It's Like Basketball on Grass, and the Ducks are in the Full Court Press

One reason the Ducks handle adversity so well is that their up-tempo style is perfectly suited for erasing a deficit. They don't have to go into the hurry-up offense. They already play faster and more efficiently than most teams can dream of in the two-minute drill. It's second nature. It's like a basketball team with a fast break offense and full court man-to-man pressing defense.

In the old days it always used to frustrate me if the Ducks got down by more than ten. Love Coach Bellotti, but sometimes it felt like the team too long to respond and increase the urgency when trailing in the game. (Although Oregon has always been a good come-from-behind team, going back to Dan Fouts and Bobby Moore.) With these Ducks the urgency is always there. There's an article in the NY Times by Pete Thamel today about their practice pace. Oregon regularly runs 30 plays in ten minutes in practice.

With this kind of tempo the Ducks can seize momentum in any situation and put relentless pressure on defenses. Unless teams have the depth and conditioning to keep up, or resort to WWE injury faking, Oregon will run them down and wear them out. So far this season they've outscored opponents 114-7 in the second half.

If Chip Kelly's offense ever did face a serious deficit, they'd have the confidence and conditioning to fight through it. The ability to play at that frenetic pace, and ramp it up or ratchet it down when necessary, is a revolutionary weapon in college football.