Unfortunately, the Oregon Ducks defense is going to get grouped in with the offense after the team's embarrassing 17-15 loss to the UCLA Bruins in Week 6. But that shouldn't be the case.
Of course, the defense made some significant mistakes, such as losing Wayne Knight on his touchdown run and biting on a play-action fake on the first play of the game leading to a 62-yard pass. But those mistakes were magnified considering the Ducks 1) lost by just two points and 2) the offense managed to score just 15 points.
If Oregon's offense had a "C" game, the Ducks likely win by a score or two. Instead, Dylan Raiola put forth a clunker of a performance and the run game never got going. They had an "F" performance and hung the defense out to dry. Let's also
not forget that the defense recovered a Nico Iamaleava fumble at the one-foot line, gifting Oregon's offense six points. A failed two-point conversion followed, but I'd blame that more on the coaching staff's decision than anything with the players.
Edge rusher Teitum Tuioti was commendable in his postgame press conference, saying that the defense didn't play to their standards of allowing 13 points or less. That may be true from their perspective, but giving up 17 points in modern college football is going to be good enough to win unless a team's offense is absolutely putrid that day — and that's a good word for the Ducks' offensive performance on Saturday.
The defense has had its shortfalls this season, but Week 6 against UCLA was overall a good day for this unit, as well as the special teams (aside from the missed two-point conversion). Let's see how both units stack up nationally in various statistics.
Scoring Defense: No. 57
Points allowed per game: 22.0
Passing Defense: No. 93
Pass yards allowed per game: 226.0
Rushing Defense: No. 41
Rush yards allowed per game: 118.4
Total Defense: No. 60
Total yards allowed per game: 344.4
Third Down Defense: No. 2
Third down conversion percentage: 22.1%
Red Zone Defense: No. 46
Red zone conversion percentage: 80.0%
Sacks: No. 94
Total sacks: 9
Tackles for Loss: No. 126
Total tackles for loss: 20
Turnovers Forced: No. 19
Total turnovers forced: 10
Punt Return Defense: No. 9
Average yards per opposing punt return: 0.8
Kickoff Returns: No. 118
Average kickoff return yards: 16.3
Punt Returns: No. 75
Average punt return yards: 8.7
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Where Oregon's defense, special teams rank after Week 6 loss to UCLA
