+1 Oregon just wears out the teams in the second half cause those teams can't keep up with Oregon's offense. The key is that the opposing team needs a running game that can grind out yards, eat up the clock, and keep their defense off the field to rest up. But, the problem is that you need to keep Oregon's offense under wraps so it can't burst ahead where you have to abandon the run and its hard for such a running game to score enough points to keep up with Oregon's offense.
Boise St. and Ohio St. both shut down that exact same offense last year, with Masoli, who'd already been in the system for 2 years, at the helm. Whether or not a Pac-10 defense can stop them, I don't know, but if Boise and OSU can shut them down, think what a better defense can do.
I'd have to look back at the stats and points from last year, but I fail to believe the offense from last year with Masoli was nearly as explosive as this one. Oregon 2010: 57 ppg Oregon 2009: 38 ppg (that includes a 2 OT game, so 36 ppg in regulation) 50 percent increase at a minimum this season
look at the difference in schedules too. last year, they played 5 teams with defenses that ranked in the top 30 in scoring D. Ohio St. #5 Boise #14 Utah #19 Az St. #26 UCLA #27 Best they faced this year is Stanford at #40. last year they only played one team that ranked worse than #90 in scoring D (Washington St. #118) this year? 5 of them UCLA #91 Tennessee #93 Portland St. #114 (that's #114 in 1AA!) Washington St. #116 New Mexico #119
53-32. USC did stop Oregon on 7 of their 11 first possessions and 7 of 8 possession when Oregon started with the ball in their own territory, so maybe you're on to something. Oregon scored 3 times in short field situations.
Agreed it's easier to replace a QB. I can see more teams using it but it will limit your ability to recruit the typical NFL QBS. You also need to have your whole offensive team built around this type of offense if your going to use it.
USC fans love to throw that out but right now what is effective in college isn't a pro-style QB in terms of being able to defend, anyway. We don't recruit NFL type QB's anyway. I think our personnel would suit that system pretty dang good...oh wait, we run a spread option...minus "that kind" of QB.