Did I really just read a post from an OREGON fan, citing DEFENSE as the reason they will beat us? Run stuffing? Are you kidding me? Don’t tell JaQuizz Rodgers that, cuz his 125 lb. ass ran all over that 11-girl unit they call a “D”Answer: Yep, a whole 64 yards. Of course to tOSU fans, that is a lot of yards for their RB's.
So, in order to look at the defenses, we have to look at the quality of offenses that those defenses faced. In other words, if the offenses a team faced all year long never got more than 100 yards or 10 points, that would look really good for the defense. However, if the different offenses a team faced all year averaged 500 yards and 50 points per game the defense won't look so good.
The flip side is that if all the offenses a defense faced all year averaged 500 yards and 50 points, but the D was able to hold them to half that, then the D would look good. The other side of the flip side is that if the offenses that the D faced all year averaged 100 yards per game and 10 points and the D was unable to keep them to less than double, the D would look bad.
Clear as mud? Look at the chart below and maybe it'll be come muddier.
| Team A Defense | Offenses Faced | |
| Allowed | Averaged | |
| Game 1 | 100 | 500 |
| Game 2 | 101 | 501 |
| Game 3 | 102 | 502 |
| Game 4 | 103 | 503 |
| Game 5 | 104 | 504 |
| Game 6 | 105 | 505 |
| Game 7 | 106 | 506 |
| Game 8 | 107 | 507 |
| Game 9 | 108 | 508 |
| Game 10 | 109 | 509 |
| Game 11 | 110 | 510 |
| Game 12 | 111 | 511 |
| 105.5 | 505.5 | |
| | ||
| Team B Defense | Offenses Faced | |
| Allowed | Averaged | |
| Game 1 | 500 | 100 |
| Game 2 | 501 | 101 |
| Game 3 | 502 | 102 |
| Game 4 | 503 | 103 |
| Game 5 | 504 | 104 |
| Game 6 | 505 | 105 |
| Game 7 | 506 | 106 |
| Game 8 | 507 | 107 |
| Game 9 | 508 | 108 |
| Game 10 | 509 | 109 |
| Game 11 | 510 | 110 |
| Game 12 | 511 | 111 |
| 505.5 | 105.5 |
| Team C Defense | Offenses Faced | |
| Allowed | Averaged | |
| Game 1 | 100 | 100 |
| Game 2 | 101 | 101 |
| Game 3 | 102 | 102 |
| Game 4 | 103 | 103 |
| Game 5 | 104 | 104 |
| Game 6 | 105 | 105 |
| Game 7 | 106 | 106 |
| Game 8 | 107 | 107 |
| Game 9 | 108 | 108 |
| Game 10 | 109 | 109 |
| Game 11 | 110 | 110 |
| Game 12 | 111 | 111 |
| 105.5 | 105.5 | |
| Team D Defense | Offenses Faced | |
| Allowed | Averaged | |
| Game 1 | 500 | 500 |
| Game 2 | 501 | 501 |
| Game 3 | 502 | 502 |
| Game 4 | 503 | 503 |
| Game 5 | 504 | 504 |
| Game 6 | 505 | 505 |
| Game 7 | 506 | 506 |
| Game 8 | 507 | 507 |
| Game 9 | 508 | 508 |
| Game 10 | 509 | 509 |
| Game 11 | 510 | 510 |
| Game 12 | 511 | 511 |
| 505.5 | 505.5 |
Conclusions would be Team A does have a good D, Team B does not have a good D, Team C appears to have a good D but doesn't and team D appears to have a bad D, but it really isn't bad. I've way over simplified these.
Now lets look at Big10 v Pac10 and the Bucks v the Ducks:
| Big 10 | Pac 10 | |
| Average Passing O Rank | 58.6 | 58.5 |
| Average Passing D Rank | 59 | 68 |
| Average Rushing O Rank | 62 | 58 |
| Average Rushing D Rank | 47 | 47 |
| Rushers over 1K yards | 2 | 5 |
| Bucks | Ducks | |
| Passing O Rank | 106 | 91 |
| Passing D Rank | 17 | 37 |
| Passing E Rank | 66 | 53 |
| Passing Eff D Rank | 7 | 22 |
| Rushing O Rank | 19 | 6 |
| Rushing D Rank | 5 | 52 |
| Rushers over 1K yards | 0 | 1 |
| Sacks Rank | 31 | 21 |
| Sacks Allowed Rank | 48 | 12 |
| TTL's Rank | 43 | 49 |
| Total O Rank | 69 | 25 |
| Total D Rank | 4 | 32 |
The bottom line is that Oregon's offense is so much better than tOSU's that the difference between the D's doesn't make up the difference. The Ducks are 44 places better on offense than the Bucks, but the Bucks are only 28 places better on defense.
What does all this mean blogger friends?
Oregon averages 236 yards per game rushing and tOSU averages only giving up 83.
Advantage Oregon
The Bucks average 199 yards rushing and the Ducks tend to give up 127.
Advantage Bucks
The Ducks average 425 yards of offense per game and the Bucks give up 263.
Advantage Ducks
tOSU averages 365 yards on offense and Oregon gives up 330.
Advantage Bucks
This is going to be one heck-of-a game. The last time the Ducks faced an opponent with numbers in comparison to the Oregon like this was USC. The difference here is that the Ducks were at home and now they are at a neutral site.
