Where Oregon Ducks' defense, special teams rank nationally in key stats following Week 10
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Though the offense has stolen headlines, the Oregon Ducks‘ defense has quietly ascended to the top of the ranks in college football. Before their Week 10 bye, they had risen to No. 1 in pass defense with a secondary headlined by safety Dillon Thieneman and cornerback Brandon Finney Jr., two of the best in the business at their respective positions in college football.
They remain atop the list after having the week off — though they’ll be tested down the stretch of the regular-season.
The Iowa Hawkeyes and Minnesota Golden Gophers are unlikely to provide much competition in the passing attack, instead relying on their ground game. But the USC Trojans and Washington Huskies, Oregon’s final two games of the season, feature standout quarterbacks in USC’s Jayden Maiava and Washington’s Demond Williams Jr.
How the Ducks‘ secondary responds to those two passers could be a prequel to the College Football Playoff and the talented quarterbacks involved — that is, if Oregon can finish the regular-season with four straight wins to secure their spot.
During that time, they’ll also need more consistency out of kicker Atticus Sappington, who is just eight-for-11 on the season including a costly miss against Indiana.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at where the Ducks’ defense and special teams rank in several key stat categories after Week 10 in college football.
Scoring Defense: No. 6
Points allowed per game: 13.2
Passing Defense: No. 1
Passing yards allowed per game: 124.6
Rushing Defense: No. 30
Rushing yards allowed per game: 114.5
Total Defense: No. 4
Total yards allowed per game: 239.1
Third Down Defense: No. 10
Third down conversion percentage: 30.3%
Red Zone Defense: No. 133
Red zone conversion percentage: 100.0%
Total Sacks: No. 107
Total Sacks: 14
Tackles for Loss: No. 116
Total tackles for loss: 37
Turnovers Gained: No. 27
Total turnovers gained: 11
Kickoff Return Defense: No. 91
Average yards per opposing kickoff return: 21.6
Kickoff Returns: No. 36
Average kickoff return yards: 22.8
Punt Returns: No. 72
Average punt return yards: 8.6
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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Where Oregon’s defense, special teams rank in key stats after Week 10
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