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Written by Jim Nakadate
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Tuesday, 18 December 2007 |
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Ducks Look to Spur Bulls 
The Ducks’ opponent in the Sun Bowl on December 31st will be South Florida of the Big East Conference. In compiling their 9-3 record the Bulls had a similar season to the Ducks in that they started off strong, rose to #2 in the nation, then suffered a Thursday-night defeat, followed by losses in the next two weeks. This graph shows the performance of South Florida against the other seven Big East teams and four non-conference foes (the stats compiled versus 1-AA/FCS chump, Elon, are invalid for this analysis and were omitted).  In these 11 games the Bulls averaged 426 yards on offense and 333 yards on defense. Predictably, their best offensive showings were against a mediocre Conference USA team, Central Florida, and a truly wretched squad from Syracuse. It was much tougher moving the ball against quality opponents, Auburn and West Virginia. The USF defense had its best games versus lowly North Carolina (4-8) and the aforementioned UCF and Syracuse. However, the Bulls gave up over 400 yards to West Virginia (a spread offense), Florida Atlantic and Louisville. If the Oregon defenders (who surrendered an average of 386 yards) can keep South Florida under 400 yards, and the revamped Oregon offense can improve 25% in the 30 days between the Civil War and the Sun Bowl, the Ducks have a legitimate shot at beating the Bulls in El Paso and having a Happy New Year. |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 18 December 2007 )
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