Faith without works is dead, but so is tempo without execution

There's still plenty of time for the offense to jell.  Five months, in fact. 

So far the struggles are a normal part of spring ball.  Check links and practice reports around the conference and the country and you'll read versions of this familiar story every year.  Offense struggles with newness.  The Ducks lost three starters on the offensive line, two in the receiver corps.  One player can make a defensive play, but offense requires synchronicity and timing, 11-on-11.  Offense always takes longer.

That much is certain, part of the rhythm of college football.  But there's a part of the Ducks' struggles that defies this easy explanation.  They're making batches of unforced errors, fumbles, bad snaps, dropped passes, penalties, missed assignments, missed blocks.  The Ducks strive for tempo, but tempo is meaningless with execution.  So far they have the tempo of the Bad News Bears before Walter Matthau finishes his first Budweiser.



Oregon's offense has been miserable.  Promising young players like Lache Seastrunk and Bryan Bennett show flashes of greatness interspersed with mornings of groggy-headed stupor.  Seasoned veterans like James, Tuinei and Barner have uncharacteristic bouts of butterfingers.  What's happened to the unstoppable offensive juggernaut the Ducks have been for four seasons?  It's not like these guys have suddenly forgotten how to play, and Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich certainly haven't forgotten how to coach.  Yet these guys have been stormed under in two scrimmages, devoured like six boxes of cheap pizza at a ten-year-old's birthday.  Lucky we had a coupon, and some hot dogs in the fridge.

Though it's way too early to declare the Oregon offense dead, or even to keep them overnight for observation, they are displaying flu-like symptoms.  It's time to prescribe some extra fluids and bedrest, at least.  It may also be time to consider the possibility that in the first two or three games of 2011, Oregon's defense and special teams will have to carry the offense a little.  Steve Greatwood will create a top-notch unit out of this edition of the offensive line, but like 2009, it may take a couple of games.  The rotation has to solidify.  Karrington Armstrong or Hroniss Grasu has to win the center job, and become a starter in his mind and outlook.  Cody, York, Asper and Weems have to be healthy on the same day,  so the staff can get a realistic evaluation of how this unit will work together.  There are four spring practices and five months of preparation to follow, but ideally Duck fans would like to see more progress by now.

The good news is, they probably will eventually.  6,000-yard offenses don't fall apart like Yugos in the Mohave Desert.  This is a souped-up Baja-hardened four wheel drive of a football team, with four gigantic tires churning the sand.  It's built for endurance and tough conditions.

In the meantime, though, it's evident that the retooling on the defense is going very well.  That unit is going to be swarming, fierce and intense, and loaded with athletic, play-making tenacity.  It's not an accident that they're dominating practice.  They know the plays, and what's more, they're going to dominate a lot of people.

If the Ducks had to, they could win a couple of their early games with a punt return,  a field goal, a pick six and one LaMichael James breakaway run.   It probably won't come to that, but if it did, these Ducks have the punch and the power to win a fight that goes the distance.

Any which way you can, wins are the main objective, and a good thing.  Not every season is ten games of 53-32 and 66-13.