Time to pay some respect to Oregon's defense
A lot can be made out of Oregon’s 31-7 blowout victory over Oregon State on Friday. Quarterback Bo Nix continued his elite level of play like he has all season, but just as impressive was the latest evidence on the dramatic change the Ducks have orchestrated defensively this season.
This game wasn’t a one-off. The Beavers were only able to reach the end zone once, but that has been a common theme for Oregon opponents. Oregon State is the fourth conference opponent to score 7 or fewer points against the Ducks, with Portland State also held to just a single touchdown and Hawaii to 10 points.
Oregon ranks 7th nationally in allowing just 15.92 points per game -- down from 27.4 last season.
“I think a lot of people gotta start putting respect on the Oregon defense and the front seven,” linebacker Jeffrey Bassa said. “I’m so proud and so grateful for the defensive line that we have. That group is special and they pride themselves on being one of the most physical groups in the nation.”
It isn’t rocket science. Lanning has seen what works in college football. During his time in Athens as the defensive coordinator at Georgia, he helped craft up one of the most dominant collegiate defenses ever seen. Now Oregon fans get to see what that looks like up close.
In his first year as head coach, there’s only so much change Lanning could really make. The Ducks played well last season with a 10-3 record, but even in a lot of the wins, the defense wasn’t up to par. Still, the glimpses of Lanning’s defensive philosophy were there.
“Going into this season, or before this season, you could watch this team on TV and see that they might have been missing a few pieces, but all together it was all there,” said edge rusher Jordan Burch, one of the key offseason transfer additions.
This season, it's more than just a glimpse.
Let's compare just some of the games between the two seasons. Washington State scored 41 in 2022 and 24 in 2023. Stanford put up 27 vs. Oregon in 2022 and just 6 in 2023. And most impressive is what happened on Friday.
Even though the elements were different for all of these games, there’s no denying the clear change. Oregon State upset Oregon last year by simply running the ball habitually. The Beavers ended that game with 268 yards rushing and a 38-34 victory.
On Friday, it was the complete opposite. Damien Martinez, the Pac-12’s leading rusher, ended the game with only 38 rushing yards (season low) and the Beavers had their lowest amount of rushing yards (53) since 2019.
Overall, the Ducks rank 15th nationally in yards allowed (306.9), which is down significantly from 381.2 YPG last season. Really, every metric across the board is night and day -- Oregon's sacks have nearly doubled from 18 last year to 32 and counting this season, the pass defense is up more than 50 spots in the national rankings (to No. 48, 214.3 YPG), the run defense is 7th-best nationally (92.6 YPG), etc.
“It’s really about our players and them owning the standard that exists for us,” Lanning said. “They were motivated coming into this game to put together a great performance and it’s really about building off the last performance we had and it’s going to be about building into the next one. And they certainly take a lot of pride about it, and they’ve certainly been reminded this last week of what last year looked like and they didn’t want to replicate that.”
Oregon came into the game with the mindset of winning in the trenches. Oregon State is always dominant up front and has had a plethora of electrifying running backs over the years. The Ducks have made teams go “left-handed” a lot this year, and Friday was a prime example.
“We always preach that we’re a different team than last year,” Bassa said. “A lot of the guys were dialed in this week. It was just great to see all the guys dialed in for this week – ready to stop the run. We knew they were going to be a run-heavy offense, so the guys stepped up to the challenge.”
Coming into this week, Oregon and Georgia were the only two teams in the nation to be top-10 in both scoring offense and scoring defense. Lanning's DNA traits, mindset and philosophy have all resonated within the program and the result is some of the Ducks' best football ever.
“Look back at our DNA traits. I told our guys right before they took the field that I’ve never been around a more connected team,” Lanning said. "I’ve never been around a team that’s anxious to grow and learn even from wins. Thanksgiving was yesterday, and our guys were up here watching film. Our guys were preparing for that game. They didn’t really have a Thanksgiving, so I’m really appreciative of the work that they put in. We talk about how most people don’t love doing hard things, and our guys love doing hard things, and that’s what separates them.”
Oregon is a couple of late-game mishaps away from having been undefeated this season. The loss to Washington was a brutal blow, but now the Ducks have their chance at redemption. The path to get to the Pac-12 championship was always there. All Oregon had to do was win out the rest of the regular season, which was done convincingly.
Now a trip to Las Vegas is set and with one more win, the Ducks could very well be heading back to the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2015.
“Well, it’s fun for your team to reach your expectations and play to the level that you think they can play,” Lanning said. “We’re certainly excited to be representing the Pac-12 and this conference championship. That’s gonna be a lot of fun for us, but we want to go out there and perform a certain way as well.”