Much was made of both Oregon and Arizona’s employment of the spread-option offense heading into Saturday’s showdown at Autzen.
Rich Rodriguez, after a spectacular stint at West Virginia that was capped by a 32-5 mark in his final three seasons there, seemed like he would continue his offensive prowess as head coach of Michigan. But his spread-option offense didn’t work in the “three yards and a cloud of dust” heartland of the Big 10 conference, managing a 15-22 record. His lack of victories spelled his end in Ann Arbor, Mich., after three years.
A recent cover boy for the speedy and versatile offensive scheme, Chip Kelly has seen nothing but success with his version of the spread-option offense serving as the driving force behind the Ducks’ three consecutive bowl game appearances.
After a season away from coaching, Rodriguez has debuted with the Arizona Wildcats in 2012 a more balanced and highly potent offensive blast, that heading into the matchup with the Ducks, has been 50-50, with 87 passes and 88 rushes.
Kelly visited Rodriguez back in 1999 at Clemson, when both men had different coaching jobs. Kelly learned some of Rodriguez’s tactics and 13 years later he had the opportunity to put them to the test against “Rich Rod” on Saturday night.
Kelly succeeded. Rodriguez did not.
Oregon was on its game. After only 13 points in the first half, the Ducks’ offense put up 22 points in the second half and the defense accounted for two TDs.
“Offensively, it was a tale of four bad quarters,” said Rodriguez. “You can’t afford to do that, let alone against Oregon.”
Despite their defense putting them in prime scoring position multiple times early on, the Wildcats were miserable in the red zone for the entire game, going zero of five inside the 20. Arizona had possession inside the Ducks’ half seven different times and got as close as the Ducks’ 2, 4, 12, 13 and 14 yard lines on five of those opportunities.
“When we are down there, to beat a team like Oregon, you got to finish off those drives and we had a lot of opportunities and didn’t do it.”
The Ducks’ defense seemed to read Arizona’s playbook at times, stopping the Wildcats on third down nine times out of 17 and completely closing them out on all four of their fourth-down tries.
When asked if the fact Oregon’s defense sees a scheme similar to Arizona’s everyday at practice, Arizona’s head coach said, “We see it too. They see it, we see it, nobody gets the edge, they executed better than we did.”
Oregon had four interceptions (three against ‘Zona starter Matt Scott). Two of the picks went for six points at the other end, while Oregon’s interception yardage total was a staggering 99.
The Wildcats defense became more porous as the night wore on, as Oregon passed for 267 yards and two scores, while rushing for 228 and two TDs.
“It was disappointing,” said Rodriguez. “Tonight was embarrassing.”
Arizona will host the red-hot Beavers of Oregon State next week.