UCLA Defense faces High-Octane Offense of Oregon

The NCAA football season has no let up for the UCLA Bruins. One week after facing the pounding style rushing offense of the Stanford Cardinal, the Bruins now face the high-octane, up-tempo attack of the Oregon Ducks on Saturday. Trying to play let alone coach the huge differences between two opponents is nearly impossible.

Offense has become the dominant factor in today’s football in the NCAA. Ten seasons ago, less than 30 major college programs averaged 30 points or more per game. Today that number is 62.

In the Pac-12, defending against the different teams is even more difficult as they are so different from school to school.

UCLA will come full circle on Saturday when they face the Ducks known for their two to three minute offensive series ending in a touchdown. The Bruins will go from the battering ram of Stanford to racing after the vapor trail offense of Oregon.

In the Pac-12, amongst leaders in statistical categories in the nation, Oregon is No. 2 in points scored per game, Arizona State is No 6 and Oregon State is No. 9.

In rushing offense, Oregon is No. 2 and Arizona is No. 13. Oregon State is leading the country in passing offense, while Washington State is No. 6 and California is No. 7.

Jim Mora the Head Coach for UCLA has said how difficult it is to come up with new schemes each weekend that can slow down or stop the array of different offenses, without confusing the minds of the players.

Mora added that college football was not like the NFL where coaches have the attention of their players 40 hours of more per week. In college, you might have them for 15 to 17 hours during the week and just 3 on the weekend, concluded Mora.

Mora says Lou Spanos is as qualified as anyone to attempt to find answers to the array of different offenses in college football today. Spanos, the team’s defensive coordinator, has had his players play a two-man front line on the defense and has moved his players around as if they were chess pieces. Spanos has even put his secondary up to play as linebackers.

Spanos and his players will need all the talent and hard work they can muster if they hope to slow down the Oregon offense.

Marcus Mariota the Oregon quarterback has 19 touchdown passes and not a single interception. However, if Mariota cannot pass for a touchdown he will run for one. The talented quarterback has 9 rushing touchdowns this season.

UCLA did not have a good game offensively in last week’s loss to Sanford. Brett Hundley the team’s quarterback has to bring his top game against Oregon. No defense will completely shut down the Oregon defense, Therefore, Hundley and his offense must be ready to put up high scoring numbers of their own.

Prediction: Oregon 52-28