Arizona Gets 2nd Chance to Ruin Oregon's Playoff Hopes with Pac-12 South Win

It's not fair to call the Oregon Ducks a Cinderella team. They're clearly one of the best squads in the nation, have the nation's Heisman front-runner in Marcus Mariota and are squarely in the hunt for the College Football Playoff. 

Yet recently, anytime the Ducks square off against the Arizona Wildcats, that clock strikes midnight, and that national championship trophy starts to look more like a pumpkin from Eugene. 

Yes, Arizona's rivalry win over Arizona State on Friday set the stage for a rematch of that thrilling Week 6 matchup that saw the Wildcats upset the then-No. 2 Ducks 31-24. Since that fateful Thursday night, the Ducks have been battling back to get into playoff contention. 

But to make their strongest case to the committee, they have to win the Pac-12. That means, next week, the Ducks have to atone for their sins. ESPN Stats & Info provided a stat comparison for Arizona and Oregon, noting Oregon's only loss came against Arizona:

However, Arizona will certainly have other plans. 

There's no secret to how Arizona likes to toy around with Oregon. In fact, the Wildcats don't toy around at all. 

They run the ball. They run it some more. Then they run it again. 

The Wildcats have beaten the Ducks the last two times they've played—Week 6 of this season and Nov. 23 of last season, when Arizona thumped Oregon 42-16. 

Last year, the Wildcats, behind Ka'Deem Carey's 206 rushing yards, racked up 304 total yards on the ground.

Then in Week 6 of this season, it was again a battle that was won on the ground. In Arizona's seven-point upset, the Wildcats ran for 208 yards compared to Oregon's 144.

What made Arizona so deadly that week, though, was its two-headed monster carrying the ball. Terris Jones-Grigsby led the Wildcats with 115 yards, but he chewed that up over 27 carries.

When the Wildcats needed an explosive play, they turned to Nick Wilson, who racked up 92 yards on just 13 carries, a 7.1 yards-per-carry average.

Since that game, Wilson has run for over 150 yards three times, including a monster 218-yard showing at Utah.

Oregon's defense simply isn't up to par with its offense. Some of that is predicated on the fact that when the Ducks take multiple possession leads, teams are forced to pass, and that forces Oregon to use more nickel and dime packages. 

That's part of the reason why the Ducks rank a measly 117th in pass defense, per cfbstats.com, giving up 276.8 yards through the air per game. 

The lousy secondary can be explained away. But part of that trade-off should be a stout rush defense, at least statistically, right? 

Wrong. 

The Ducks rank just 59th in the nation in rush defense, according to cfbstats.com, giving up 158.9 yards per game on the ground. 

So Arizona, a team perfectly built to prey on Oregon's weakness, is now getting another crack at doing so. 

What makes Arizona's simplistic strategy of running the ball so effective is that it stifles the rhythm of the Oregon offense. 

It's tough to keep Marcus Mariota on the sidelines for 10 minutes and then ask him to go into scramble mode. Now he's a Heisman front-runner, so nine times out of 10 he'll do that. But will everybody else around him? 

In both victories against Oregon, the Wildcats dominated the time of possession, holding on to the ball for at least 33 minutes while never letting Oregon hold it for more than 27. 

Six to eight more minutes with the ball in a Pac-12 Championship Game can mean a world of difference. 

You better believe the Wildcats know it, and they're coming for Oregon.