It should go without saying that interim offensive line coach William Vlachos and his lieutenant, graduate assistant Donovan Williams, face a tall task in re-tooling a CU offensive line that has performed poorly on the whole to date in 2021.

Unfortunately for them, and by association the players they oversee, their collective first test will come against the No. 7-ranked Oregon Ducks, as the Buffaloes (2-5, 1-3 Pac-12) travel to Eugene this Saturday.

If facing a top 10 team on the road wasn't enough of a difficult task for the Buffaloes, consider that CU enters this matchup having just given up a season-high six sacks to Cal Berkeley, a team that had, before facing Colorado, managed just 10 sacks through six games.

That unfortunate reality for the Buffs is compounded by Oregon's recent 34-31 win over UCLA, a game in which the Ducks defense racked up a season-best 11 tackles for loss, which included four sacks, a figure that was tied for Oregon's season-high.

For Vlachos and Williams, having a week over oversight within the offensive line room, ahead of playing arguably the Buffs' most talented opponent this year, doesn't seem conducive to a magical turnaround of a struggling position group and, by association, CU's offense in general.

That said, from Karl Dorrell's perspective, his new offensive line coaches have brought with them a breath of fresh air.

“There is renewed energy right now just because it’s a different (coaching) voice. I do think William and Donovan are closer in age — I think they’re probably relating a little bit better with (players) better in terms of teaching their technique and skill and being able to demonstrate it themselves because they’re fairly youthful," Dorrell said.

"...We’ve had a good week of practice with those guys...They all expressed to me that they’re learning more in the last couple days than they have in quite some time. I’m encouraged with what they’re saying and the work that they’re doing.”

Ducks sophomore defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux, a third-year sophomore and likely an early first-round draft pick this upcoming spring, will almost certainly be a particular pest for the Buffs' struggling offensive line.

Thibodeaux had a pair of sacks, 4.5 tackles for loss, a quarterback hurry and nine total tackles last weekend vs. UCLA. His 7.5 TFLs and four sacks lead the Ducks.

Aside from him, defensive tackle Brandon Dorlus has also been a troublemaker for opposing line, as evidenced by his 5.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks to date.

"(Thibodeaux is) a good player but (the Ducks) have a lot of really good players," Dorrell said. "That program is completely different from the program I used to see 15-20 years ago (at UCLA)."

"They’ve got a really good defense and their defensive front has a lot of talent. You mention Kayvon, yes, but there’s a number of players that have NFL qualities, for sure.”

While Dorrell admitted that the offensive line was far from the only offensive position group to be struggling this year, a better performance from that unit could in theory lead to more time for Brendon Lewis in the pocket as well as bigger holes for the tailbacks to burst through.

Again, against No. 7 Oregon, those goals may be more than a challenge in terms of achieving them.

Heading into Eugene, the Buffs are averaging a measly 3.29 yards per rush on the year, while CU's passing offense ranks 127th out of 130 FBS programs; CU is dead last in 130th as far as total offense is concerned.

However, in the spirit of hoping for some change this weekend, tailbacks coach Darian Hagan did say he witnessed a notable change in how the o-linemen have been practicing this week.

“The line is doing different things with double teams and different things with protections," Hagan said. "We’ve reverted back to, in my opinion, different calls that we’ve used in the past with prior coaches"

"...Those things correspond with what Vlachos wanted to do, so I think it’s been a very good week.”