Oregon's Defense

[tone1017]

It seems like every post about this game is about our defense vs. their offense, does anyone have any insight into Oregon's defense, any strengths or weaknesses? I haven't seen much of anything about that side of the ball for them.

 

[timnsun]

If we play clean football on offense, we will score a lot of points. That's what it sounds like at least.

I know this isn't helpful at all, but what I've read from those in the know here, they aren't very good on defense.

 

[headcard]

They are pretty small in the front 7, minus the huge true freshman NT, and very young at DB. But they do have some guys that can run. Have to push them around and establish the run and hopefully burn the young DB's deep with some play action. No reason we can't score some points.

 

[tone1017]

Thanks, I had the general idea that they weren't exceptional but don't know much of anything about their personnel. Obviously not much can be gleaned from their first game.

 

[Cornicator]

They will give up a lot of big plays. They are small up front, and have quite a few true freshman in the 2 de

 

[inWV]

On O, run the ball, limit penalties, shorten the game. On D, keep them in front of you, limit their chunk plays, limit third down errors and get off the field.

 

[LZZOSO]

They have Pagano (a Clemson transfer) who has been hurt, but he could be a force up front, but after that we are going to get yards. As long as we make it count and score touchdowns, we will be fine. Our RB's just need to make sure they see the holes. Last year, there were lots of running lanes, but we were missing like crazy. I think if our O punches them in the mouth a few times early the flood gates are going to open on O. We need to establish ourselves early, and not give them any confidence.

 

[chicolby]

They were horrid last year on D. How much of that was athleticism, scheme, or simply giving up down the stretch after some losses? I don't know.

But we know that they aren't all-world, even with a new coach, attitude and some new players. They will still have their issues. Nebraska lost some salty receivers and a senior QB who played with a lot of guts last season. But the replacements seem to fit the offensive design better. Honestly, I'd expect Nebraska to score more points this year than last year.

The question comes back to whether our defense can slow down the ducks.

 

[LZZOSO]

They were horrid last year on D. How much of that was athleticism, scheme, or simply giving up down the stretch after some losses? I don't know.

But we know that they aren't all-world, even with a new coach, attitude and some new players. They will still have their issues. Nebraska lost some salty receivers and a senior QB who played with a lot of guts last season. But the replacements seem to fit the offensive design better. Honestly, I'd expect Nebraska to score more points this year than last year.

The question comes back to whether our defense can slow down the ducks.

Guts maybe, but that Yolobomb machine killed us in a lot of games that mattered. I agree with you that I think we score more points just because our backs have progressed, and we have a QB that doesn't go full retard, and hits open receivers and is able to throw a screen pass. I think you will see us really utilize the screens, and once we are able to keep them on their heels, our running game is going to pound the shit out of them. Hopefully our D can hold up.

 

[jlb321]

Our defense needs to keep us close enough so that the physical pounding we hope to deliver has time to take effect. We may be able to wear them down but the defense has to do enough to avoid a track meet from the opening KO. Hopefully it can look something like the UCLA game a couple of years ago but with the additional ability to throw accurate short to mid range passes.

One of the potential drawbacks of a bend but don't break defense that doesn't get a lot of 3 and outs is that it lets the opposing defense - which may be suspect - rest and recover.

 

[Blackshirt30]

I wasn't impressed by the Oregon defense against Southern Utah. The SU QB completed something his 1st 8 passes and moved the ball pretty well against them. Leavitt will eventually get them playing well on that side of the ball but I do think we will move them the ball pretty easily against them. They are soft IMO. If we can get just a few stops against their offense, we can definitely win. I'm just not that confident in our own defense yet.