Monday morning at CBS, college football writer Matt Zenitz named the coordinators of the week in each conference.
In the Big Ten, he chose Will Stein of the Oregon Ducks, and Tosh Lupoi of the Oregon Ducks.
So far Stein and Lupoi have gotten maximum value out of having their highly-paid units train against each other. Josh Yourish of Saturday Blitz noted that against Oklahoma State, "The Ducks jumped out to a 41-3 halftime lead, with 472 total yards, averaging 13.37 yards per play and 14.38 yards per dropback." That's insane domination.
Our @CBSSports conference coordinators of the week: pic.twitter.com/s7rRqtIpO1
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) September 8, 2025
The offense can't do that without the defense. For thirty years the Ducks have been a consistent Top 25 program that's been known for a high-output electric offense, but naysayers questioned their toughness and physicality, their ability to win big games. And specifically, their defense.
That last part seems less true than ever before. On Saturday 33 players took snaps for Tosh Lupoi, a phenomenal number. Scott Reed of Duck Sports Central observed:
"If the offense set the tone, the defense buried Oklahoma State’s options early and often. The Cowboys finished with 67 passing yards, 3.5 yards per play, and just one red-zone trip all game. Oregon forced eight three-and-outs, collected two pick-sixes, and rotated 28 defenders without losing structural integrity."
After the game Dan Lanning told reporters, "Ultimately, this is one of our better defensive performances since we've been here."
The Mint Defense that Oregon runs is designed to stop Spread offenses, but it requires great athletes who understand and execute at a high level, athletes who can swarm to the football. After three years of building Lanning and Lupoi have those elite athletes in bunches, strong and quick, able to overwhelm what the offense wants to do.
Lupoi finally has the length and speed on the back end to cover the deep middle. He has the quickness up front to contain and frustrate mobile quarterbacks.
When Noah Whittington picked up his feet and threaded through the Cowboy defense for 59 yards on the second play of the game, the Ducks had all the points they needed. They added 66 just to show Mike Gundy how they spent all that money.