| Duck Defense: Beware the Trojan Horse(s)! |
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| Written by Ken Woody | |||||||||
| Friday, 26 October 2007 | |||||||||
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Oregon will have its hands full against USC on both sides of the ball. All of Eugene eagerly awaits Saturday’s gigantic match up at Autzen Stadium between the fifth-ranked Oregon Ducks and the 12th-ranked USC Trojans. Well, maybe not everybody. Nick Aliotti, defensive coordinator, is concerned about the “explosion plays” given up last week in a win over the Huskies and getting them straightened out so there’s no repeat against a Trojan offense that seems to be back after shellacking hapless Notre Dame 38-0. “We’ve got to play our best defensive game of the year,” said Aliotti, “they have good players at every position.” This is true, but ‘SC is not the explosive team of the Reggie Bush era. After all, when you’ve had to replace first-round draft choices at five different positions in two years, there’s bound to be some fall off. As usual, Southern Cal has good tailbacks: Chauncey Washington, Stafon Johnson and Joe McKnight, plus four more they list on their depth chart. This is obviously too many to work with and too many to keep happy with playing time, so there’s an issue. USC’s offense is similar in personnel and philosophy to Michigan.
USC’s strength is its defense, although they have yet to play a good football team, particularly one that can run the ball. The Trojans’ linebackers are the cream of the crop in college football: Brian Cushing, Rey Maualuga, and Keith Rivers are big and fast. Look for USC to cover Oregon’s offensive tackles and guards with their defensive linemen and move their linebackers around to try and contain the best rushing offense in the Pac-10. Chip Kelly, Oregon’s offensive coordinator, has said, “Our offense is very sound, and I can’t think of a single thing that can stop it. What we’ve found is that the only people who stop it are ourselves.” The Ducks had a most impressive performance last week in Seattle, rushing for 465 yards. They protected the ball well, with no turnovers other than a “Hail Mary” right before halftime. The only problems were procedure penalties on receivers not aligned correctly. This game will be a wonderful test: the poised, dynamic offense against a physical, athletic defense. Oregon’s offensive line could be the best in the West, and they will get their toughest physical test this season. The game’s critical points are likely to be with turnovers, as usual (although in last year’s defeat Oregon had only one while ‘SC had three), and the punting game. The Ducks’ punt return has evaporated, gaining only 11 yards in the past three games. Worse, return men watched four balls bounce deeper in Duck territory without trying to field them last week. Punter Josh Syria has done a great job of gaining field position for the defense, having 10 punts downed inside the 20, so it is up to the return team to make a contribution. So far, the Ducks have used several different return men. They need to find the one, commit to him and get things going again. The past two years, Oregon’s Mike Bellotti has seen his team get three touchdowns called back on phantom rulings called by officials on the USC side of the field. This, in addition to missing a blatant hold on a touchdown by Reggie Bush, again to the USC side of the field. I’ve watched this since, and noticed that USC rarely gets a bad call from their side. Last year, when the Huskies were robbed of a couple of seconds at the end of the game, the officials on the USC side rushed in to declare the game over, with Pete Carroll, head coach in hot pursuit. A coincidence, you ask? Maybe, but watch Carroll, who is a personable guy, during the game. Like another coach in the league, Mike Stoops, of Arizona, Carroll is in constant dialogue with the referees as he stalks his sideline. Unlike the irritating Stoops, however, Carroll seems to work the charm angle. Who knows? Whether it works or not, it’s probably good strategy for a head coach. “Defining Moment” is what you call a game like this. It means so much to everyone involved: USC, which may be out of the race if they have another loss; Dennis Dixon, quarterback, gaining ground in the Heisman race; Jonathan Stewart, coming into his own as a premier running back; and the Oregon Ducks, who haven’t had many opportunities to stand the national college football scene on its ear. It’s all there, and more. Normally, I’d say ‘I can’t wait,’ but in this case that’s not true. All those Ducks are going to need every second of practice time to be ready to win this one, the first of what could be many “defining moments.”
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