A few items noted about Wisconsin... I actually think this is the better matchup for Oregon now. Before, I wanted nothing to do with Wisky. Badgers defensive is not that quick and MSU's front and LB's looked better. Oregon should be able to put a lot of points on the board. This team reminds me, in part, of Stanford with the power I. We can play that game and duplicate that in practice to prep the defense. From OT to OT, they go 320, 330, 320, 315 and 330. They will get yards on the ground...but, they are not overly quick or athletic. Despite the size of the OL and Wilson's athleticism, they've given up considerably more sacks than MSU. I'm hopeful with some lockdown coverage and stunts, we'll get to Wilson and disrupt the offensive flow. I'm not so sure Badger's are able to duplicate the speed, trip/quad option and spread of Oregon in practice to prep the D. Cousin's is more accurate, is the leading Big Ten QB in yards and has more athletic WR's. Badgers top WR's (Toon/Abbredis) avg less than 70 ypg. I believe our corners are athletic enough to go man and we'll be able to devote a defender to both Ball and Wilson. It's going to be a total battle and both teams are going to put points on the board. I feel this will come down to Oregon having the better defense and making more stops, and Oregon's offense is more explosive. Badger's have 78 TD's on the year and allowed 26 - to Oregon's 75/35. They did not play a top 5 team (Oregon played 2) and their OOC schedule had UNLV, Oregon St, N. Ill, and S. Dak. - yawn. They have not played a team with speed like Oregon. No where near. Go Ducks!! This won't be easy but we can do this.
A BCS win will show that they are on the right track. A performance plan on how they played against USC, WSU and Washington will cause them to falter either at the beginning at a slow start and fall short, or their offensive kicks in the second half. It doesn't matter on Wisconsin's stats, its how the Ducks perform consistently.
Stats, matchups, mismatches, areas to focus on, areas to exploit, etc absolutlely matter. Its called game-specific prep. Oregon was more prepared for Luck and Stanford then they were for Barkley and USC. Three Conference Championships. We're on the right track.
watching the game last night I was comforted watching both teams marching the ball up and down the field. As Targus pointed out, Wisky looked slow on D which means opportunities will abound for Oregon. So as you pointed out, it's a matter of them executing. If Oregon is clicking on offense and they're trading TDs early on, their Offensive big boys are going to get awfully tired going against Oregon's rotating DTs by the 2nd half. I'll take the Ducks chances against most anyone in a shootout STOMP
It should be a good game. This is probably the best matchup in the BCS bowls. I think the team with less turnovers will win.
Some press talked about the Ducks speed last year against Auburn. However the Ducks got overmatched due to the offensive linemen size of Auburn and their quickness. There will be more comparison stats between theses two teams (Ducks vs Badgers) in the next few weeks. 2011 FBS rankings. Ducks give up 23.6 pts per game. Badgers give up 17 pts per game. Between the two QB's Ducks: D.Thomas 194/316 attempts 2493 yards, 30 TD's. Badgers: R.Wilson 206/284 attempts 2879 yards, 31 TD's. Passing yards are very close for both teams per game.
On offense for 2011 Wisconsin has averaged 6.7 yards per play, so has Oregon. On defense for 2011 Wisconsin averages giving up 4.8 yards per play, as has Oregon. Should be fun STOMP
Those are amazing stats. I'd argue Oregon has played considerably better teams to arrive at those stats. Did you see Wisky's OOC schedule? Yikes!
It's difficult to argue with the fact that Oregon has played three of the top five teams (AP) in the nation. Wisky failed to play any top 5 teams and their OOC is atrociously silly.
This game worries me a bit... As stated Wisconsin's O line is huge, bigger than the Green Bay Packers in fact! They have a super sized version of D Thomas in Wilson as a QB that's not afraid to take off when his check offs are exposed and a punishing RB. They have tall recievers that he can get the long ball to and our secondary is undersized as we've all year, and vunlerable. Our offense is going to have to strike fast and get a cushion because the Badgers will want to play smash mouth, ball control for 4 quarter exhausting our D if they can. D Thomas can not come out against these guys and play a sluggish 1st half and hope to turn on the jets in the 4th... The Ducks need to be surgical and "CRISP" early! If they play focused Duck ball it's over by the 3rd.... if not, expect this to be another game where a miracle play has to materialize to save the quack. I for one just want us to walk out there and play a FOCUSED game and make a Rose Bowl Satement! That said, I think the key to the Ducks is FOCUS this year. The UCLA game should be a concern, cause the Quack was asleep out there in the second half. Chip needs to get them on the same page in a hurry. USC "1st half" and OSU we looked bored and just expecting to win. That will get you beat! IF we are focused we win by 17 and it's a great day!
One thing that jumped out at me is that Wisconsin only played 34 players against MSU. Considering your key starters account for 22 - add in a few kickers and special teams guys and it appears Wisconsin is not deep at all. Not at all. MSU played 54 and Oregon typically plays 50+. This is a Wis team with a good core group of guys, but no way their defense (or even their offense) can hold up against all the bodies we are able to rotate.
I think you're right, but the top of the Pac-12 is better. In fact, I think I'd rank the teams this way, from 1-24 (in tiers): Top Tier (4): Oregon, USC, Stanford, Michigan Second Tier (5): Wisconsin, tOSU, PSU, Nebraska, MSU Third Tier (8): Washington, California, UCLA, ASU, Utah, Northwestern, Iowa, Purdue Fourth Tier (7): Colorado, Arizona, OSU, WSU, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana I think that Michigan is the best Big-10 team, but isn't as good as the Pac-12's big three... Ed O.
I disagree. I think the top of the Pac is better than the Big-10 top, but I think Wisky and MSU are both better than Michigan.
From O-live. More.. In contrast Ducks Darron Thomas has completed 61.5 percent of his passes for his 2,493 yards and 30 touchdowns with six interceptions while rushing for 205 yards and three touchdowns. More Source: http://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/index.ssf/2011/12/rose_bowl_wisconsin_badgers_pr.html
The Ducks have played two ground and pound running teams this year, LSU & Stanford. For the season they averaged 5.0 and 5.3 yards per rush respectively but against Oregon those numbers shrank to 3.6 & 3.7 ypr. Wisconsin has averaged 5.5 ypr this year. STOMP
137 YPG and 3.6 YPC against a Defense that is on the field as much as Oregon!? Wow Thats better than I thought we were. Thanks for that Nate Dogg it actually makes me feel better about our D
