Oregon Defense – Syndication Server

3 Keys to Victory for Oregon against Michigan this Saturday

The three biggest keys for the Oregon Ducks to defeat the Michigan Wolverines this Saturday.

When the 2024 schedule was announced, the Oregon Ducks Oct. 12th game against Ohio State stood out as the Ducks’ marquee matchup, but Oregon vs. Michigan in the Big House was a close second.

Now, two-thirds of the way through the 2024 season, this weekend’s game between the Ducks and the Wolverines is the opposite of a marquee matchup. Michigan has experienced a major drop-off in skill from last year’s national championship team to this year, and Oregon is flourishing.

Oregon shouldn’t have much trouble in this game, but even though the Ducks are the No. 1 team in the country, they can still be beaten on any given Saturday. Below are my three keys for Oregon to ensure that doesn’t happen and the Ducks move to 9-0.

Disciplined Defense

It’s hard to fathom or describe how bad the 2024 Michigan offense is. If Oregon’s defense —which is elite — bends and doesn’t break, they can count on the Wolverines offense to make mistakes, especially in the passing game. The Wolverines have averaged 130.8 passing yards per game this season — last in the Big Ten — and against the Oregon defense, it should be far less.

Dominate time of possession

The only way Michigan’s abysmal offense will be able to score a competitive amount of points is if they’re given extra possessions and time with the ball. For that reason, protecting the football and sustaining long drives should be a focus for Oregon. Expect to see Oregon running the ball frequently because the more time the Ducks spend with the ball, the more likely they are to win.

Take some shots

It’s unknown whether Michigan’s best player cornerback Will Johnson will play in Saturday’s game due to a leg injury, but whether he plays or not, the Ducks should look to take some shots on this Michigan defense. Oregon has no shortage of playmakers, and the Wolverines likely aren’t equipped across to stop the Ducks from being explosive. I want to see Oregon take some shots early, putting themselves in the driver seat.

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Jeffrey Bassa provides update on early season injury ahead of Week 6

Oregon Ducks star linebacker Jeffrey Bassa should be back to “100%” after suffering an early season injury.

Jeffrey Bassa, one of the top linebackers in college football and the leader of the Oregon Ducks defense, suffered an injury at the start of the 2024 season, which has kept him from having the All-Conference-level season many of us expected. At least, so far.

Bassa rolled his ankle in Oregon’s week one matchup with Idaho, and since then, his on-field role with the defense has been limited. But now, the Bassa we’re used to seeing should be back and ready to go.

“Feeling good, feeling like myself again, Bassa said when asked about his injury after the Ducks’ Tuesday practice. “So you know, I’m at 100%, ready to roll, which is good.”

Bassa described his injury as his ankle getting “rolled up on,” and for a linebacker like Bassa who relies on speed and quickness, an ankle injury can be a big hindrance. It doesn’t seem like the injury was major, but it likely kept him from playing at his best.

“I kind of just got rolled up on, so they kind of just kept precaution going into those next couple of games,” Bassa said. “But now I’m ready to roll.”

Oregon has missed Bassa’s constant presence on defense through their first four games, but because of quality play from other inside linebackers like Bryce Boettcher and Devon Jackson, the Ducks defense has performed well.

Still, Bassa’s return to full form is a major win for the Ducks. His 72 tackles in 2023 don’t begin to describe his full impact. Where Bassa really makes a difference is with his eyes and mouth, deciphering each opponent’s offensive action after tireless film study and calling out his observations to the rest of the Ducks’ defense pre-snap. Oregon will lean on Boettcher and Jackson for the rest of the season, but Bassa’s full return should take the Ducks’ defense to the next level.

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Ducks Wire Player of the Game: Tysheem Johnson snags 2 interceptions in blowout win

For the first time in nearly three years, the Utah Utes have fallen in Rice-Eccles Stadium, and they fell to the Oregon Ducks. Going in, I expected this game to be tight, but the Oregon Ducks were in total control from the jump.

One of the biggest keys for Oregon was winning the turnover battle. Bucky Irving lost a fumble early in the game, but thanks to two impressive interceptions from free safety Tysheem Johnson, the Ducks shut down the Utes’ offense and won the turnover battle.

While the Oregon offense was impressive today, the story was the Ducks’ defense keeping the Utes out of the end zone. Johnson’s interceptions were a large part of that effort, and they came at big times in the game. His first came in the second quarter, which swung the momentum in favor of the Ducks and led to a Troy Franklin touchdown drive.

Johnson’s second INT came directly after a trick play kick return that took Utah’s offense close to midfield. On the first play of the drive, Bryson Barnes was pressured heavily and after throwing off of his back foot, Johnson laid out and took the pass from the receiver’s hands, snuffing any chance Utah had to come back in this game.

In addition to his two takeaways, Johnson had two tackles. His efforts, along with the rest of the Ducks’ defense, propelled Oregon to a 35-6 win and to 7-1 on the season, which makes him the Week 9 Ducks Wire Player of the Game.

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3 Keys to victory for the Oregon Ducks against the Utah Utes

On Saturday, the Oregon Ducks will face off against the Utah Utes in what will surely be one of their toughest tests of the season. The Utah Utes are without their best QB Cam Rising — as they have been all season — but in recent weeks, Bryson Barnes has emerged as a strong leader for the Utes’ offense. Sione Vaki, a safety, has also started playing RB for Utah and has seen a lot of success.

The Ducks will have their hands full on Saturday, but they also have the tools necessary to win this game. Below, are the three things I think are most necessary for Oregon to do to leave Salt Lake City with another tally in the win column this Saturday.

Play mistake-free

The Ducks have struggled this year to play complete games — particularly on offense. There have been consistent penalties all year, and we’ve also seen some predictable offensive schemes from Will Stein to start games, which has resulted in slow starts for the Oregon offense. If the Ducks can avoid all those issues, I think they’ll be set up for success.

Shut down Utah’s run game

Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

As I mentioned earlier, Sione Vaki has unlocked the Utes offense with his ability out of the backfield, but Bryson Barnes has also been able to do great things as a runner. With the combo of Barnes and Vaki in Utah’s backfield, Oregon’s run defense will need to be in top form to stifle the Utes offense.

Win the turnover battle

(Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)

This kind of goes hand-in-hand with “playing mistake-free,” but I think if the Ducks can create takeaways while limiting turnovers of their own, they’ll be successful in this game. Since the Oregon offense has sometimes taken a few quarters to settle in, a few extra possessions for that unit could be what the Ducks need to secure a win.

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Ranking Pac-12 Defenses midway through the season

Which Pac-12 team has the best defense so far this season? We break down the numbers and find out.

The Pac-12 has never been known for its defensive prowess. Instead, the hallmark of the Pac-12 has always been a high-octane passing offense, but that doesn’t mean defense is any less important. Yesterday, I ranked all of the offenses in the Pac-12, which you should check out if you haven’t already. Today, I’m ranking each defense in the Pac-12 as we look forward to the second half of the season.

One of the metrics I use throughout this article is “stop rate,” a stat championed by the Athletic (subscription required). Simply, stop rate is the rate at which defenses force a turnover, a turnover on downs, or a punt. For reference, Michigan leads the league in stop rate at 87.5 percent, which means they force a stop 87.5 percent of the time. Bringing up the rear is New Mexico, with a stop rate of 33.3 percent meaning they allow a score of 66.67 percent of the time.

Below are each of the Pac-12 defenses ranked:

Where Oregon’s defense ranks nationally in key statistics after Stanford blowout

By several metrics, the Ducks have a top-10 defense in the nation through five weeks of the season.

Before the 2023 college football season started, I don’t think many Oregon Duck fans thought they would enter the bye week raving about the defense, rather than the offense.

That’s not to say the offense has been bad at all — quite the contrary — but after it was the defense that ultimately let down the team a year ago in frustrating fashion, the fact that this unit has been among the best in the nation through five weeks is certainly something to celebrate.

We saw that dominant unit at work once again on Saturday in a 42-6 win over the Stanford Cardinal, racking up five sacks and holding the opponent to 222 total yards of offense.

Going into the bye, the Ducks should feel really good about where they stand on this side of the ball. Here’s a look at where their defense ranks nationally in some key statistics:

5-Star DL Aydin Breland narrows his finalists to three schools

While the heat of recruiting season has passed along with the summer, there are still plenty of high-tier recruits yet to announce their plans for next year. One of the most notable free agents is 5-star defensive lineman Aydin Breland.

Breland named the Ducks as one of his top schools back in May, and slowly but surely since then, he has shortened the list of schools still under his consideration, which is a list the Oregon Ducks have remained on. For a more in-depth look at Breland, consult this recruiting profile from when he first announced an Official Visit to Oregon in May.

When Breland scheduled that OV, he scheduled two others, one with the Georgia Bulldogs and one with the Miami Hurricanes. Coincidentally — or perhaps not — when Breland announced his top three schools today, the Ducks, along with the Canes and the Bulldogs completed the list.

Final 3️⃣
Where the crib at 🏠⁉️🤔 pic.twitter.com/8OAdmPM7SO

— Aydin Breland (@AydinBreland) September 13, 2023

While being named as a finalist by such a highly-touted recruit is a victory for each of these schools, it doesn’t mean the likelihood of Breland attending one of these three schools is split three ways. According to On3’s “Recruiting Prediction Machine,” Breland is most likely to go to Georgia, followed by the Ducks, and then the Hurricanes. It is worth noting, that Texas A&M is still included on their “Prediction Machine’s” list so perhaps the list is subject to change. 247 Sports has not logged any “Crystal Ball Predictions” with regard to Breland’s future.

Bringing Breland in would be a massive victory for Dan Lanning and the Oregon defense, but I wouldn’t count on it happening. Georgia’s D-line has been an absolute powerhouse lately, as well as a factory for NFL talent, so it’s easy to see why Breland would want to go there. That, combined with Oregon’s loss of Elijah Rushing to Arizona, and the likely loss of Brandon Baker to the Texas Longhorns, makes me think “Breland to Oregon” is unlikely unless the Ducks’ recruiting luck dramatically shifts.

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Where Ducks’ defense ranks nationally in key stats following Week 2 victory

Where Ducks’ defense ranks nationally in key stats following Week 1 victory

While the Oregon Ducks offense largely looks like it did a year ago under Kenny Dillingham — which is a great thing — there have been times this season where the defense has unfortunately looked like it did a year ago under Tosh Lupoi.

While the sample size is far too small to write off Oregon’s defense as a “poor unit” in 2023, there have been some instances, both against Portland State and Texas Tech, where Oregon struggled to get off the field on third down, missed tackles, and allowed chunk-yardage plays.

There have also been a lot of improvements on that side of the ball, mainly in the pass-rush and the ability to get after the quarterback.

So where do the Ducks rank nationally on defense when it comes to some key statistics that tell us a lot about the games? Here’s a look after Week 2 against Texas Tech:

Ducks Wire Player of the Game: Jeffery Bassa leads Oregon defense

Jeffrey Bassa had a team-high 9 tackles and the game-sealing pick-six vs. Texas Tech. He is our player of the game.

That was not an easy game, but the Ducks managed to grab a win. There were plenty of mistakes, and it’s definitely not the way the team will want to look going forward. But, a win is a win, and this was a big one.

No one played perfectly for the Ducks, but the standout player in my eyes today was Jeffery Bassa. He led the team in tackles with 9 of them — 8 of them were solo tackles and 1 of them was a TFL. And while those things are important, Bassa’s biggest contribution was obviously his late-game pick-six to stop Texas Tech’s final effort and clinch the game for the Ducks.

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The pick came after Tyler Shough was hit by Brandon Dorlus as he was throwing. Bassa was probably five feet from Shough, but despite the close range, he caught the ball surely, and from the jump, nobody had a chance to catch him.

As Oregon moves into Week 3 against Hawaii, tackling will surely be a focus for the defense unit. There were too many instances tonight where Red Raider ball carriers were able to slip the first tackler. It resulted in the extension of several drives, and almost cost the Ducks the game, so having a sure-handed tackler like Bassa, was all the more important for Oregon tonight.

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Texas Tech offensive preview: Tyler Shough looks to pass all over his former team

One of the biggest talking points of college football’s first week was the Wyoming Cowboys’ upset of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Texas Tech was heavily favored to beat the Cowboys, but as we saw, anything can happen early in the season as teams are still trying to find their identity.

Despite the loss, the Red Raiders’ quarterback Tyler Shough, who is a former Oregon Duck, played well. He threw for 338 yards, 3 TDs, with 1 INT. Shough is nearing the end of his college career and it is unfortunate that so far he hasn’t had ample opportunity to demonstrate his QB ability due to injuries. However, a small sample of games played does not mean Shough is not the real deal. In Texas Tech’s final game of the 2023 season against Ole Miss, Shough threw for 242 yards and a TD while rushing for 111 yards and 2 TDs.

That isn’t the end of the Red Raiders’ offense either. In 2023, Texas Tech returned a lot of their strong receiving corps from 2022. All five of their top WRs by yardage from 2022 are back for this season and presumably better than ever. Some big names from that group are Jerand Bradley and Xavier White, the team’s two leaders in yards and TDs from a year ago. White didn’t make much of an impact against Wyoming, and Bradley was held below a hundred yards despite catching eight passes, so look for both players to be motivated to make it up in week 2.

Lastly, let’s talk run game. The Red Raiders run game hasn’t been a strength of theirs, but it hasn’t been a weakness either. They didn’t rush the ball well against Wyoming with fewer than 100 team yards on the ground. Bottling up the run could be the key to stalling Texas Tech’s offense this season, but that is something the Ducks have struggled to do in recent history, so it will be interesting to see how that matchup shakes out on Saturday.

Overall, it’s important to know that Texas Tech should be a lot better this season than they were last week, especially offensively. Whether they’ll start to play better next week or later I don’t know, but Oregon fans should at the very least be prepared for a high-level offense.

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