Autzen Stadium will see a true strength vs. strength situation on Saturday when No. 7 MSU puts its hard-nosed defense up against No. 3 Oregon’s explosive offense in one of the season’s best non-conference matchups.
“You look at Oregon, certainly you see what they’ve done offensively, and they are different from other spread teams,” head coach Mark Dantonio said during Tuesday’s press conference. “I think they’ve had so much success, a lot of people are taking some of the things and imitating them or not copying, but using their concepts and trying to adapt it into their offenses.
And then when you look at our defense, I think, again, it’s cutting edge. There’s not a lot of people who have played our defense in the past. I think people are moving toward it and doing some of the things that we’ve done.”
Over the last three seasons defense has become synonymous with Spartan football, and the same can be said on the other side of the ball for Oregon (1-0 overall). Last year MSU (1-0 overall) ranked in the top ten nationally for rushing, passing, total, scoring and pass efficiency defense, while the Ducks ranked in the top ten for total and scoring offense, and team passing efficiency.
The Ducks appear to have carried over the same offensive success from a year ago, posting 673 total yards en route to a 62-13 opening week win over South Dakota. Junior quarterback and Heisman candidate Marcus Mariota will lead the way for the fierce Oregon offense on Friday and has proven he has the ability to beat teams with his arm and legs after recording 3,665 yards in the air and 715 more on the ground last season.
Perhaps just as dynamic as Mariota is his partner in the backfield junior running back Byron Marshall. After racking up 1,038 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns a year ago , Marshall kicked off the season with 228 total yards and two receiving touchdowns against South Dakota.
However, senior free safety Kurtis Drummond isn’t straying away from the task at hand and is excited for the challenge Mariota and the rest of this Oregon offense presents. Drummond said despite having multiple new faces on the defense this year, including two new starters in the secondary, he is confident in his defense holding up against the Duck’s high flying offense.
“Any competitor likes a challenge and if they want to come at me and my secondary we are definitely looking forward to the challenge,” Drummond said after practice on Tuesday. “We have a great defense, a lot of guys who can come in and make plays and we’re definitely excited to go out to Eugene and show the world what we are possibly able to do.”
One of the aspects that makes Oregon tough to play against is its fast-paced up-tempo style. Of the Ducks eight touchdown drives in the season opener, five took no more than two minutes before finding the endzone. Last season saw similar numbers with just over 66 percent of Oregon’s touchdown drives coming in two minutes or less.
The fast-paced style is something MSU will try to replicate this week, with Dantonio stating redshirt quarterback Damion Terry could be used as a Mariota simulator on the scout team in practice.
But even more important was the Spartan’s week one preview of a no-huddle offense against Jacksonville State. MSU was able to hold the Gamecocks fast- paced offense to only 89 first half yards, giving junior defensive end Shilique Calhoun and the rest of the “Spartan Dawgs” more confidence heading out west.
“Definitely nice to have it early on so, ya know, we can correct the little mistakes that we didn’t understand in camp or understand in spring ball,” Calhoun said. “... It was nice to go against Jacksonville State and have that fast-paced offense, but now we have to see what Oregon has in store for us.”
Support student media!
Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
Discussion
Share and discuss “Fast-paced Oregon offense will provide challenge for stingy MSU defense” on social media.
