Associated Press
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. ó All this talk about the unstoppable offenses set to be unleashed by No. 1 Auburn and No. 2 Oregon in the BCS title game is enough to make a defensive coordinatorís head spin.
After fielding who knows how many questions Wednesday about whatís expected to be a wild night at the University of Phoenix Stadium in nearby Glendale, Oregonís Nick Aliotti summed it up like this:
ěHereís what I think. I think that thereís going to be a game on Jan. 10. Cam Newton is going to play for Auburn in a very high-powered offense. I think that LaMichael James and Darron Thomas et al. is going to play for Oregon in a high-powered offense.
ěThereís going to be two defenses that have to get on the field at some point in time and the one that does the best job of stopping the other teamís offense is probably going to win.
ěHow thatís going to happen,î Aliotti paused for almost 4 seconds, ěI donít know.î
That old conventional wisdom about defense winning championships doesnít seem to apply to Auburn and Oregon.
For the first time in the 13-year history of the Bowl Championship Series, neither team playing for the national title will finish the season ranked among the top 10 defenses in the country. In nine of the previous 12 BCS championship games, both teams ended the season ranked in the top-20 nationally in total defense.
The Ducks ranked 25th in the nation and third in the Pac-10 in total defense, allowing 331.5 yards per game. Pretty good, but itís coach Chip Kellyís fast-paced, spread offense, averaging 537 yards per game (second best in the country), that draws most of the attention.
ěI think Oregon puts a lot of pressure on the opposing team off the mere fact that they have an explosive offense, so they are going to put up points,î Newton said. ěYou go from a team in the first quarter trying to be balanced to the second quarter and third quarter just trying to keep up with their offense.î
Auburnís defense is ranked 55th nationally ó roughly the middle of the pack ó but offensive coordinator Gus Malzahnís unit has more than made up for any issues on the other side of the ball.
ěEvery time the offense takes the field, we expect to score,î Auburn quarterback-turned-receiver Kodi Burns said. ěCoach Malzahn instills that in us.î
Auburn averages 497 yards per game, with Newton leading the way on the ground and through the air. The Heisman Trophy winner was the Southeastern Conferenceís leading rusher with 1,409 yards and he threw for 28 touchdowns and 2,589 yards.
ěHeís a great athlete, performs really well under pressure and the biggest thing is heís a double-threat, he can throw the ball and he can run,î Oregon defensive lineman Brandon Bair said.
Malzahn, who in just six seasons has gone from high school coach in Arkansas to one of the hottest head coaching prospects in college football, doesnít call Auburnís offense a spread.
ěWeíre a two-back, run, play-action team with an emphasis on going fast and throwing the ball vertically down the field,î he said. ěWe go from the shotgun which probably makes people think itís a spread.î
And, yes, the Tigers also like to pick up the pace. They donít quite go as fast as Oregon, but they donít dilly-dally between plays, either.
ěWe think pace is a great advantage in college,î he said. ěWe try to mentally and physically wear down a defense.î
Aliotti, in his third stint and 20th season as an assistant with the Ducks, has had to adjust what he considers a successful game for his defense because of the way Oregonís offense plays.
ěItís difficult sometimes to feel really good about the way you play defensively when you play a lot of plays,î he said. ěAnd thereís two ways to look at it. If you stop them in three downs, you wonít play a lot of plays. But we play very fast on offense therefore that puts us on the field quite a bit.î
In many ways, Auburn-Oregon is a matchup that typifies an era in which offenses have evolved far more quickly in college football than defenses. With various incarnations of the spread and a plethora of dual-threat quarterbacks ó from Vince Young to Pat White to Tim Tebow and now to Newton and Thomas ó itís never been tougher to play defense.
ěI think teams are doing a good job of doing little bits and pieces of a lot of different packages,î said Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, who was a defensive coordinator at the University of Miami and a defensive assistant in the NFL before taking over the Scarlet Knights.
ěBack when option football was first big, the option quarterback was a slight guy, maybe 185, 190 pounds. Now youíre talking about these 235-pound monsters who can throw and run. You look at those quarterbacks and what theyíre doing with those quarterbacks, itís a whole different deal.î
And no teams give defenses more to deal with than Auburn and Oregon.
The Associated Press
01/05/11 18:12