First, I don’t think it’s entirely unreasonable to point out that Oregon was a healthy bo nix and maybe a couple of weird fluke special teams plays from the CCG last year even with a terrible defense. Yes they got ran on by OSU. If you watch the game again, though, it was the special teams stuff that ultimately cost them the game. Oregon would’ve beat UW last year if Nix wasn’t hurt, too.
Looking at this year, I think there is a really good case that they’re better almost across the board this season.
The defense is better on all three levels, and I don’t mean that in a CROOTS CLICK kind of way either. They are actually performing at a much higher level so far. Colorado has scored 36, 45, 43, 41, 27, 43… and 6 points in each of their games this year. And that 6 might as well be a zero, as it was scored in the final moments of a dominant win. Last year’s team probably still wins… they probably give up 30+ though.
Stanford had 120 yards at the end of the 1st quarter… they had 220 yards at the end of the game. Yes, bad offense, but also, they did some stuff early that they hadn’t shown previously, Oregon adjusted and then locked them down the rest of the game.
Even against Washington I’d argue the defense showed that they’re significantly better then last year. Oregon actually outgained UW and the defense was the catalyst for Oregon to come back from being down 11. Penix and 3 NFL recievers is enough to give any defense fits but by the end of the game they had made it to penix multiple times, he was sitting on the bench looking like he thought UW was about to lose lol.
The biggest question is always going to be Lepoi but his role has diminished this year. He is basically a glorified CROOT CORCH now that he shares coordinating duties.
As far as the offense, it’s basically the same unit overall, with the offensive line still being really good but not as good as last year’s elite line, especially in the run blocking. The playcalling is different but Willy is doing fine. It’s a bit too conservative at times given their weapons downfield. Troy Franklin did have a monster second half last night though.
Any time a top offense can be paired with a good to great defense, they will have success. It’s been a long time since Oregon had both units as good as they are right now. They’re a nearly complete team. And they’re a 4th down conversion or maybe a different coaching decision or two from being undefeated right now.
I do believe that Oregon is tier 1 in the conference. I’m not sure how I feel about USC right now. If I had to guess I would put the conference into tiers like this:
Tier 1
Washington
Oregon
Tier 2
USC
OSU
Utah
Tier 3
UCLA
WSU