In the days of the leatherheads, when football players had nicknames like Chick and Red and Bronko and Greasy and Slingin' Sammy, football games turned on razzle-dazzle, flying wedges, spinners, buck laterals and wingback reverses. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Oregon's spread is a harmonizing kid brother to the old single wing. Chip Kelly's been known to break out the Statue of Liberty or a sweep pass, and he and offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich are working from dusk till dawn, looking for ways to stun and topple over Burfict and ASU's front seven. Kelly and Helfrich are the men who stare at notes, mapping a strategy that gets Oregon's three kings, Thomas, Barner and James, breaking free in the desert with the Arizona State gold.
It's a tough task. Yesterday in his weekly news conference Kelly said Arizona State by far was the toughest defense the Ducks have faced this year, with a very strong linebacking corps and a fierce defensive line. Dennis Erickson has the kind of players he likes in this group, fast, agile, athletic, and a little mean. They will be tough to block. Kelly noted that last year they were at or near the top in most of the conference's statistical categories, and the unit has returned intact and improved. They're tired of losing and a little angry, and that makes them eleven dangerous young men.
Vontaze Burfict gets the headlines, but the entire group has a lot of talent. Last year they led the conference in total defense. Through three games they haven't allowed a point in the fourth quarter, limiting opponents to an average of 103 yards a game on the ground. They are swarming and very quick laterally. Burfict in particular is tough to block. DT Lawrence Guy, 6-5, 300, and DE James Brooks, 6-5, 272, anchor the line.
Burfict has a certain NFL future, and probably a legendary one. Dennis Erickson said he played the best game of his career against Wisconsin last week with 10 tackles, two for a loss and two pass breakups. The wild man middle linebacker seemed to play more in control, avoiding the personal foul penalties that have marred the otherwise stellar performances of his 14-game career. Playing every game as a true freshman, the Corona, California native is 6-3, 245, as fast and tough sideline-to-sideline as any player in the country, disruptive and uncontainable, a fierce hitter. He has a nasty streak, and it's imperative that the Ducks offensive line is disciplined and consistent across from him. Part of their job Saturday is to protect Darron Thomas and LaMichael James from deliberate injury or an early exit. Second on the team in tackles last season, Burfict was the PAC-10 defensive freshman of the year, after being a 5-star recruit coming out of high school, the highest-ranked player ever to sign at ASU. He wears number 7 because he was a fan of John Elway growing up, but says he patterns his game after the Baltimore Ravens' Ray Lewis. It shows.
Helfrich noted that all three of the Sun Devil linebackers wear single-digit numbers, and that is a bad sign. It means that all three are athletic enough to be skill position players. On either side of #7 Burflict are #6 junior Shelly Lyons and #8 junior Brandon Magee. Curiously, all three played at Centennial High in Corona. The three are like brothers, roommates off the field. Lyons, 6-2, 230, had 17 tackles as a sophomore. Magee was dinged up in the Wisconsin game and may be limited, but backup Gerald Munns is a capable replacement. Magee is 5-11, 230. He had 34 tackles and two sacks last season, and may be the best all-around athlete on the defense. He plays outfielder for the ASU baseball team that has gone to the College World Series twice, and was drafted by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2008.
Up front, Guy and Brooks are a load. They demand so much attention from the offensive line it often allows the athletic linebackers to roam free and tee off on quarterbacks and running backs with a running start. Guy, a junior, had 37 tackles last year, and was honorable mention all-PAC-10 as a freshman. He had seven tackles for loss in 2009, and led the team with four and a half sacks. He erupted against Cal, with two sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Jordan Holmes, Asper and Thran can't let him get that kind of a push on Saturday. Sealing him properly gives them leverage to get a hat on Burfict. At 300 lbs. Guy is listed as running a 4.8 40. Even hand-timed, that's impressive for his size, making him the fastest, strongest, most athletic tackle the Ducks may face all year. Scout.com listed him as the number 67 rated player in the country coming out of high school.
#34 Brooks had 17 tackles and three and a half sacks as a sophomore, and he intercepted a pass against Oregon and returned it 13 yards, broke up two passes and forced a fumble. He got the best of the Ducks offensive line in a big loss, and Steve Greatwood will no doubt goad his tackles to contain him better this time. An in-state product from Flagstaff, Brooks had 15 sacks as a high school senior and was offensive player of the year as a tight end.
Brooks and Guy are joined on the front by junior defensive tackle Bo Moos, 6-0, 297, whose father Bill was Oregon athletic director for 12 years. The younger Moos prepped at Sheldon High in Eugene, Defensive Co-Player of the Year and 2nd-team All State as a senior.
This front seven is an extraordinarily athletic group, and a big step up for the Oregon offensive line over what they have faced so far. Look for the Ducks to try to counter some of the Sun Devils' aggression with misdirection, get them to take themselves out of the play and get them thinking, less free and reactive. They held #11 Wisconsin to 20 points on the road, and they'll be aiming to contain LaMichael James in a way no one ever has. ASU defensive coordinator Craig Bray has probably laid down a challenge: corral James, and you ground the Ducks, putting the game in the hands of Oregon's relatively untested sophomore quarterback. They'll bring fierce pressure on Thomas, trying to pressure him into mistakes in the zone read and passing game.
An aggressive, attacking, disruptive defense is the toughest matchup for a spread offense. The Oregon offensive line has to complete their blocks, and the Ducks' best chance for success early might be through the air. Wisconsin's ball control offense had 246 passing yards on the Arizona State secondary, which is relatively inexperienced. Junior cornerback Omar Bolden, #3, is ASU's top returnee back there, and he missed eight games last season with a knee injury. Bolden returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown versus the Badgers. On the other side, 5-11 senior LeQuan Lewis is a converted wide receiver who has been clocked at 4.29 in the forty.
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