By Dietrich Moore

This week’s game was one that gave fans a bang for their buck.  The anticipation of today’s game created an atmosphere that would rival the most profound grudge matches.  Is the USC/Oregon dual a grudge match?  No, but the importance of the game says a lot about the National Championship race.

The first half turned out to be a defensive battle as the offense for both teams appeared to have similar, but different, approaches to the game.  USC appeared to want to run the ball and make the passing game more comfortable for Sanchez who is making his third straight start.  The Oregon defense did a good job in the first half not allowing USC to sustain long drives and had two stands in the red zone, one that stopped the Trojans on fourth down and limited another drive to just a field goal.  The Oregon defense had moments like last week minus the big plays.  The biggest play USC had was 22-yard pass which was a different story than last week.

One aspect of today’s game that I admire about both head coaches was the decision to go on fourth down.  Oregon went for the first down on a fourth and less than a yard situation as the Trojans did twice during the game.  Oregon was 0-for-1 on fourth down attempts while the Trojans were 1-for-2.  I am biased as I was a defensive player in my day but if I were the head coach in any situation where I was on opposing team’s territory I would go for it on 90 percent of the time in a fourth-and-1 or less situation.  However, one thing you have to keep in mind when deciding to go on fourth down is how good your defense is because if you have a poor defense then you may want to rethink the situations you decide to go on fourth down.  I admire and appreciate the decisions to go on fourth down from both coaching staffs as it adds to the entertainment value of the game!

As I observed the first half attack by the Trojan offense it appeared they were running similar inside zone running plays that the Huskies had success running last week.  Here is a point of reference e for those of you reading this…if a team has success in certain aspects of the game, whether it’s in the passing game or running game, you can expect your next opponent to see if they can have the same success in similar fashion.  That was the case in the first half for the Trojans.  The USC Trojans wanted to see if the Oregon defense corrected the issues against the run versus the Huskies and thus came out with a similar attack.  As I mentioned earlier one goal the Oregon defense had coming into today’s game was to not allow the big play by the Trojans.  The Trojans had some success running the ball early in the game.

The second half was a bit different from the first.  The Trojans came out and opened up the playbook a little bit more for Sanchez.  I have to say that Sanchez was not bad in is performance although he and the Trojan offense didn’t have and answer for the Duck defense in the second half.   This was the second week in a row where the Duck defense played well in the first half but finished the game in the second half.  Matt Harper had two interceptions that changed the game and gave the Oregon offense momentum.  The second interception by Harper was the straw that broke the camel’s back!

The Oregon Ducks didn’t put up the stats and the points the way they have been the first seven games but the job they set out to do was accomplished!  A win is a win no matter how much you rush or pass for as long as you score more points than the other team.  For the USC Trojans this means their chance at a national title got away from them.  For the Ducks it means they are one step closer to the ultimate goal of getting to the BCS National Championship.  The Oregon Ducks will take on the Arizona State Sun Devils which will paint a clearer BCS picture.  Tune in next week and see if the Sun Devils can keeps things hot against the Ducks.

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