By the Numbers: Stats, Snaps, and PFF grades for Oregon and Indiana

The whole world knows the Oregon Ducks lost to the Indiana Hoosiers on Friday. I’d imagine most people aren’t even ready to rehash any part of that embarrassing loss in the semi-final. While it’s totally understandable to not want to even think about Duck football right now, there are some of us sickos who can’t help it.

It might seem like there wasn’t much positivity to be taken from that drubbing, but after digging into the snap counts and PFF grades, I think there’s some things that stand out that should be highlighted. Good and bad.

So, with all that said, let’s get into the numbers for the final game of the season.

The Running Back Room Did Fine

There was much talk before this game about Oregon’s lack of depth at running back. The Ducks lost star true-freshman RB Jordon Davison after the game against Texas Tech, and then Noah Whittington was hampered with a mysterious injury that may or may not have been turf toe. Oregon also lost Jayden Limar, their number four back, and Makhi Hughes, to the transfer portal.

I had concerns about Oregon’s ability to block in pass pro without three of their best blocking backs. I was wrong. The guys who did play, Dierre Hill Jr and Jay Harris, did just fine in this game. To be fair, we had basically zero data on how these two would perform. Hill hadn’t logged a pass block grade all season, and Harris had something like 5 total snaps in that scheme.

Dierre Hill had the third best PBLK grade on PFF for this game. He was given 77.6 on 17 pass snaps and 5 PBLK snaps. He did not give up a pressure, hurry, hit or sack. Harris had a worse grade, 65.2 for the game, but he played 22 pass snaps and had 8 in pass protection. He also did not give up any pressures, hits, hurries or sacks.

The two backs had 21 carries for 121 yards and 5.8 yards per attempt. A lot of that was on a Dierre Hill dash for 71 yards. Harris only managed 2.2 yards per carry on 16 attempts. Was Harris perfect? No, but he did fine while stepping in for Davison with very few snaps this season.

Was This on Dante Moore or the Offensive Line?

I think everyone knows that Dante Moore had a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. He finished with 285 yards on 24 for 40 attempts and 60% completions. He had 2 touchdowns, 1 pick, and 2 fumbles in this loss. How much of that was on Dante and how much was on his protection?

Strictly going off PFF grades, he had his second worst game of his career. They gave him a 47.3 on offense and 45.3 on passing. That’s ever-so-slightly worse than his grades from the first game against Indiana. Back in October he got a 47.8 offense grade and 46.6 passing grade.

If you look at the advanced stats, Moore had 2.8 seconds on average to throw the ball. Fernando Mendoza had 2.85, so not much different there. That’s where the comparison ends. Oregon gave up 14 pressures, 7 hurries, 6 hits, and 1 sack. Indiana only had 4 pressures, 3 hurries, and 1 sack.

For those keeping track at home, that means 3 sacks were attributed to Dante Moore. In the first game, 4 of the 6 sacks Oregon gave up were also squarely on Moore. He held the ball too long, he didn’t throw it away, and he didn’t extend plays.

With that said, in that first matchup the line gave up 16 pressures, 10 hurries, 4 hits, and 2 sacks. So marginal improvement from the offensive line in the semis. Moore had 44 drop backs in this game and he was under pressure 40.9% of the time.

Oregon Did Not Feed the Studs

A cursory glance at the final box score and it looks like Oregon did a good job spreading the ball around. Kenyon Sadiq had 7 targets for 5 receptions and 29 yards. Dakroien Moore had 5 targets for 2 receptions and 28 yards. Jeremiah McClellan had 6 targets for 5 receptions and 65 yards. A lot of that came in garbage time.

In the first half, when the game still mattered, Kenyon Sadiq had 1 target for 1 reception and 5 yards. Dakorien Moore did not have a target in that first half. McClellan had 1 target as well. Jamari Johnson had 4 targets for 2 receptions and 39 yards. Jay Harris had 3 targets for 3 receptions and 32 yards.

Clearly, the ball was not going to Oregon’s most explosive players in the first half. That obviously changed in the second half, but by then it was too late. The hole was too deep. It didn’t matter by that point if they got the ball to Dakorien Moore or Kenyon Sadiq.

So was this on Dante Moore or was it on Will Stein? I shared a great video yesterday from a YouTuber named Jeramy Hinds who broke it all down. Moore struggles to move on from his first read. That obviously played a role, but it’s also on Will Stein to find ways to get the ball to his stars. He simply did not do that.

The Secondary Got Abused by Mendoza

It’s hard to put much blame on the defense for this loss. The offense and Dante Moore gave up a pick-six on the first play of the game and then fumbled twice deep in Oregon’s territory. The defense was playing catchup pretty much all game.

When Indiana did have the ball in their own territory, they still had remarkable success against the Duck secondary. Mendoza finished 17-20 (85%) for 177 yards, 5 touchdowns, and a RTG of 241.8 for the game. He was pinpoint accurate on virtually every single throw and he put the ball in places where the defensive back had no chance of stopping it.

Still, Mendoza and his receivers made Oregon’s DBs look their age. Aaron Flowers gave up 4 completions on 4 targets for 39 yards and 3 touchdowns. Flowers got absolutely torched in this game. He allowed a 146.9 NFL passer rating and PFF gave him a 38.0 coverage grade.

Brandon Finney Jr allowed 3 receptions on 3 targets for 55 yards and a TD. Mendoza had a 158.3 NFL rating on Finney. Overall the Ducks gave up 17 receptions on 19 targets and 5 touchdowns. It was a rough day at the office for the Oregon secondary, but I can’t even begin to understand how you defend some of those throws. Mendoza is just exceptional and the Indiana receivers are top notch.