The Oregon defense itself has been a surprise under first year coordinator Andy Avalos. Fortunately for the Ducks, the holes in their two-deep after the 2018 season were ably filled, in many cases by newcomers from the No. 7 ranked recruiting class of 2019.

Because many of them were so talented out of high school, it was not necessarily a surprise they were able to fill the gaps. In this edition of Take Two, DSA analysts Dale Newton and Scott Reed assess which player on defense is the biggest surprise.

Newton

The hype going into the season was all about Kayvon Thibodeaux and the tremendous impact he might have as a freshman. KT has played solidly and created moments, even made PAC-12 Defensive Player of the Week, but he's still finding his stride as a college player.

The big surprise on defense has been fellow Southern California newcomer Mase Funa, who leads the team with four sacks and 7.5 tackles per loss despite missing his senior high school season with a knee injury. Thibodeaux hasn't been a slouch: he's second on the unit with 2.5 sacks. Funa had Oregon's only sack against Washington State, good for a loss of ten yards that pinned the Cougars deep.

The leap in development by Popo Aumavae and Isaac Slade-Matautia has also been pivotal in Oregon's improved defense. Aumavae had a clutch sack in the final drive against Washington. He's grown so much as a player that the drop off when starting nose tackle Jordon Scott comes out is only slight. Thibodeaux, Funa, ISM and Aumavae are part of a big group who will have local pride and bragging rights riding on the showdown with the Trojans, with several former prep teammates on the opposite side.

Reed

I feel like a broken record because what I have seen from the players on defense is what I expected. But I will say that Isaac Slade-Matautia has been better than I expected. He has shown flashes over the last couple of years, and you could see he was about to put it all together and that seems to have come to full fruition this season.

Slade-Matautia is the second leading tackler (38) and second on the team in tackles-for-loss (6.0) this season. Most impressively, he has been very good in coverage. Only Thomas Graham (7) has more pass breakups than Slade-Matautia (6); despite having just one sack on the season, Slade-Matautia is fourth on the team in QB hurries.

There is an additional pleasant surprise at the linebacker spot with the performance of freshman Mase Funa who leads the team in tackles for loss (7.5) and sacks (4) through eight games. He was a superstar in the making, but with an injury keeping him out of football last season, there was some uncertainty concerning his impact – that has been dispelled. He is also second on the team in QB hurries and of his 19 total tackles – 15 are solo.