The Oregon Ducks Defense is playing with desire and motivation and should get a gold star for their performance so far this season.
After three weeks of College Football, Willie Taggart has Oregon Football in a good place. The Ducks are among the top teams in Scoring Offense(3rd), Total Offense(2nd) and FIrst Down Offense(2nd). The team is putting up an average of over 600 yards per game with Quarterback Justin Herbert averaging over 10 yards per passing play.
The Oregon Defense is still a work in progress under new Defensive Coordinator Jim Leavitt. After three weeks of work, the return of the 3-4 Scheme is working. Troy Dye has shown his ability in a new role to still play everywhere on the field and new faces like Jonah Moi and Thomas Graham Jr. are making names for themselves early in 2017.
Ducks lead the nation with 31 passes defended (7 INT, 24 PBU) through Week 3 #GoDucks #DoSomething pic.twitter.com/77lVilHxef
— Oregon Football (@oregonfootball) September 18, 2017
The Statistics even speak volumes compared to the last two seasons. Oregon Football is currently the top team in the Nation in covering Passes Defended. Oregon is giving up 23 points per game, but averaging 42 points in the first half the last three games against Southern Utah, Nebraska, and Wyoming.
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The Oregon Defense has given up 909 yards through three games, that’s 303 yards per game to the Opposing Offense to go with a total of nine touchdowns. While that may seem like a lot, it’s not. It’s 21 points per game and they are holding opposing Offenses to just over 4 yards per play, which is the key to their early success on the season.
Guys are playing together and communicating on the field. Nick Pickett was the player of the week for the team for Wyoming. His play calls on the field for the Defense were key to them getting the early upper hand on Quarterback Josh Allen. Pickett is a Freshman and is certainly a key role player in a young Oregon Defense.
Comparing to 2016-17, Oregon State started the first three games ranked 33rd. Both Arizona and Arizona State were ahead of Oregon last year with the Ducks ranked 82nd after three games. The Ducks were 2-1, giving up over 1200 yards to opposing offenses in that span and 5 yards per play. Last season did not see an Oregon Takeaway all season. In 2017 they are +7 after the game against Wyoming.
Next: Kickoff Time Set For Oregon vs Cal
The 2017 Test continues on the road this week at Arizona State with the start of Pac-12 Play. (7pm PT, Pac-12 Network)