How to stop Oregon: A rival coach scouts the Ducks before the final

An anonymous coach sizes up the Oregon Ducks and proposes his way to stop them ahead of Monday's title game against Ohio State.

A coach whose team played Oregon this year sizes up the Ducks leading into Monday's national championship game against Ohio State.

Quarterback Marcus Mariota is obviously the key. The good players make plays when they’re there. The great players make plays when they’re there and when they’re not there. Sometimes with Mariota, when everybody is covered or things break down a little bit, that’s what scares you the most because you’ve got nobody faster than him. And he’s a big kid at 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds. If you let him get his speed up and get through the second level of the defense, you’ve got very few guys that are going to catch him before he’s 30, 40 yards down the field.

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You’ve got to get to him before he gets going, not necessarily always by pressure because that hangs you out there if a guy misses or gets beat in one-on-one coverage. It’s just kind of getting to him with some defensive line stunt and trying to get some pressure on him before he starts to really scramble. When Mariota sees pressure, he’s fine because he’ll run away from it. But it’s getting the pressure when he’s not seeing it because he keeps his eyes downfield. Those are your chances for a turnover that you’ve got to take. You’ve got to swipe at the ball.

Oregon running back Thomas Tyner finding his stride at the perfect time

Royce Freeman

You’ve got to attack their defense. They’re not a big pressure team. They’re not going to scare you with a whole bunch of blitzes and get you in negative situations. It’s not like they’re really going to trick you with their defensive front and coverages. They’re in an odd front and that in itself can lead to some disguises. It’s not like you’re going to line up and say, ‘Dang, I never saw that before.’ They’re athletic enough up front that they don’t have to blitz all the time to get pressure, but you don’t watch them on film and say, ‘Oh boy, we better put two guys on this guy or that guy.’ They do a good job of recognizing things and getting to the ball. The key is being OK with getting three or four yards at a time.

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As crazy as it sounds, you’ve got to be OK being patient and not forcing the issue. I think that’s what happens when they score and you feel you have to keep up with them, when in reality the biggest piece is keeping possession of the ball and getting first downs. They’re going to do a good job getting off blocks and limiting big plays, but you can get first downs on them.

The way Oregon plays, I think their mantra is kind of like, ‘It’s all about us anyway.’ They don’t worry about their opponents. Them getting down or things not going well early isn’t going to affect them that much because of Mariota’s experience.

Oregon's Road to the National Championship

Oregon 62, South Dakota 13 (Aug. 30)

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Oregon cruised in its season opener, getting four touchdowns from Marcus Mariota and dropping 41 points in the first half.

Oregon 46, Michigan State 27 (Sept. 6)

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Michigan State scored 24 points in the second quarter to bring a 24-18 lead into halftime before Oregon ended the game on a 28-3 run. Mariota threw three touchdown passes.

Oregon 48, Wyoming 14 (Sept. 13)

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Mariota had four total touchdowns and went 19-of-23 through the air as the Ducks scored 41 unanswered points in the second and third quarters.

Oregon 38, Washington State 31 (Sept. 20)

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Ducks coach Mark Helfrich called Mariota's game "ridiculous" after the Oregon quarterback threw for 329 yards and five touchdowns in the team's first road test. Mariota also led the game-winning nine-play, 79-yard drive that ended in a six-yard touchdown pass to Keanon Lowe.

Arizona 31, Oregon 24 (Oct. 2)

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Oregon's only loss off the season came at the hands of Arizona, which upset the Ducks for the second straight season. Mariota caught a 26-yard touchdown pass on a halfback pass, but Oregon was unable to overcome the 24-14 lead Arizona brought into the fourth quarter.

Oregon 42, UCLA 30 (Oct. 11)

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Oregon rebounded from its only loss of the season by beating UCLA in the Rose Bowl. The Bruins made things a little interesting when they shrunk the Ducks' 42-10 lead to 42-30 with 2:47 remaining. Mariota scored four total touchdowns while Royce Freeman rushed for 121 yards and two scores.

Oregon 45, Washington 20 (Oct. 18)

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The Ducks won their 11th straight over the Huskies as Freeman rushed 29 times for 169 yards and four touchdowns.

Oregon 59, Cal 41 (Oct. 24)

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Mariota threw five touchdowns, and Byron Marshall and Dwayne Stanford each had 100-yard receiving games as the Ducks picked up another road win. Freeman rushed 22 times for 112 yards and two touchdowns.

Oregon 45, Stanford 16 (Nov. 1)

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Stanford had won two straight against Oregon coming into this season, but Mariota scored four total touchdowns as the Ducks pounced on the Cardinal early.

Oregon 51, Utah 27 (Nov. 8)

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The tide shifted early and dramatically as Oregon's Joe Walker pounced on the football after Utah's Kaelin Clay nonchalantly dropped it a yard before crossing the goal line. Walker returned the fumble 100 yards for a touchdown, tying the game at 7-7. It was the closest the Utes would come from that point on.

Oregon 44, Colorado 10 (Nov. 22)

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The Ducks had no trouble with the Buffaloes, taking a 27-point lead into halftime and outgaining Colorado 597-226 for the game. Mariota scored four total touchdowns.

Oregon 47, Oregon State (Nov. 29)

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The 118th playing of the Civil War was really no contest -- the Ducks scored 30 points before the Beavers got on the boards and Mariota totaled six touchdowns (four through the air).

Oregon 51, Arizona 13 (Dec. 5)

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Oregon gained vengeance on Arizona with a dominant outing in the Pac-12 championship, scoring 23 unanswered points before opening a 44-7 lead through three quarters. The Ducks outgained the Wildcats 627-224 with a nicely balanced attack (326 yards passing, 301 rushing).

Oregon 59, Florida State 20 (Jan. 1)

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After leading by just five at halftime, the Ducks forced four turnovers in the third quarter and ended the Rose Bowl on a 34-0 run to rout the Seminoles and reach the national championship. Mariota contributed 400 yards of offense and three touchdowns.