Bcs Championship|bcs Championship Game|bcs Championship 2011
Finally, the day has come. Monday night, the undefeated Oregon Ducks and the undefeated Auburn Tigers meet in the desert in the 2011 BCS Championship Game. To help get you ready and refresh your memory (it has been roughly five weeks since these teams last played, after all), we've compiled this handy list of fun factoids concerning the 2011 national championship.
Share:
Proper name: BCS National Championship Game (was originially rotated among the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and Sugar Bowl, but became a separate event beginning with the 2006 season).
Setting: University of Phoenix Stadium, in Glendale, Arizona, home of the NFL's Arizona Cardinals and site of the BCS' Fiesta Bowl.
Share:
Traditional pairing: The top two teams in the final BCS Standings.
2010-11 matchup: No. 2 Oregon Ducks (12-0, Pac-10 champions) and No. 1 Auburn Tigers (13-0, SEC champions)
TV channel and start time: ESPN, 8:30 p.m. EST
Announcers: Brent Musburger, Kirk Herbstreit, Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi
Closest finish: 2006 Rose Bowl, when Vince Young and Texas narrowly edged Matt Leinart and USC, 41-38, in one of the most exciting college football games ever.
Most lopsided finish: The 2005 Orange Bowl, when No. 1 USC rolled through No. 2 Oklahoma, 55-19, BUT THIS GAME NEVER HAPPENED. MOVE ALONG.
Tidbits of interest: The SEC has won four straight BCS national titles, and six overall since the BCS began with the 1998 season ... Oregon and Auburn bring with them two of the country's highest-scoring offenses: the Ducks rank No. 1 with 49.33 points per game, while the Tigers are No. 4 with 42.69 ppg.
Share:
It's not exactly a hidden secret I love writing about Oregon. (Heck, half the reason I wanted to start writing the X/O previews was so I could get an excuse to write about the Ducks' offense.) The student in me wished we would've played Auburn; I spent the offseason poring over both of their offenses and wanted to find some kind of venue to talk about them in length. We've been there before with Oregon, but it's probably fortunate we didn't get subjected to Cam Newton decimating our front seven. As for me, I'm fortunate there's a matchup that actually puts these two teams facing off, which means y'all are in for a treat. I'm excited.
We've talked about Oregon a bit previously, and independent of us ESPN quickly figured out Oregon likes to a) keep it weird and b) keep it fast. As it happens, Oregon isn't the only offense in this game that wants to emphasize tempo. Auburn OC Gus Malzahn has two main focuses on offense - formations (and, by extension, pre-snap motion) and tempo. His total play set isn't terribly complex when it comes to his base stuff, but how they get there looks like it to most defenses. For one, it's easy for his offense to run the same play out of 12 formations. It's much more difficult for the defense to recognize that it's the same play (except possibly after the fact, which isn't of much use).
Share:
If Auburn can run the same small set of plays from a bunch of different formations quickly, it will end up confusing the defense. Now, best-laid plans certainly applies here - Auburn didn't get to 80 plays in a single game this year (compared to twice in 2009), although they did notably slow it down against their two most overmatched opponents of the season, which gives their seasonal per-game play averages a bit of a tweak below what they were against competent opposition. That doesn't mean they didn't occasionally come close - 78 and 71 against South Carolina, 73 against Kentucky, 71 against Mississippi.
Share:
Granted, there's a very good reason Auburn's average plays per game went down - their run/pass balance was massively altered, and Auburn didn't always make an effort to snap with plenty of time left on the clock. Oregon, for comparison's sake, topped 80 plays in 7(!) games - and yes, we weren't one of those games. So we've got that going for us, which is nice.
Share:
There's finally been the realization over the last couple of college football seasons that the spread isn't all about the pass - and, Air Raid, Petrino, and our Purdue revival aside, that's a fair assessment. (We're charitably ignoring whatever Florida's offense was this year, which can't really be categorized as an offense. And you thought we were done with random digs at Florida. Charlie Weis hasn't called a play there yet.) Rather, the successful spread-type offenses at the moment allow for a theoretical run/pass balance. Malzahn's offense is a perfect example of that, even if this season's run/pass balance has been completely skewed for reasons that anyone with a pulse can guess (and we'll cover later).
Formational Variance and Logical Extremes
Most spread-type formations can be broken into two main categories: 2x2 and 3x1. The nomenclature is a reference to the number of receivers on either side of the formation. We've seen these before, but here's a refresher - the first image is 2x2, the second is 3x1, both out of shotgun. (I've used a lot of 2x2 formations in my previous posts; I haven't used nearly as many 3x1 formation examples but the idea is the same; it's just a different way to stress a defense. I may get into that more in the offseason if people want that kind of thing.)
Share:
While we believe this years BCS National Championship Game is going to be great for everyone, were inclined to think it will be a game especially loved by the offensively-minded. The Auburn Tigers and Oregon Ducks, behind quarterbacks Cam Newton and Darron Thomas, dont hold back when it comes to putting scores up on the board. Considering both these teams are playing in their first BCS Championship game, we have a feeling this wont be where they begin.
Against a tough Pac-10 schedule, the Ducks put up the most prolific scoring team in the nation, along with the fourth-best rushing total. Heisman candidate LaMichael James has rushed for 1,682 yards and 21 touchdowns, and Thomas tossed for over 2,500 yards and 28 touchdowns in only his sophomore year. Against the three ranked teams they faced this year, the Ducks offense outscored them by a margin of 153-92. Its going to be this kind of effort needed to beat Auburn, led by one of the most electrifying players in recent memory.
Cam Newton is past the controversy and has one thing on his mindbeating Oregon for Auburns first national title since 1957. The junior will be able to do it on the ground or in the air, since hes the first player since Tim Tebow to both throw and run for 20 or more touchdowns in the same season.While the Tigers have kept their games closer than the Ducks have, theyve always willed their way to a win, and never was that more true than their 28-27 comeback win over Alabama.
If the Ducks want to win the title, theyre going to have to be relentless on the scoreboard, which means this should be a game that will come down to the last quarter and remembered for a long time.
BCS Championship game,BCS National Championship, BCS Championship live,BCS Championship live stream,BCS Championship live online,bcs championship,bcs championship game,bcs championship 2009,bcs championship 2010,2009 bcs championship game,bcs championship game 2010,bcs championship 2011,2010 bcs championship,2010 bcs national championship
by: Live streamin NFL2010 match