Along with the rest of the team, the Oregon Ducks defense got off to a slow start in their season-opening victory over the Boise State Broncos.
The Broncos received the opening kickoff and marched down the field, completing an 11-play, 75-yard drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Maddux Madsen. There was little resistance from the Oregon defense, as Boise State had success both on the ground and through the air.
By the time the second half rolled around, the Ducks began to put the clamps on the Broncos offense. While the effort as a whole wasn't good enough, with Boise State putting 27 points on the board, the yardage outputs were solid from a defensive perspective: 181 passing yards and 93 rush yards for 274 total yards.
If the
Ducks give up those amounts of yards, they're going to win a very high percentage of games. Yet, with the difference in talent level on the field and how high of a standard head coach Dan Lanning holds for this defense, it simply wasn't good enough.
While there's much to fix and improve upon, here's where the Ducks' defense and special teams land in various stat categories through one game.
Scoring Defense: No. 100
Points allowed per game: 27
Passing Defense: No. 64
Pass yards allowed per game: 181
Rushing Defense: No. 99
Rush yards allowed per game: 119
Total Defense: No. 54
Total yards allowed per game: 274
Third Down Defense: No. 37
Third down conversion percentage: 26.6%
Red Zone Defense: No. 58
Red zone conversion percentage: 100%
Sacks: No. 27
Total sacks: 3
Tackles for Loss: No. 74
Total tackles for loss: 5
Turnovers Forced: No. 98
Total turnovers forced: 0
Punt Return Defense: No. 20
Average yards per opposing punt return: 2
Kickoff Returns: No. 47
Average kickoff return yards: 21.0
Punt Returns: No. 92
Average punt return yards: 1.0
Contact/Follow@Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page onFacebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.
This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Where Oregon's defense, special teams rank statistically after Week 1
