What an absolute fucking joke...

[JonLP24]

7. I think all the teams look kinda flawed

Funny though the team that stands out the most, specifically when it comes to pass defense is Ohio State.

Alabama has done a better job over the course of the year but they are still not that elite unit, overall they play great defense.

I'd have to look into Florida State a little more but I think its safe to say Oregon has easily the softest defense out of all the 4 teams. Their offense is explosive and can rack up points in a hurry which masks their significant weakness. They turned a 2 score second half deficit at home to Michigan State into a blowout victory. A team like Alabama is their cryptonite, a physical ball control offense. Think of the styles of Eagles vs Seahawks. Hell you can look at Oregon vs Boise State, Stanford, & against Auburn's D. As far as Alabama's weaknesses when it comes to pass D, their run D is among the best in the country if not the best.

Arizona Wildcats is unusual for a run-oriented spread team to have victories over Oregon in back-to-back years. Rich Rodriguez seems to have a good understanding on how to defend the spread. Arizona specifically sits defensive backs into coverage--cover 4, forcing Oregon into long scoring drives when the quick strike is their game. The first half of the Pac-12 title was similar to their other 2 games except for Arizona's offense didn't start rolling behind the success of their defense but Oregon had more carries off tackle in that game than any other game so they used a specific game-plan.

USC typically dominates against spread offenses, Oregon lucked out in avoiding a match-up with them. Arizona State had the roughest time against against USC, Utah, & Stanford -- all were victories though that is because of the lack of offenses on the part of Utah & Stanford. The 3 touchdowns in 4 minutes was more noteworthy considering USC punished ASU on both sides of the ball the whole game, controlling TOP and running the ball relentlessly against Arizona State's tiring defense.

They did the same against Arizona but the punishment was more brutal, Arizona inexplicable managed to score a TD had two tried at a PAT after the refs bailed them out on the first one (bad call). Then they somehow recovered the onside kick and later missed the game winning field goal. USC's offensive scheme is tricky to defend against that has shifty playmakers.

UCLA has one of the hardest to stop offenses in the nation but it is interesting two of their losses against the terrific defenses of Stanford & Utah. Their 3rd came to Oregon but irrelevant to the point of run oriented spread offenses, their game against Oregon was a case of falling behind quickly, UCLA doesn't have a great D. Even Colorado was able to force overtime which followed a shootout against Cal (a real 1 of the best 2 teams in the nation should demolish the pass happy teams but Oregon's style benefits the styles of Cal & Washington State, a team like Baylor would spell trouble for the Ducks.


Michigan State was probably their toughest physical style opponent, their quick consecutive scores really turned the game around which was looking upset. The ideal game plan would feature a punishing ball control offense like MSU but similar to Arizona in not giving up the big plays. USC would have been excellent preview for Alabama, run first pro style that runs a 4-3 on defense, that also runs a 3-4 depending on the rushing attack and also to exploit athletic mismatches.

Oregon & FSU obviously have the biggest game changers at QB but if Oregon was in a playoff with TCU rather than Florida State they would be a bracket with some of the nation's toughest defenses which I'd predict yet another exposure that is somehow shocking to the average fan.

I'm not saying Oregon can't win, obviously their offense has enough firepower to overcome deficiencies, but there are so many teams that are capable of defeating Oregon if they play the right game. They just have to enough defense, they already know they can move the ball (WSU - Oregon 499-501 total yards), they just have to avoid the turnovers if they find themselves in a hole .

Baylor is a better Oregon than Oregon, not only that. Baylor's offense is based on taking what the defense gives them, the quick slants & downhill running game is what the offense is built around as well as pace and isolate the defenders by exploiting match-ups with better athletes but dinking and dunking is part of their game rather than a necessary gameplan for a difficult opponent. Their 3rd down convert % is terrific and the short game is a big reason why.