Oregon is a second half team. Oregon's starters went almost 8 weeks last year without giving up a TD in the 2nd half of games. LSU couldn't grind it out at the end of the NC game with 7 of their defensive starters out. Sure LSU won the game, but they allowed NC to come back and almost win at the end. I think JJ will be much improved, and they'll need him in the 2nd half. one thing I see not being mentioned right now is Special Teams. I see Oregon having a clear advantage there. Not that LSU sticks there, but with your kicker, punter and kick returner gone, the nod goes to Oregon.
Ok, I'm not talking about the speed of the players. I'm talking about the speed of the game. We all know how big and fast SEC players are. It's been well documented. What's also been well documented is Oregon's blur offense which runs plays snap to snap at 13 seconds. That's the duration of the play, setting the ball for the next play, and snapping the ball. Many teams prepared for it, but struggled to keep up with it for 60 minutes. It's unique, and something the SEC hasn't seen except for Tenn and AU. The advantage LSU has, is they have all summer to get their conditioning up for this game. A byproduct of it will be they'll probably end up being the most well conditioned team in the SEC! This is assuming LSU goes that route. On another note, do you think the top will be open for the game? When we played Houston a few years ago, we played in a dome that was suppose to be closed, then 2 or 3 days prior to the game, they decided to open it in an attempt to catch Oregon off guard and not be conditioned for the game. It didn't work, but I'm curious if anyone knows. Cheers!
Dayum! Is that like light speed or somethin'? Geez, we've never seen anything except Neanderthal offenses in the SEC. I guess LSU will have to stop ordering Cappuccinos between plays? I'm shocked. Shocked, I tell you! Amigo, do you understand what unique means? Uhh, did you imagine that LSU gets fat in the off season? I don't know how things work on the left coast, but football season goes on 24/7/365 in the SEC. Hard to say, Texans are strange and unusual.
I know SEC is next to godliness in the South. I lived in Florida for a couple of years, and got my taste. I'm sure LSU is conditioning as we speak. But my thinking, and I may be wrong, but they're conditioning for the long haul, not for one game. On the "left coast" as you put it, The Pac-10(12) championship is first, everything else is gravy. I'm assuming it's much the same way there. Since the SEC is so strong, they beat up each other all year, so if you lose one or two games, you still have a shot at the NC. So losing an OOC game isn't a huge deal as compared to other conferences if you're chasing the "Natty" (Shameless Cliff Harris quote). As far as offenses the SEC faces: I'm not saying LSU hasn't seen the spread, or even dynamic offenses (Auburn), just not Oregon's spread. It's a hybrid of 3-4 different offenses, plus a dash of everything else. The big thing, and I can't say this enough, is Oregon run's so many plays. No SEC team runs as many plays as Oregon. In 2010,Oregon ran 1024 plays, or 79 plays a game. The average amount of plays in the SEC is 66. And Oregon runs all those plays while ranking 102 in TOP at 28:09 per game, or a play every 21 seconds. By comparison, LSU ran 839 plays last year, or 65 plays per game, with a TOP of 30:15 or a play every 28 seconds. The big differences to notice here is that 7 seconds is an eternity in football when it comes to getting players on and off the field, and that it's 3 plays a minute vs. 2 plays. BTW, I know the definition... Unique: Being the only one of its kind; unlike anything else. "Oregon's offense is unique in the world of college football." See: Blur Offense.
Autzen It's already been cleared up that the game is not being played at Autzen, but I should note Autzen actually holds 58,000 officially... most sell outs are a couple hundred under 60k. Probably doesn't seem like a big difference to SEC 100k stadiums, but that ~5k seat expansion was a big deal in Eugene!
Amigo, I think LSU will able to manage another 14 plays a game. We've played four OT games in the last four years, two of them Triple OT. And LSU didn't play slowly last season because they were pacing themselves, it was because Crowton's offense relied heavily on substituting players depending on who the defense had in the game. They dragged things out to let the OC get his substitutions in. Frankly, most observers felt that the advantages gained by trying to create mismatches was lost by the loss of continuity and flow in the offense. But you won't see that this season. Kragthorp has stated that his offense will not be substituting on every play, he likes to play his starters a lot and just gives them breathers from time to time. LSU will be a faster-tempo team this season. It's a better way to take advantage of talented backs and receivers.
That will be a refreshing change. We dealt with Crowton's offense as well, so I know what you mean. Once Chip Kelly came in, it took a couple of years to ramp up to what they're doing now (speed wise). The point I was trying to make is not that Oregon runs 14 more plays then LSU, it's that it's 3 plays a minute vs. 2. It's the lack of time between plays that's the difference. It's 79 plays in 28 min. vs. 65 plays in 30 minutes. I know it doesn't sound like a big difference. It's the effect it takes over the course of a game that wears down defenses.
Just to throw this out there... Last season, Oregon (with its God Almighty play every split second) averaged just at 50 points a game. When it ran into an SEC defense they scored 19 (73 plays if you are curious.) That's against a defense that ranked in the bottom third in the SEC in total defense. I've seen the reasoning from many OOC opponents playing SEC teams over the years and this one isn't new to me. That said, the thought the Ducks will be better conditioned than LSU? No flames, but no sale either.
So you're not counting the Tennessee game? Their defense ranked right there with Auburn statistically (AU-24 ppg, UT 25 ppg) UT gave up 48 in Tennessee. How many points did LSU hang on 'em? Just saying...
