"Holy Wallowa! Ted Leroux of "That Show Out West" covers the Ducks and the Big Ten with a daily podcast. In this Monday's episode he takes a deep dive into the Oregon defense with Autzen Zoo as his special guest.
Leroux asked what questions the defense had to answer to meet the national expectations of a top ten defense.
"At Big Ten Media Days back in July, Matayo Uiagaleiei ('Mah tay oh oo-ee ung la lay') that the defense was probably as talented as it was last year, but the only difference was: experience. So that has to be the first question is how quickly they can get these guys up to speed."
"They've got a ton of talent. In the last two, three years Dan Lanning has stacked all kinds of talent for the defense, four- and five-star guys, but they haven't played a lot. So the biggest question for the defense is how quickly they can get those guys up to speed, on assignment, consistent from snap-to-snap."
Leroux said, "I think the early part of this season is very favorable towards the defense and the new part of the defense. I think when we talk about that we're specifically talking about the secondary. Outside of Dillon Thieneman, that's a very young group in there."
"I so agree. I think that's a good breakdown of the situation. I think it's really important that the Ducks exercise a little bit of game control in those first four games. They need to get the twos and threes and fours in the game, find out what they can do, find out if they're ready for live football."
The interview continues with discussion of Oregon's position groups and leadership strengths.
--It was great talking with Big Ten Ted. I realize I have no chance of replacing Scott Van Pelt, although I have perfected his hair line.