BCS title game will test defenses

Associated Press

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.

Steve Spurrier, the ball coach who knows a little about offense, said the game could wind up 60-55. The bookmakers in Las Vegas, who don’t throw out their numbers just for fun, envision something more like 38-35.

There’s a reason Auburn and Oregon are playing in the BCS national title game tonight, a reason the matchup has turned into a red-hot ticket.

These are two newcomers to the championship scene, both with offenses that, almost literally, never take a break. Auburn has Cam Newton, the Heisman Trophy winner who led the Southeastern Conference in rushing, passer efficiency and scoring. Oregon has LaMichael James, the key to an offense that likes to snap the ball 9 to 11 seconds after the end of the previous play, and one that scores a nation-high 49.1 points a game.

“We’re anticipating it being very quick, obviously, from the things that we’ve heard,” Auburn coach Gene Chizik said. “But we’re prepared for that.”

Chizik and Oregon’s Chip Kelly are both success stories in their own right but have spent the week puncturing the long-held theory that the most intriguing characters in college sports often are the coaches. Neither has said much memorable in the weeklong build up to the game. After posing stiffly for the cameras in front of the crystal championship ball Sunday, the coaches headed into their final pregame news conferences.

Asked for his opening statement, Kelly responded: “Game is tomorrow night. Let’s go play. Questions?”

So much for insight.

James, who has averaged 152 yards and almost two touchdowns for an offense that has been held under 37 points only once all year, said he can tell when a defense is breaking down.

“You start seeing a lot of hands on hips, broken tackles, things like that,” he said. “You see them blitzing but not really blitzing because they don’t have the energy.”

Knowing Oregon will try to push the pace in this game, the way the Ducks have all year, Chizik said he would have a very specific conversation with officials before the game, urging them to enforce a rule that allows the defense time to make substitutions if the offense does. Kelly said it won’t make a difference, “because we don’t sub.”

“When we want to play fast, we know the rules,” he said. “If we are trying to play at a fast tempo, we are not trying to sub in those situations.”

Oregon’s mission on defense is to try and become the first team to stop Newton, who has the body of a linebacker — 6-foot-6, 250 pounds — but the skills of a top running back and quarterback. He averages 108 yards rushing a game, completes 67 percent of his passes and has accounted for 49 touchdowns.

After he passed for 335 yards and four touchdowns and ran for two more scores in a 56-17 blowout of South Carolina in the SEC title game, Spurrier, the Gamecocks coach, said a 60-55 score was a possibility in the title game. “You have two of the best offensive minds in football,” he said, speaking of Kelly and Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn.

All of which may really mean that whichever defense plays better will lead its team to a championship.

“I think both defenses have something to prove and want to show up and are tired of answering questions about how it’s going to be 55-53,” ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said.

“I think they have a point to prove. I think it will be a low-scoring game, lower-scoring because of the way the two defenses are going to show up in a bad mood.”