5 things Oregon fans learned during No. 8 USC’s win over Colorado

One of the frustrating things that comes with good teams playing bad competition early in the season is it leads to numerous questions about how good those teams really are.

For instance, we have an idea that the Oregon Ducks, Washington Huskies and USC Trojans are among the top teams in the nation, but nonconference games against Portland State, Tulsa and San Jose State don’t offer much of a platform to perform.

However, with the Trojans’ Week 5 win against the Colorado Buffaloes, 48-41, behind us, it gives us an opportunity to compare and contrast a bit, answering some questions we had about USC, Colorado and the Ducks.

A week ago, Oregon dismantled the Buffs at home, 42-6, showing Colorado may not be as good as some people thought. USC beat Colorado on the road earlier Saturday, but it didn’t look easy. Seeing the Trojans play Coach Deion Sanders and the Buffs gave us some insight into how good they really are, and in turn, how the Ducks should be perceived.

Here are some of our biggest takeaways after the game.

Oregon's Defense is Legitimate

Courtesy of Ethan Landa

The Ducks held Colorado’s offense to 199 total yards a week ago, keeping it off the scoreboard until there were less than 3 minutes left in the game. If they wanted to pitch a shutout, they could have — all it would have taken was keeping the starters in the game on defense.

Despite that performance, there was hesitancy to declare Oregon’s defense as elite until we saw more of a sample size from Colorado’s offense against established teams.

I think we saw enough on Saturday to feel really good about what the Ducks’ did against Colorado last weekend. While the game stats look good in favor of Oregon, what’s really impressive is the stats through three quarters — aka how long the Ducks had their starters in the game.

Through three quarters, Oregon allowed 72 yards of offense, while USC allowed 417. The Ducks had six sacks by that time; USC had two. Oregon allowed just seven first downs, while USC gave up 22.

We will further examine the Trojans’ defense in a second, but my biggest takeaway from this game is that Oregon fans should feel really good about their defense. Colorado is an above-average offensive team, and the Ducks shut them down.

Trojans Defense Needs Work

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Really quickly, I would like to bring a couple of numbers back to the surface once again: Oregon’s defense allowed 199 total yards and 6 points to the Colorado offense, with 127 of those yards and all 6 of those points coming in the fourth quarter once the starters for the Ducks were out of the game.

In comparison, the USC Trojans allowed 564 total yards by Colorado to go along with 41 points in four quarters.

Let’s keep the Ducks out of the conversation for a second and focus solely on USC — that’s BAD.

Granted, Colorado has a good offense and a future NFL QB under center, surrounded by above-average weapons. Regardless, this Trojans team does not have a defense that looks capable of competing at a championship level. They may be able to score 40-50 points against anyone they face, but there should be zero confidence that they can stop Oregon or Washington from scoring 60.

I’ve seen all that I need to see and feel confident that USC has no business competing at a College Football Playoff level this year, simply because of their defense.

Ducks and Trojans Offensive Tiers

Can we start giving Oregon’s offense the respect that it deserves? To this point of the season, they are absolutely in the same tier as the USC Trojans and Washington Huskies.

If we look at this common opponent for Ducks and Trojans, then it shows that Oregon belongs in the same conversation as USC. Again, we will look at stats through three quarters, which shows what the Ducks were able to do before taking out their starters.

Oregon total yards — 481; USC total yards — 465. Oregon first downs — 28; USC first downs — 24. Oregon punts — 0; USC punts — 3. Oregon yards per play — 7.6; USC yards per play — 8.8. Oregon total points — 49; USC total points — 48.

I could go on, but I think that’s enough to properly prove my point. I by no means am saying that USC has a bad offense, but I do think that the Ducks’ offense is just as good, and they belong in the same conversation.

Caleb Williams is special

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Let’s not allow all of this talk about USC to distract us from the fact that Caleb Williams is an absolutely incredible quarterback and a very special prospect.

He once again came to play on Saturday. There was one throw in particular during the first half that was incredible, and undoubtedly had NFL scouts drooling as they watched.

Williams’ talent was never in question. We knew the reigning Heisman winner was going to have what it takes to get the Trojans playing at a championship level on offense. We will just have to wait and see if the defense can hold up its end of the bargain.

Oregon Fans Should Feel Good

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Going into the year, it was perceived as USC being on a tier separate from everyone else in the Pac-12. I think we’ve seen enough to know that this isn’t the case. USC is still very good, and its offense is as good as any in the nation. However, its defense is still not championship caliber.

That’s where Oregon should feel confident. While it will be tough to hold Caleb Williams and the Trojans to under 40 points on any given Saturday, I think Will Stein and his offense have to feel really good about its ability to put up points on USC.

Story originally appeared on Ducks Wire