Bucks and Ducks the Position Comparison

I guess we can make this position comparison breakdown really simple. Listening to the national media Oregon rocks and Ohio State is just lucky they got there. I have stopped listening to all their garbage especially when I hear many say Oregon has a better defense than Ohio State. When you sit down and break down all the statistics and the opponents each play you come out with one common denominator, Oregon and Ohio State match up very evenly and even the Buckeyes have an edge in many areas. As Tony has shown in his By the Numbers post you can see where the Buckeyes hold an edge. Without further ado lets break this down as best as we can shall we.

Quarterbacks

Ohio State has Cardale Jones who has played in 9 games this season but only 2 of them as the starter. The Big Ten Championship and the Sugar Bowl where he helped propel his team to wins in both and the biggest games of the season to date. Going 30 of 52 (58 percent) on his passing attempts and throwing for 500 yards and 4 TD’s with only 1 INT isn’t to shabby for a back-up on such a huge stage. Yes I said back-up because I refuse to call Jones a third string quarterback since he came into fall camp second on depth chart. When Braxton Miller went down J.T. Barrett jumped him to be the starter leaving him as the second string (see what I did there).

Oregon has some guy named Marcus Mariota. He has collected some massive hardware for his play this season and deservedly so. Winner of the Davey O’Brien, Maxwell, and Walter Camp Awards along with some minor trophy called the Heisman. No need to break down this guys stats right.

Advantage: Oregon

Rushing

I could break this down to just running backs but lets face it both the Bucks and Ducks have rushing quarterbacks so they have to figure into the equation right.

Ohio State is lead by the workhorse of Ezekiel Elliott who only has rushed for 1632 yards this season and became the very first back to gash Nick Saban’s Tide for over 200 yards in the Sugar Bowl. Cardale Jones averages 5 yards a carry which seriously is it fair all he has to do is fall forward to gain that because the kid is so tall and strong? The Buckeyes have a stable of other backs like Curtis Samuel who is averaging 6.6 yards a carry, Jalin Marshall (6.2 ypg), and a fresh leg kid named Dontre Wilson (5.6 ypg)

Oregon also has a sable of running backs and they primarily use a two headed monster of Royce Freeman (5.5 ypg) and Thomas Tyler (5.1 ypg). Both have rushed for 1343 and 511 yards respectfully. That award winning quarterback guy I mentioned earlier he only averages a measly 5.8 ypg. The Ducks will be without one of their running backs due to suspension Ayele Ford which isn’t a huge lose since he only has 3 carries for the year.

Advantage: Ohio State (Zeke’s shoes are on fire)

Offensive Line

I’m not going to break this down with all the names of the lineman or stats of sacks given up, penalties and all that.

Ohio State has had a remarkable turnaround from the beginning of the season with only one returning starter on that line. Credit co-offensive coordinator Ed Warinner and the players for buying in and working extremely and become a very good unit.

Oregon has probably one of the best if not the best offensive lines in the country. Having had to deal with injuries all season and it might have actually cost them a game with key lineman out against their first match up against Arizona.

Advantage: Oregon (Buckeyes pulling very close though)

Receivers

This has to be the best receiver corp in recent memory for the Buckeyes. Lead by Devon “Big Play” Smith (27.7 ypg) and Michael Thomas (14.9 ypg). Then you have the “H” back players in Marshall (13.5 ypg) and Wilson (14.3 ypg) and lets not discount the tight ends that in my opinion aren’t used enough Nick Vannett (12.4 ypg) and Jeff Heuerman (12.2 ypg). You can’t count out Corey Smith (9.9 ypg) who is actually a stud on special teams and Evan “I can do everything” Spencer (9.9 ypg). The other intangible that the Buckeyes have with their wide receiver corp is their ability to block on the outside and hold their blocks without holding.

Oregon has some great weapons for wide receivers unfortunately they will be without 3 of their top 6 pass catches. Darren Carrington, Devon Allen, and Pharaoh Brown will all miss the championship game. They still have Bryon Marshall (12.6 ypg), Dwayne Stanford (14.8 yp), and Keanon Lowe (14.4 ypg). Now the Ducks will find out who the next man up is for their receiver corp and since Mariota likes to spread the ball around the field it will have to be the next men up.

Advantage: Ohio State (only because of recent developments)

Total Offense

Oregon has scored 47.2 points per game against defenses averaging around a 80 rank nationally.

Ohio State has scored 45 points per game against defenses averaging around a 52 rank nationally.

Advantage: Ohio State

Defense

Ohio State rushing defense is better than Oregon. They have faced 3 top 10 offensive rushing teams this season.

Oregon passing defense is better than Ohio State. They have faced 2 top 10 offensive passing teams this season.

Even though currently the Buckeyes are ranked 16th nationally against the pass the best passing team they faced was Cincinnati, Michigan State, Alabama, and Illinois. All the other teams the Buckeyes faced offensively passing wise were ranked 61 (Kent State) and worse.

Oregon faced some serious competition from offensively passing teams. Washington, Wyoming, Stanford and Utah are all below 66 rank. Their 103 national ranking was against really good teams all season.

Oregon has given up 22.5 points per game to offenses averaging around a 42 rank nationally.

Ohio State has given up 21.43 points per game to offenses averaging around a 70 rank nationally.

See you can spin stats anyway you would like but bottom line Ohio State is ranked 17th nationally defensively and Oregon is ranked 83

Advantage: Push (you can sway the argument either way plus Oregon lost CB Ifo Ekpre-Olomu)

Random Stuff

OSU has the 2nd best offense Oregon will face
OSU has the 3rd best defense Oregon will face
OSU has the best rushing attack Ducks will face

Oregon will be the best offense Buckeyes will face
Oregon has the best passing attack Buckeyes will face
Oregon has the 4th best rushing attack Buckeyes will face

OSU is 289-1-1 when scoring 35+ points (lost in Orange bowl last season)
20-0 when having a 200+ yard rusher
22-0 when Devin Smith catches a TD

Don’t forget to read Ronnie’s preview on the game.