Washington State Football: 5 Reasons Cougars will take down Oregon

3. Oregon’s defensive struggles will catch up with them this week

A big reason for the advanced metrics’ skepticism of Oregon is due to their shortcomings on the defensive side of the ball. The Ducks are 91st in defensive S&P+. They rank 50th in the nation in total defense, giving up just shy of 362 yards-per-game. Oregon has had some trouble stopping even marginal offenses from finding success.

They’ve faced three offenses this year that rank sub-100 in offensive S&P+ and gave up an average of 370 yards-per-game and 23 points-per-game.

While Oregon was probably a bit unlucky in their loss to Stanford, a game they led almost wire-to-wire, they can blame their defense just as much as Verdell’s slippery hands. The Ducks surrendered over 8 yards-per-play to an anemic Cardinal offense, allowing Stanford to overcome a 24-7 deficit.

The biggest weakness of the unit has been Oregon’s secondary, which ranks 89th in the nation in passing defense, allowing 239 yards-per-game through the air. That’s bad news against a Mike Leach coached team that will toss the pigskin all over the field.