After Three Weeks, Oregon has Found its Starting Center

Oregon’s offensive line was the target of a lot of criticism through the first two weeks of the season, and understandably so. The offense looked disjointed against both Idaho and Boise State, as Dillon Gabriel wasn’t given time to sit in the pocket, he was sacked seven times, and the Ducks struggled to generate explosive run plays.

But that changed in Week 3 against Oregon State. Gabriel wasn’t touched and the offense rattled off 240 rushing yards behind a reshuffled starting offensive line. One key difference from Week 2 to Week 3 was the player snapping the ball to Gabriel.

After junior Charlie Pickard started each of the first two games at center, sophomore Iapani ‘Poncho’ Laloulu got the nod for A’lique Terry. And he stayed there for the game’s duration.

With Laloulu at center and veteran Nishad Strother slotted in at left guard, the offense took a significant step toward reaching its full potential.

“It was just kinda…we gotta go back to the basics,” Laloulu said of the offensive line’s success after the win. “That’s one thing we’ve been really preaching this whole week. Especially as an offensive line unit, we kind of said that wasn’t our standard obviously the past two weeks we’ve been playing. As Coach Terry kind of reminded us, we’ve gotta get back to the basics, let’s get back to playing with good hands, good leverage, good feet.”

*Oregon football notebook: the calm before the storm*

For the 6-foot-2, 325-pound lineman, the move back to center was nothing new, even after spending time at guard the first two weeks and nearly all of his freshman season.

It was an opportunity to step up as a leader, something the group looked like it clearly lacked against Idaho and Boise State.

“It’s kind of natural for me. Since the beginning of winter and spring I was kind of playing center and stuff. So when Coach Terry told me that I was gonna be playing center this week, nothing really changed. I took that initiative and let ’em know that I was gonna be the leader for the team.”

The Ducks flipped the switch in Week 3, and finally found themselves at the point of attack.

“The past two weeks we haven’t been playing up to our standard and kind of seeing how it is as an offensive line unit—we knew that wasn’t our standard the past two weeks, so we came out today and we did what we did today, that kind of lets us know who we really are.”

If the film doesn’t lie, it’s telling us that Laloulu is the team’s best option at center moving forward. And that’s perfectly fine with him. Since coming to Eugene in 2023 he’s always put the team first.

“I feel great (at center),” he said. “Wherever the coach needs me to play I’ll play. Whether it’s the three interior, the right guard, center, or left guard I can play wherever the team needs me to best perform or to help the team I’ll play.”

But a strong performance hasn’t answered all the questions along the offensive line. Matthew Bedford, who was projected to start at right guard during the offseason, saw his first game snaps of the year against Oregon State after getting banged up in fall camp.

The offensive line has finally found some rhythm for the first time this season. It’s gelling. Now the staff is tasked with deciding if Bedford will in fact be a starter, presumably in place of Strother, or if he’ll be deployed as a rotational piece along with the likes of Dave Iuli, who’s also working back from injury.