IMO Oregon wins the National Championship. If they get beat it will be a fluke. There Offense is ridiculiously good.
Someone post a while back that they would love to see a Boise State Oregon Matchup. That would be a laugher of all laughers...
While I don't think they have played anyone with as good of a defense as iowa has, I think their offense is really good. I don't think anyone shuts them down. Anyone that beats them is going to have to outscore them and I think that's they game they want to play...turn it into a track meet.
There is precious little defense played in the Pac-10, and Oregon didn't really risk much in OOC either. Portland State? New Mexico? Give me a break. Their stats are bloated, just like last year. Their defense (particularly their pass defense) is pretty suspect. They're not really any different than last year. Thomas is a better passer than Masoli, but he's not put up the numbers on the ground that Masoli did.
Fine, even if the Pac-10 doesn't play defense, how many points from their 54 points per game average would you take away?
On top of that, it's not like our own defense has been consistently watertight. We took out a couple of Wisconsin's offensive weapons, and they still put up 31. We allowed Michigan to come storming back with a couple big drives in that game. We gave up the game winning drive to Arizona.
you sir, are correct.I said in my original post that if the defense played the way it's capable of (see: MSU game), then we'd hold them to under 30. If we don't play to our potential (see: Michigan/Arizona), Oregon would drop 40+ on us, IMO. But we are more than capable of making them look like your typical college offense, rather than the Madden unit they look like right now.
Perhaps it would be intelligent to recall how a similar question was answered last year. How many points will unstoppable Oregon put on the poor boys from Ohio State in the Rose Bowl?
We KNOW that answer: Not nearly enough.
Oregon is a pinball machine in a pinball machine league. When it faced an actual defense in Pasadena, the Ducks went all quacky. Where did all the points go?
This year's Iowa team would beat Oregon like Ohio State did last year. But we won't see an Iowa-Oregon match-up this season. But what we may see instead is an Iowa-Boise State match in the Rose Bowl where the Hawkeyes would bust the Broncos for a national audience to enjoy.
Since when did playing football like a video game win championships? This isn't Madden. Yes, there have been teams with lights out offenses that have won it all in the last decade. BUT they ALSO had lights out defense, and Oregon does not, not even close. USC made its hay on the defensive side of the ball, despite all the offensive firepower. Same with Florida, 'Bama, LSU, and when Oklahoma actually won their BCS games, THEY played great defense too.
Boise State, regardless of what you think of their schedule, DOES play great defense. They've shut Oregon down the past two years, and I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again.
Now, if it's an Oregon-Auburn matchup, then all bets are off, as neither plays defense. But if Oregon gets matched up with a team that plays defense, you'll see a game similar to last year's Rose Bowl.
Something you guys aren't looking at his this. Chip Kelly is in his 2nd year at Oregon. His very first game as head coach at Oregon was on the road at Boise State. Remember that 1st game. This isn't the Oregon that Boise State saw on Sept 3, 2009 and it's not even close..
He was their offensive co-ordinator before that. Their offense hasn't really changed much at all, and Boise shut it down.
You honestly think Boise State shuts down Oregon. Okay..
They've shut them down the last two times they played them. Ohio St shut them down last year in the Rose Bowl. Oregon has not yet played a good defense and have only played two average defenses in Arizona St and Stanford. They're great at putting up lots of points against bad teams that don't tackle well, but I still think teams with good, physical defenses can slow them down.