The Oregon Ducks are the hottest thing in college football.Much of the buzz is focused on the Ducks' national championship chances. As it stands, a loss by either of the two powerhouses left standing—Ohio State and LSU—would put Oregon in a position to play for a title.
Not that any of this has come out of nowhere.
In fact, the Ducks have just barely missed out on a title shot twice in the last six years.
And the story of how they got here centers on innovative offensive schemes.
In 2001, Oregon faced Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl after losing votes to a lower-ranked Nebraska team—which subsequently lost miserably to Miami in the Rose Bowl. At the time, Oregon's offensive coordinator was Jeff Tedford, who has gone on to head coaching success at UC Berkeley.
In 2005, a 10-1 Oregon team was trumped by the BCS' "Notre Dame" clause, which grants an automatic berth to an independent who finishes in the top 12.
The offensive coordinator for the Ducks at the time?
None other than Gary Crowton, the current OC for Louisiana State.
Things are shaping up differently this year. While the BCS is still convoluted (Hawaii, of all teams, has a chance to make a BCS game with little more than a slew of wins against unranked state schools), many of the fakers have already been exposed—South Florida, Cal, and, most recently, Boston College .With each No. 2 loss, the new parity in the college football has become more apparent. The traditional balance of power has shifted—and Oregon's potent rushing/passing/option attack is leading the way out West.
Chip Kelly's high-powered spread offense has caught the attention of coaches around the country—who are trying to figure out why their old run-the-ball-down-your-throat paradigms don't work like they used to.
The answer, of course, is athleticism.
One of the key components of the spread is a mobile, evasive, athletic quarterback—something the Ducks found in Dennis Dixon. Dixon has established himself as not only an efficient passer (70 percent completion rate) but also an effective runner, with 550 net yards rushing and scoring eight rushing touchdowns.
What remains to be seen is how teams will adapt defensively to the new offensive schemes—and how that evolution will rebalance the relative importance of line strength on offense and speed on defense.
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11 months ago
The relative importance of line strength on offense and speed on defense will never be "rebalanced". You don't block, you don't win. You cant catch the offense, you can't tackle them. It doesn't matter if you're running the spread or the wishbone, if you can't block at the point of attack, your pretty boy skill players won't have time to do anything. Oregon's line has played pretty awesome this year. That gets lost in the wraparound statute of liberties, and Stewart running through huge holes, but its true nonetheless.
from 11 months ago
The beauty of the spread/option attack that Kelly has brought to Oregon, in my humble opinion, is that traditional defensive sets are not prepared to deal with the variety of play options at the disposal of the offense. On any given play Dixon has these choices; two wideouts with a chance at a short or deep pass, a cross slant to the tight end, an option screen pass, an option handoff or shuffle, or simply busting through the huge defensive holes that have been created by an often confused and limited defensive set.
In the past two weeks the Ducks have sliced through two of the top defensive teams in the nation with relative ease. How? By simply exploiting overplay and traditional defensive frameworks. If you live in the box you die in the box. This is not to understate the excellent blocking work of the Oregon O-line.
I think your opinion underestimates speed which is a calculable and effective tool. The Oregon offensive line has been trained to work under pressure in a no-huddle offense which has thrown opposing defenses off guard time and time again. Our "pretty boy skill players" who, by the way are in contention for the Heismann, have been pounding and confounding defenses week in and week out and will continue to do so.
11 months ago
Excellent observation. Oregon's O-line has been tremendous this season. Dixon and Stewart get the press but these guys are doing the dirty work up front. And Geoff Schwartz is the only dual-threat OT in college football...an amazing runner.
11 months ago
Coming into the season the Ducks o-line was supposed to be a question mark after losing center Enoka Lucas. But moving Unger to center was a stroke of genius, and the rest have stepped it up. In a spread offense, linemen are if anything more important than in standard two back, tight end sets because they have to block one on one against d-linemen and linebackers. Want proof? See Urban Meyers very first year at Florida.
There have a been a few defenses around the country that are now using five defensive backs standard. TCU employs a very effective 4-2-5 scheme that works very well when defenders can make tackles in the open field, and the Horned Frogs seem to usually be very capable of. Tulsa and West Virginia (anyone else?) use a 3-3-5 formation that generally is referred to as a "stack." I wouldn't be surprised if both these sets are used more often to match speed with speed as offenses use more receivers and spread the field.
11 months ago
Hold on, Hawaii is a lot better than you are giving them credit. I grew up on Oahu, and graduated from Oregon. let me tell you, i am one of the biggest duck fans around; but Hawaii has some very talented players this year. big time ballers in the receiving corps, and colt brennan is the real deal. there are some big polynesians that play on that squad. dont forget boise st. last year. well see if hawaii beats fresno, boise and washington; thats a tougher schedule than most have to finish out the year.
michigan will beat ohio st.
ducks vs lsu NC ----> crowton goes away from the run and starts throwing horizontal passes - ducks national champions.
Hawaii wins a BCS bowl game.
-- brought to you by dubthree.
from 11 months ago
I would love to give Hawaii more credit but after watching them struggle against San Jose State and looking at the rest of teams they have beaten I would have to call "strength of schedule" on you. I seriously think Fresno State is going to give the Rainbows a run for their money this week and they will have a lot of trouble with Washington. I, for one, love seeing the lower-tier teams like Boise State wallop teams like Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl last year, but the proof is, in my estimation, in recruiting, and the big name schools are throwing a lot more money into this aspect of the game (via improved facilities and attractive programs). Don't take this wrong, but how many recruits look forward to a six hour flight home to see their families during the holidays? Just my $.02
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