Oregonian Beat Writer James Crepea Gives the Ducks Little Chance Against Ohio State

This morning on the Locked on College Football, Smothered and Covered podcast, host Barrett Sallee of CBS.com previewed the #2 Ohio State at #3 Oregon football showdown with special guest James Crepea of the Oregonian.

Crepea had high praise for one of the teams, the one he doesn't cover.

Host Sallee said, "Oregon has been of those confusing kind of teams though. After what happened the first couple of weeks and it hasn't really taken hold in terms of what exactly Dan Lanning wants it to be."

Sallee asked Crepea how he's seen the team evolve since Idaho and Boise State.

"The offensive line play the first couple of weeks was SCATTERED, to say the least and a little bit of a yo-yo act," Crepea said,

Injuries resulted in lineup shuffles, four different combinations in the Boise State game alone, 11 changes in all over 57 plays. "That's hard to do," he said.

"So they really were just throwing anything against the wall that week to see what would stick."

The team finally found stability when Iapani "Pancho" Laloulu took over at center. Matthew Bedford reaggravated an injury, Crepea explained, and that touched off all the experimentation and shuffling.

For his part, Laloulu had to master the center snaps, which were a problem for him in the spring game. They worked on it in summer workouts. "But as fall camp got going, the issue would not go away."

It would not go away because a certain Portland-area beat writer kept bringing it up. Even so, walk-on Charlie Pickard was taking first team reps, and even started against Idaho and Boise State.

Crepea acknowledged that the Ducks got those offensive line issues settled over the last three games. Against Michigan State they allowed no pressures in 38 pass snaps.

Better protection and more consistent offensive line play has allowed the offense to establish its identity.

"Defensively, they've been good from the jump," he said.

"This secondary got overhauled in the off season; they've played well. The linebacking corps has played the best that it has in YEARS." Crepea has covered the team since 2018.

Jordan Burch was a disruptive player a year ago, but now he has the sack numbers to back it up, he noted. Burch leads the Ducks with 5 sacks, tied for 8th in the nation going into the game. The Ducks have 16 as a team.

With the addition of Derrick Harmon and Jamaree Caldwell, plus players like Matayo Uiagalelei and Teitum Tuioti maturing physically as sophomores, Crepea described the Duck defense as "Bordering on elite, but now we have to see it against the likes of an Ohio State offense to know and validate how good this defense is."

"They've been good from the jump. They could potentially be great."

Sallee and his guest then discussed how Dan Lanning was rebuilding the Duck defense. Though both could see progress, the concern going into Saturday's game has to be at the other cornerback spot opposite Jabbar Muhammad, who is playing at an elite level in the college game.

The Ducks may have to play Ohio State twice, maybe even a third time in the playoffs, facing a lineup that features a deep cast of NFL-caliber receivers, led by superb freshman Jeremiah Smith, who's proven almost uncoverable in the Buckeyes' 5-0 start.

Crepea compared the OSU attack to LSU 2019 or Alabama 2020. The praise is justified based on their output reaching #2 in the country, 46 points a game, 32 touchdowns, two field goals, 7.66 yards per play.

Facing multiple teams like that in the playoffs, Crepea said, "You need more than CB1 to be elite, and that's one area where they're better than they were, but do they have two DUDES at the corner spot? We'll find out a lot more on Saturday."

Asked to pick the outcome, Crepea said he predicts Ohio State to win by three.