FanPost

Duck Defense leaps tall and wet buildings for a conference championship


In the rain on Friday night Oregon wasn’t the composed team the program prizes. Not hardly. This was a group of angry young men that wanted a piece of anyone in an Arizona jersey so badly that they couldn’t control themselves. Not good for a precision offense trying to score touchdowns on the worst grass in the country, as we all saw.

But for a defense? This anger flowing through the Ducks wasn’t just squirting charcoal lighter on an already-burning campfire; it was throwing the whole damn can in and waiting for the explosion.

What an explosion it was.

Revenge is too complex a word to describe what the Duck defense did to Arizona Friday night. Close the dictionary on your I-pad and get out your old Hulk comics for the right words. Find lines such as Buckner Smash. Armstead Stomp. Hardrick Bash. Washington Bury. (Ekpre-Olomu—well, let’s just say that after that one Austin catch and run for a first down, No. 14 became a one-man wall.) Whomp. Bash. Bam. Comic book terms for a group of supernatural Duck defenders that created this halftime report:

Arizona Drive Summaries by Possession:
1: 7 plays, 22 yards
2: 3 plays, 5 yards
3: 3 plays, 9 yards
4: 3 plays, -10 yards
5: 3 plays, 2 yards
6: 3 plays, -15 yards
7: 3 plays, 7 yards

For comparison, barely-FBS South Dakota gained over 200 yards and scored 13 points against the Ducks in the first half of the season opener.

Arizona’s freshman running back Nick Wilson—compared favorably with Oregon’s Royce Freeman all week--would finish the game with a Yards-Per-Carry of 2. On 13 carries. RichRod just gave up handing the ball off and ran sweeps with three different quarterbacks to help run the clock out.

Twitter accounts nationwide wondered if this beat-down was an LSU-Alabama game. If you like defense, you'll enjoy knowing that this was better than any SEC team did for a half this year.

We’ve been waiting a long time for this defense to play up to their size and speed. Oregon takes pride in teambuilding and there have been enticing quarters in the Michigan State, Washington, UCLA and Stanford contests—just enough dominating series that you knew these Ducks could be something when they had their act together. But those surprising lapses against Washington State, California and especially the Arizona loss left us wondering if this was another season of more hope than fact.

We heard the talk out of the practice facility after games. Too many new guys that don’t know their assignments. Not practicing hard enough. We’ll get it together this week, you’ll see.

We're sensitive to narratives such as this around here so let’s bury another one right now. This wasn’t the current lackluster Beavers lined up in Levi stadium last Friday night but a proven, seventh-in-the-rankings Arizona football team with an experienced offensive line, stud receivers and a challenging offensive scheme that had produced two wins in a row against the Ducks. Arizona weathered what ESPN calls the toughest division in college football this year, and they planned on winning this game. Given our shaky red-zone offense in the first half, they might have had the chance if the Duck defense had played like the last Arizona game.

But Arizona wasn’t going to wear the Pac12 conference’s glass slipper this night. Don Pellum’s boys didn’t give Cinderella a chance to get in the door to the dance; fairy godmothers don’t stand a chance against angry green giants from the marshes of the Willamette Valley.

If this was the Oregon defense’s redemption it was even more so for defensive coordinator Pellum. Don’t lie: you, too, have wondered if this nationally-recognized recruiter and respected linebacker coach could get ever get his talented players on the same page. Many fans recommended pulling the Pellum plug earlier in this first year.

So let's also call this Don Pellum’s Coming-Out Party. Let’s bask in the beauty of a defensive beat-down comparable to the old Gang Green years, even while we celebrate the offensive juggernaut led by our all-but-locked-in-the-car Heisman winner. Marcus Mariota has often said it's tougher practicing against our boys than playing in the games. If we can have this defense for the playoffs all the Blake Sims, Jameil Winstons and Bryan Pettys better dig out their comic books. Bam! Whomp! Duck Smash!




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