Canzano: What's wrong with the Oregon Ducks football machine? Mario Cristobal has to decide.

One of the administrative assistants at my daughter's preschool stopped me this morning because she said she came up with the perfect way to characterize the Oregon Ducks offense.

"Offensively unoffensive," she said.

I nodded.

A few steps later, another parent dropping her child said, "Wasn't that awful? I miss the Mariota days."

That's the state of the union for Mario Cristobal's program in year one, week 11. The pre-school crowd isn't having it. The Ducks are 6-4, playing one of the most favorable schedules they'll ever see. And lets be clear -- for all the practices and adjustments that were to be made last week -- exactly nothing changed in the program's 32-25 loss to Utah on Saturday.

Nothing new from a couple of weeks ago when Arizona laid it on Oregon. Nothing new from when Washington State whacked them. It was groundhog day in Salt Lake City, this time brought to you by Kyle Whittingham.

There are a number of theories floating around about what's wrong with the Ducks:

Theory No. 1 -- The offensive coordinator must be an idiot.

Marcus Arroyo previously "called plays" for a season at Cal, but he was under Jeff Tedford there. Also, he was thrust into the role of interim offensive coordinator with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the 2014 season, but suffered from eerily similar issues to what he's struggling with at Oregon. He also called plays at Southern Mississippi in 2013. And also, he's been a passing game coordinator and running backs coach in a couple of stops.

The most reliable predictor of future performance is past performance. At Southern Mississippi, Arroyo's offense failed to score more than 15 points in nine of the team's 12 games. The year after he left, that happened only four times. With the Buccaneers in 2014, his offense was ranked No. 29 in scoring. The year after he left, Tampa Bay ranked No. 20. To be fair, there were more factors at play than simply Arroyo, but it's clear that he's never enjoyed prolific success as a play caller. He's known as a great recruiter, and I suspect Willie Taggart brought him on board last season for that reason and also because Arroyo was not a true threat to replace Taggart, who wanted to call the plays himself.

If you buy this theory, you're buying that Arroyo, like Mark Helfrich as a head coach, just isn't suited for the position he finds himself in. Helfrich was a good play caller and quarterback coach, but when thrust into the role of head coach, struggled mightily with leadership and organization. It might just be true that Arroyo has a place on the Ducks' staff as a recruiter and "passing game coordinator" but is in over his head as a play caller.

The Ducks, who have a quarterback that NFL teams would love to snap up, are No. 32 in the country in passing offense. They're No. 88 in the country in red-zone offense. The performance of this Oregon team on the offensive side is a big surprise to a lot of us. But not to those who have followed Arroyo's progression as a play caller. This is just about what he does -- no better, no worse.

If you buy this theory, it begs a question: Will Cristobal make a difficult move in the offseason and demote Arroyo?

Theory No. 2 -- The Oregon players must stink. 

Dillon Mitchell is a joy to watch at receiver. And quarterback Justin Herbert is going to play on Sundays someday. But beyond those two, and injured left tackle Penai Sewell, is there another player on offense this season who regularly makes you believe they're NFL bound?

There have been flashes from players who have had good games, but NFL scouts are not flocking to the Ducks' games the way they have in the past. It's true, there was a John Elway sighting at Autzen Stadium, but he was presumably there with a couple members of his Denver staff to see Herbert and Jake Browning in the early part of conference play. And as signs have pointed to a Herbert return to Eugene next season, the scouts haven't been around like they were in the early part of the season.

Offensive lineman Shane Lemieux graded high and got good remarks early. And offensive lineman Calvin Throckmorton is versatile enough to have a chance to play at the next level, maybe. One onlooker said of Throckmorton: "a Jack of all trades, but master of none." But let's face it -- we're a far cry from Oregon having a Kyle Long or Max Unger on the interior line. And the Ducks talent at running back (CJ Verdell, Travis Dye, Tony Brooks-James) doesn't match up with the Royce Freeman, LaMichael James, LeGarrette Blount, Jonathan Stewart, etc. running backs of the past. So it's Mitchell and Herbert on an island, essentially.

If you buy this theory, it also begs a question: If you were stranded on an island with only Herbert and Mitchell, and you could bring only one other blue-chip player with you, what position would he play?

I think running back. Then again, that offensive line is shredded right now with the injuries. Maybe, left tackle. If you buy this theory, you believe Oregon is predictable on offense because Oregon doesn't have many good options on offense. Still, I'd like to see Arroyo discover a more potent screen game and short passing game to keep the defensive lineman on opposing defenses from pinning their ears back and racing at Herbert. They already don't respect Oregon's run game. Create one in the way Washington State has.

Theory No. 3 -- The rest of the conference has improved. 

This is my least favorite theory. Because aside from Washington State, the conference just isn't on par with the rest of the best teams in America. Washington isn't as potent as it has been in recent seasons. Stanford looks pedestrian. USC just lost to Cal... which lost to Arizona... who got beat by UCLA who got blasted by Oregon. And Arizona State competes on a week to week basis, but almost got beat on Saturday at home against the Bruins.

Naw.

This can't be why Oregon is struggling. Still, the Ducks are 1-3 in road conference games. So if you buy this theory, you're going have to include the inability to perform on the road as the central part of the equation. I'm just not sure that's it given that the Ducks problems on the road also happen to plague them at home in large swaths. The team's identity just hasn't been forged with any kind of consistency. That falls on Cristobal himself doesn't it?

So you tell me... what theory do you buy? Because it's ASU at home on Saturday and then the Civil War on the road at Oregon State... then a bowl game. After that, Cristobal is going to have to decide what he thinks is wrong. And if I am reading this right, he's going to have a difficult decision to make.

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