellum seemed to get them all on the same page. Oregon’s scoring defense was ranked 29, which for the record is 1 spot ahead of Florida State this year. Add in the 85 tackles for loss which is tied with Alabama and well ahead of Florida State on this list. So among the playoff teams their defense is comparable, which says a lot when coupled with this offense.

Defensive Line C+

Statistically this defensive line played very similar to last years, Buckner filling Hart’s shoes well this season. Balducci and Armstead got noticeably better as the season went on, and this unit was fantastic against Arizona. Florida State’s offensive line will be much better than Arizona’s but people dismissing Arizona after Oregon throttled them is a mistake. The entire defense played well in that game, but the defensive line had its best game of the season. With that said there were countless times, especially when playing the pass that the opposing quarterback was simply given too much time and the average yards per rush against was over 4.5 and neither of these can be ignored. 

Linebackers A-

One play takes this grade from a B to an A- and that was Joe Walker’s touchdown return against Utah. I know a play that Oregon should have been scored on, a play they were beaten badly on is hard to make a case for play of the year. But that play is just that, a literal 14 point swing and possibly the only thing that allows the Ducks to win that game. Anyone around the program knows the motto “Fast. Hard. Finish.” This play embodied that, the defense continued to play hard, the speed allowed a linebacker to rumble 99.9 yards and they played through the finish. The awareness of Joe Walker sucked the energy and momentum out of the stadium and likely saved the season. Washington, Walker and Malone were all fantastic this year.

Defensive Backs A 

Sep 6, 2014; Eugene, OR, USA; Oregon Ducks defensive back Ifo Ekpre-Olomu (14) dives for an interception against the Michigan State Spartans at Autzen Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

Ifo gets the bulk of the headlines, and rightfully so he’s fantastic and I don’t think I’m alone in thinking there was no way we’d see him in Autzen this year. But his return really gave the back-end of the defense a lock-down corner. What was impressive was how his counter-part Troy Hill played, fantastic. Hill lead the team in passes defended, forced two turnovers and recorded 57 tackles which was 8th on the team. Erick Dargan’s performance might have been the biggest surprise though. Not only did he lead the team in tackles, he also lead the team in interceptions with 6. The secondary was certainly helped by Ifo’s presence but when given the opportunity to make plays the guys around him did nicely!

Kickers/Punters N/A

It’s not that Ian Wheeler or Matt Wogan did anything badly, it’s just that they were largely irrelevant. That’s probably not fair, but I honestly had to look up the punter’s name. No matter how good or bad these guys were with the style of offense Oregon runs they’re necessary but largely irrelevant.

Mark Helfrich A

Helfrich has replaced Chip Kelly by starting with a better two season record than Kelly had, he’s replaced his defensive coordinator, something Kelly never did. He’s avoided any real off field problems, which is not something Kelly could say. Has Marcus Mariota helped with all of this? Yes, but it’s hard to ignore that it was his eye that discovered Mariota and his voice that convinced Kelly to look at him. His promotion from within of Pellum was criticized from the outside, but at the end of the day that promotion further instilled the culture that has been built from Brooks to Bellotti to Kelly.

On to the Playoffs

You may think Oregon Ducks regular season report card grades are too high, and maybe there are places you could be more critical of one performance here or there, but at the end of the day the Ducks finished the season beating every team on their schedule, playing in the Rose Bowl with a Pac 12 Championship, hard to do that if you have a huge weakness. Over the next three months the Ducks must continue to improve on the defensive line and get healthy on the offensive line. Oregon’s physicality was on display against Arizona, this must show up again for them to advance past the Rose Bowl. Make sure to subscribe to hear more from Autzen Zoo and comment if you’d like to join the discussion!