Oregon has a border-line great defense... It's actually one of their biggest keys to success and why their offense gets so many possessions each game!
I think that remains to be seen. I think their numbers are solid against middling competition, but I have yet to seen anything close to 'great.' It's probably the best defense ASU has faced this season, but it won't be the best. Oregon is not dominating in pass defense, for certain. They're 72nd nationally, giving up 233 ypg. And, again, this is against middling competition. The best team they faced is Washington. The second best? Arizona. Then Wazzu.
As much as people have made light of ASU's schedule, it's still probably as good or better than Oregon's to date. I think a lot of those stats, especially the defensive stats, have "prove it" written all over it.
I continue to go back to the one culpability of the ASU defense, and that's run defense. They're not good at it, primarily because the line fails to maintain their gaps, and the edge rushers often get deeper than QB (a big no-no). Questions remain:
1. Can ASU defense play more disciplined at the LOS?
2. Can ASU defense apply as much pressure while remaining more disciplined?
It's the one primary key. I'm also concerned about ASU's o-line play. Oregon is just much better getting into the backfield than any team ASU's faced thus far, and IMO, the o-line has shown weaknesses against better d-lines. I thought they struggled mightily against Missouri and had ups and downs against Cal. It impacted the run game and Kelly was forced to run and throw it away a lot. Part of it is the receivers just weren't very good off the line in the first-half of the season, so they weren't getting separation at the end of their routes. They'll HAVE to improve so Kelly has options sooner post-snap.
