In the days leading up to the 2016 Alamo Bowl, the Emerald will take a unit-by-unit look at Oregon and TCU, determining which team has the edge going into the showdown on Jan. 2 in San Antonio. Today, we’ll look at each team’s offensive lines. 

Oregon

Led by senior left tackle Tyler Johnstone and graduate transfer Matt Hegarty (center), the Oregon offensive line helped Royce Freeman and the Ducks rushing attack excel almost every week this season. Oregon ranked fifth in the nation in rushing yards, averaging 287.8 per game. In addition, Freeman powered his way to 1,706 yards on the ground and 14 touchdowns.

The unit ranked eighth in the Pac-12 in sacks given up, but became progressively better at protecting the quarterback as the season moved forward. And for a unit that lost the entire left side of the line last year, as well as All-American center Hroniss Grasu, the Ducks managed to become a formidable and experienced unit — all together, the line boasts 127 career starts heading into this game. Oregon running backs averaged 6.3 yards per carry in the team’s upset win over Stanford. Johnstone has also been rated as an All-American by certain publications.

TCU

Like Oregon, TCU can be known as a quick-strike offense, and it isn’t just because they have one of the nation’s most versatile athletes playing quarterback. TCU averaged 218.8 yards rushing per game on the season and despite key injuries, managed to rank eighth in points per game, averaging 41.7. In addition, the line ranked second in the Big 12 in sacks against, surrendering only 16.

TCU offensive line pass-protection stats pic.twitter.com/sVy7tU6BSK

— CFB Film Room (@CFBFilmRoom) October 16, 2015

But, like the defense, the injury bug caused TCU to mix and match throughout the latter weeks of the season. Starting tackle Halapoulivaati Vaitai was named second-team All Big 12, but saw limited snaps in the Horned Frogs’ first loss of the season to Oklahoma State.Joseph Noteboom moved from right tackle to left when Vaitai was absent against Kansas, and TCU was forced to become a one dimensional offense after Boykin was injured. But, the Horned Frogs were able to be just that, helping TCU win two of its last three games on the year, including an overtime win over Baylor in a swamp-like field.

Advantage:  TCU 

After the month of September, the Oregon offensive line was giving up 2.75 sacks per game, good enough to rank them 101st in the nation, according to The Oregonian. Since then, the line has become a formidable unit, and helped the Ducks win six consecutive games to close the year. But, TCU’s balance — 218.8 rushing yards per game and only 16 sacks allowed, compared to the Ducks’ 35 — gives it the slight advantage. That is of course, if the unit can remain healthy next week.

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Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich is certainly taking an unconventional approach to recruiting. For the second consecutive season, the Ducks landed a commitment from a graduate-transfer quarterback from the FCS Big Sky conference.

Montana State’s Dakota Prukop told Fox Sports Tuesday that he would spend his final year of eligibility at Oregon, and he could be on campus as early as January. Prukop looks to follow in the footsteps of Vernon Adams Jr., who transferred from Eastern Washington and led the Ducks to a six-game winning streak to finish the season.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

Please tell me Prukop has passed math 95. #GoDucks

— Andy Johnson (@TheDirtJohnson) December 15, 2015

Excited for @DakotaPrukop to continue his career at UO. Gonna miss catching passes from you but #GoCats #GoDucks pic.twitter.com/dtaw0w2Sl9

— Mitchell Herbert (@mherbert82) December 15, 2015

Rich Brooks on Oregon Ducks QB transfer: “I think they’ve missed. It’s like not like they haven’t recruited players who are four-star guys.”

— John Canzano (@johncanzanobft) December 15, 2015

What’s interesting about Oregon bringing in another FCS transfer is the clear, albeit indirect admission of recruiting errors.

— Dan Rubenstein (@DanRubenstein) December 15, 2015

Prukop plans to take his GRE this week or next. If all goes smoothly, he’s on campus Jan. 4. If not, he’d still enroll by spring ball.

— Chantel Jennings (@ChantelJennings) December 15, 2015

Cool of Oregon to turn their QB spot into the FCS Transfer Professor of the Dark Arts position

— HOLIDAY APPRECIATOR (@edsbs) December 15, 2015

Last year when Vernon Adams announced he was planning to transfer to Oregon, a lot of folks were not pleased: https://t.co/5E1qbC9UIu

— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) December 15, 2015

The grad transfer rule is probably in its dying days _ despite the protestations of many (me). Oregon better start recruiting QBs better.

— Ralph D. Russo (@ralphDrussoAP) December 15, 2015

Who is Oregon getting in @DakotaPrukop? Check out his highlights here https://t.co/Z87DX3W0UL. #goducks

— Matt Prehm (@Prehmmr247) December 15, 2015

I get it. just the same this is what is wrong on what was supposed to be an academic exception. oh well. https://t.co/eU9s2lUY9L

— Tundra (@tundragopher) December 15, 2015

Dakota Prukop vs EWU  pic.twitter.com/lTepZGHsyV

— Z (@SabonisHook) December 15, 2015

Covered @DakotaPrukop while in MT at @msubobcats. #OregonDucks football getting another dual threat stud from #BigSkyConference.

— Blake Arthur (@BlakeArthur24) December 15, 2015

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– Oregon football players Deforest Buckner, Royce Freeman and Aiden Schneider were named to the 2015 Associated Press All-America Team. Buckner was named to the second team, while Freeman and Schneider were named to the third team. Buckner and Freeman, as well as five other Ducks, were both named to the all-conference first teams following the Pac-12 regular season.

– Despite a late push, Oregon men’s basketball suffered its second loss of the season to Boise State 74-72. Boise State led by as much as 17 in the second half, but the Ducks found themselves in position to tie at the end of regulation. But Dillon Brooks’ contested layup when trailing by two was no good.

– Oregon women’s basketball improved to 8-0 after a 93-52 shellacking of Portland Saturday. The shot 68 percent from three-point range and Lexi Peterson led the team with 23 points.

– After Scott Frost’s departure to become the head coach at the University of Central Florida, plenty of speculation has revolved around the idea that wide receivers coach Matt Lubick would fill his position. Lubick spoke to reporters this weekend about the prospect of being the Ducks’ offensive coordinator.

– Vernon Adams Jr. obviously destroyed any doubt that he could play at a consistently high level at the FBS level this season. And now, he’s ready to start showing the NFL scouts that he’s capable of doing that on Sundays too. The graduate transfer told reporters this weekend he’s treating the Alamo Bowl as a job audition.

– Dual threat quarterback/athlete Tristen Wallace flipped his commitment from Ohio State to Oregon this weekend, according to Duck Territory. Wallace is ranked as the 28th-best prospect out of the state of Texas.

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Stanford provided plenty of highlights to end its season. With a last second field goal to beat then-No. 6 Notre Dame and a Heisman-like performance from Christian McCaffrey in the Cardinal’s 41-22 win over USC in the Pac-12 Championship the following week, David Shaw’s bunch captured its third conference title in four years. But they’re not reaping the benefits.

The Cardinal were the lone conference champion from a Power Five conference left out of the College Football Playoff this season — a result which seemed like a foregone conclusion after its first Pac-12 loss to Oregon on Nov. 14.

Instead, the Cardinal will face Big Ten runner-up Iowa in the Rose Bowl. A prestigious bowl, but likely not what Shaw and the rest of the Pac-12 envisioned back at the start of the year considering the win over Notre Dame and a Pac-12 title.

But how the year started seems to be Stanford and the Pac-12’s underlying problem. While Oregon used a premiere top 10 matchup win against Michigan State to launch into the national championship conversation last year, Stanford stumbled its way to a 16-6 loss at Northwestern in the opening game of the 2015 season.

After the unexpected slip-up, the Cardinal salvaged their playoff chances and reeled off eight consecutive wins. But its lone Pac-12 loss proved consequential and reason for an argument to be raised about altering the conference schedule.

The Pac-12 is the only league to play a nine-game conference slate and a conference championship. The Big Ten plays a championship and will begin a nine-game conference schedule in 2016, while the ACC and SEC use an eight-game conference schedule with a championship. The Big 12 uses a nine-game schedule without a championship.

Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich and offensive coordinator Scott Frost (who recently became head coach at UCF) stated a potential need for the Pac-12 to move to an eight-game conference slate after the Ducks’ win virtually knocked Stanford out of playoff contention, according to Sports Illustrated. 

But while that argument may be firm, it’s not why Stanford isn’t in the playoff this year. The Cardinal aren’t in this year because of their non-conference schedule.

Compared to the four teams in the College Football Playoff this year, Stanford and Clemson are the only teams to schedule both a Power Five conference opponent as well as a consistent title contender in Notre Dame, who is Independent, in non-conference play.

The other participants’ non-conference slates were constructed like this:

– Alabama opened its season versus Wisconsin, but faced Middle Tennessee State, UL Monroe and Charlestown Southern.

– Michigan State faced Oregon, but played the rest of its non-conference games against Western Michigan, Air Force and Central Michigan.

– Oklahoma went into a hostile environment at Tennessee early in the season, but used its other non-conference dates to play Tulsa and Akron.

Clemson faced Notre Dame as well as in-state rival and SEC member South Carolina, who finished 3-9 this season. On the contrary, two of Stanford’s non-conference opponents finished the regular season ranked No. 13 (Northwestern) and No. 8 (Notre Dame) by the College Football Playoff Committee.

Rather than having a schedule that included one team from another Power Five conference and either FCS or Group of Five opponents rounding out its non-conference slate, the Cardinal set itself up for a much more strenuous campaign than the majority of the playoff participants.

And, in the process, Stanford proved how multiple equally matched non-conference games have the potential to do more harm than good.

So, while the argument is valid that the Pac-12 should consider changing the conference schedule from nine to eight games, it still may not have prevented the Cardinal’s eventual fate. As you can see when compared to the rest of the playoff’s contenders, scheduling two measurable non-conference opponents proved to be the difference for Stanford this year, because the majority only scheduled one.

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Prepare for the stat sheet to be full. At least, according to the way Oregon (9-3) and TCU (10-2) match up on paper, the Valero Alamo Bowl on Jan. 2 could potentially be the most offensively explosive game this upcoming bowl season. Featuring two teams that were ranked in the top 10 to begin the year but were plagued by injuries, Oregon and TCU both have offensive firepower matched by few teams in the nation. It may turn into a back-and-forth matchup between signal callers.

TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin was a Heisman candidate all the way up until an injury hindered his output in the Horned Frogs’ final stretch of the season. As for the Ducks’ Vernon Adams Jr., all he did was dominate after returning from a broken index finger early in the season. With both healthy, and each defense finding its footing as the season closed, the matchup is one that TCU head coach Gary Patterson is viewing as if it were a playoff game.

“For us, this is a playoff game,” Patterson said via teleconference on Sunday. “Oregon is a team that, if they didn’t have injuries, would have been a top-four team. We feel like without a couple, we would have been like that.”

TCU offense vs. Oregon defense 

Patterson said he expects Boykin to be at full strength by the time Jan. 2 rolls around, and that’s great news for TCU. Boykin was arguably the most effective player in the country at certain points this season and finished the year averaging 402.3 total yards per game. But he suffered an ankle sprain in mid November and was forced to miss the Horned Frogs’ game against Oklahoma. He returned to the starting lineup to face Baylor in the season finale, but was not playing at 100 percent.

Coupled with TCU’s loss of its best receiver Josh Doctson, who had logged 79 catches for 1,327 yards, the unit’s production dropped off. But a healthy Boykin will be a threat to an Oregon secondary that was just starting to become comfortable facing Pac-12 quarterbacks at the end of the season. In addition, it was reported when Doctson was ruled out for the remainder of the regular season that he could potentially return for the bowl game.

TCU averaged 41 points and 345 passing yards per game this season, posing a stiff challenge for the Oregon defense.

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Dillon Brooks recorded 19 points, six rebounds and six assists and Chris Boucher added his second consecutive double-double as Oregon (7-1) raced away from Navy in the second half for a 67-47 win at the historic Blood Arena at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii.

Despite playing without starting point guard Tyler Dorsey, who suffered a knee injury in the Ducks’ loss at UNLV Friday, Oregon had four players score in double figures and led by at least 10 for much of regulation.

But, it is clear from the final result that the Ducks’ biggest improvement after their first loss of the season came on the defensive side of the ball. After giving up a season-high 80 points at UNLV, Oregon recorded 12 steals and limited the Midshipmen to 31.6 percent shooting for the game.

And on the offensive side of the ball, the Ducks starters accounted for all 67 of their points. To add to Brooks’ team-high 19, Dwayne Benjamin scored 16, Boucher had 14, Casey Benson had 10 and Elgin Cook finished with eight.

In all, the Ducks shot 47.1 percent from the field and capped the game with consecutive statement dunks. In the game’s closing minutes, the Ducks executed an alley-oop finished by Boucher, a breakaway dunk by Benjamin and another breakaway slam from Brooks to punctuate a victory.

The win capped a weekend of ceremonies to honor the 74th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Oregon’s next contest will be at Boise State on Saturday, before coming home to face UC Irvine Dec. 15.

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Oregon defensive end Deforest Buckner culminated a dominant 2015 campaign by claiming the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honor Tuesday night.

The Oregon senior, who is projected to go in the first round of the 2016 NFL Draft, finished the regular season with 76 tackles, 9.5 sacks and 16 tackles for loss — all while taking on numerous double and tripe teams throughout games.

The recognition doesn’t come as any surprise to any of his teammates and coaches.

“We’re extremely pleased that our conference recognized what we’ve always believed,” UO defensive coordinator Don Pellum told GoDucks.com. “DeFo is a tremendous person, teammate and competitor. He’s the best, and we couldn’t be happier for him.”

Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey was named Pac-12 offensive player of the year, while the Cardinal’s David Shaw and Washington State’s Mike Leach shared the Pac-12 coach of the year honor.

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While Oregon’s matchup against USC was taking place, ESPN analyst Danny Kanell tweeted that based on the eye-test, the Ducks should be in the College Football Playoff committee’s top four.

If the committee truly went by “eye test” or “who is playing the best” right now — Oregon would be Top 4. No doubt.

— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) November 22, 2015

Sure, it’s clear that Oregon has already knocked itself out of playoff contention due to its three early season losses. However, after consecutive wins over Pac-12 North champion Stanford and potential Pac-12 South leader USC, an argument can be made that the Ducks are playing just as competitive brand of football as anyone else in the nation.

It’s why they come into this week’s 119th Civil War against Oregon State as 33.5 point favorites. The betting line has as much to do with Oregon’s recent dominance as Oregon State’s consistent struggles. The Beavers (2-9, 0-8 Pac-12) have lost eight straight games and gave up 45 first half points in its most recent loss to Washington.

What it means is that the latest act in this longstanding rivalry could get ugly quick Friday. While Oregon seems like an offense that can’t be stopped, Oregon State is struggling to keep teams off the scoreboard at such a high rate.

Here’s how Oregon and Oregon State stack up:

Oregon offense vs. Oregon State defense 

Oregon’s offense leads the Pac-12 in scoring offense, total offense and rushing offense. Despite getting virtually zero national acclaim, Royce Freeman has ran at a rate comparable to Heisman Trophy candidates. He rushed 20 times for 147 yards against USC and is averaging 6.7 yards per carry on the year.

On the other hand, Oregon State ranks last in rushing defense and 11th in total defense. Its opponents are averaging 35.6 points per game and Pac-12 teams have scored at least 41 points in each the team’s last three games.  Rommel Mageo leads the team with 76 tackles, but he’s playing with a group that lacks depth needed. The Oregonian reported that the unit last week featured “one former fullback/tight end/H-back, two former wide receivers, two former walk-ons and one current walk-on.”

When a group like that is compared to one that features Vernon Adams Jr., Freeman and chorus of other playmakers, it’s hard to think the Ducks will score anything less than 40 points.

Oregon State offense vs. Oregon defense

Oregon State quarterback Seth Collins started the first seven games of the season and displayed a gifted level athleticism when running with the football. He was average at throwing it and passed for 892 yards for six touchdowns. Since getting injured against Colorado on Oct. 24 though, he hasn’t played and Oregon State’s offense appears to not have any type of playmaker that can create for himself any more.

Nick Mitchell replaced Collins, but was benched in favor of Marcus McMaryion during Washington’s route of the Beavers last week. With all the uncertainty at quarterback, it is no surprise that Oregon State has averaged just 16.9 points per game. Wide receiver Brandon Bolden poses the best threat Oregon State has in the passing attack. He has He’s caught 39 passes for 418 yards this season.

Oregon State’s passing attack is facing an Oregon secondary that is much better than it was just a month ago. The unit stymied a Trojans offense that was on a four-game winning streak, limiting it to just three touchdowns and forcing one turnover.

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While Oregon’s matchup against USC was taking place, ESPN analyst Danny Kanell tweeted that based on the eye-test, the Ducks should be in the College Football Playoff committee’s top four.

If the committee truly went by “eye test” or “who is playing the best” right now — Oregon would be Top 4. No doubt.

— Danny Kanell (@dannykanell) November 22, 2015

It’s clear that Oregon has already knocked itself out of playoff contention due to its three early season losses. However, after consecutive wins over Pac-12 North champion Stanford and potential Pac-12 South champion USC, an argument can be made that the Ducks are playing just as competitive a brand of football as anyone in the nation.

It’s why they come into this week’s 119th Civil War against Oregon State as 30-plus point favorites. The betting line has as much to do with Oregon’s recent dominance as Oregon State’s consistent struggles. The Beavers (2-9, 0-8 Pac-12) have lost eight straight games and gave up 45 first half points in its most recent loss to Washington.

What it means is that the latest act in this longstanding rivalry could get ugly quick on Friday. While Oregon seems like an offense that can’t be stopped, Oregon State is struggling to keep teams off the scoreboard at such a high rate.

Here’s how Oregon and Oregon State stack up:

Oregon offense vs. Oregon State defense 

Oregon’s offense leads the Pac-12 in scoring offense, total offense and rushing offense. Despite receiving virtually zero national acclaim, Royce Freeman has run at a rate comparable to Heisman Trophy candidates. He rushed 20 times for 147 yards against USC and is averaging 6.7 yards per carry on the year.

On the other hand, Oregon State ranks last in rushing defense and 11th in total defense. Its opponents are averaging 35.6 points per game and Pac-12 teams have scored at least 41 points in each of the team’s last three games.  Rommel Mageo leads the team with 76 tackles, but he’s playing with a group that lacks the depth needed. The Oregonian reported that the defensive unit last week featured “one former fullback/tight end/H-back, two former wide receivers, two former walk-ons and one current walk-on.”

When a group like that is compared to one that features Vernon Adams Jr., Freeman and a chorus of other playmakers, it’s hard to think the Ducks will score anything less than 40 points.

Oregon State offense vs. Oregon defense

Oregon State quarterback Seth Collins started the first seven games of the season and displayed gifted athleticism when running with the football. He was average at throwing it and passed for 892 yards for six touchdowns. Since getting injured against Colorado on Oct. 24, he hasn’t played, and Oregon State’s offense appears to no longer have any type of playmaker who can create for himself.

Nick Mitchell replaced Collins, but was benched in favor of Marcus McMaryion during Washington’s route of the Beavers last week. With all the uncertainty at quarterback, it is no surprise that Oregon State has averaged 16.9 points per game. Wide receiver Brandon Bolden poses the best threat Oregon State has in the passing attack. He’s caught 39 passes for 418 yards this season.

Oregon State’s passing attack is facing an Oregon secondary that is much better than it was a month ago. The unit stymied a Trojans offense that was on a four-game winning streak, limiting it to just three touchdowns and forcing one turnover.

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The words “what if” seems to be the ones that will define the 2015 Oregon football season. After Vernon Adams Jr. effortlessly tacked on touchdown pass after touchdown pass in the Ducks’ 48-28 win over USC last Saturday, Oregon is now ranked 18 in the AP Poll and is one game away from finishing the regular season 9-3.

The cries from fans to overhaul the Oregon coaching staff have calmed, while the offense has hummed at the rate fans are used to seeing it at. Head coach Mark Helfrich said Sunday that much of the improvement is due to the quarterback play, but added that “our guys and coaches have done a great job of being realistic and sticking with it.”

He spoke more about the team’s improvement, the preparation ahead to play against rival Oregon State and congratulated Stanford on winning the Pac-12 north, “unfortunately.”

In this five-game run where you’ve gone undefeated, are there areas of the team where you’ve seen drastic improvement?

Mark Helfrich: Well  I think there’s been gradual improvement. In football or anything, if you do something wrong and you instantly correct it and you never make that mistake again, you’re better. And that’s the key to playing football. I think our guys and coaches have done a great job of being realistic and sticking with it. Obviously what’s going on with the quarterback play, what’s going on there is an immeasurable factor. That makes everybody better.

Do you feel like your offense is peaking at the right time? And secondly, as coaches you talk about improving. After yesterday’s performance how much do you still have left to improve?

MH: A ton. That’s what’s amazing. To beat a team that’s as good as SC and the way that we did, there’s a bunch of stuff that we can improve upon, whether it’s protections, identification, coverage identification, progression by the quarterback, we got a couple missed assignments up front, couple missed assignments on the perimeter, we had a couple penalties that were unnecessary, a ton of stuff on special teams.

Aiden Schneider leads the nation in FG percentage, does that affect how you run the offense in the red zone?

MH: It can. It’s certainly great to have that confidence in your back pocket. I love touchdowns. But the way he’s done it and he has the total confidence of the team, that’s a big deal too.

After watching the tape, did you see a lot of improvement specifically in the secondary?

MH: Improvement and stuff that can be still improved upon. That’s the sign hopefully of development of improvement, you’re beating a team that’s really good, that’s hot, that’s extremely talented, and you’re still overcoming some of your own mistakes.

Chris Seisay’s return — how did that help the defense and was his return expected?

MH: It was great to have him back. It was a surprise that it was that quick. But just to have, we don’t have a lot of depth, it’s experience on the run. So anytime you can pack that in with a guy that’s been out there a little bit is important and big.

With Oregon State’s struggles, do you play up the rivalry game narrative?

MH: Much more so about us. Just as we did last week. It’s about their fronts, their percentages, all the thing we break down leading up to a game plan. Its all about us.

How much did you watch of the Stanford-Cal game?

MH: I watched most of it, yeah yeah. Congratulations to Stanford, unfortunately.

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