{"id":99123,"date":"2025-12-24T00:16:06","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T00:16:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/99123\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T00:16:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T00:16:06","slug":"3-things-to-know-about-texas-techs-orange-bowl-opponent-oregon-seeks-cfp-redemption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/99123\/","title":{"rendered":"3 things to know about Texas Tech\u2019s Orange Bowl opponent: Oregon seeks CFP redemption"},"content":{"rendered":"

No. 4 Texas Tech<\/a> has spent the bulk of December scouting No. 5 Oregon, despite the College Football Playoff quarterfinal matchup not being confirmed until three days ago.<\/p>\n

The Ducks hosted a first-round matchup against No. 12 James Madison on Saturday, which resulted in Texas Tech\u2019s expectation. Head coach Joey McGuire assigned a few grad assistants to scout JMU in the off chance the Dukes pulled an upset, but Oregon handled JMU 51-34.<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, the longest scout process of the season will be put to the test Jan. 1 in Miami Gardens, Florida. But until then, here are three things to know about Oregon.<\/p>\n

The running back trifecta <\/p>\n

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Oregon touts a three-back system. Each of its running backs has five-plus rushing touchdowns and over 500 yards on the ground.<\/p>\n

Senior Noah Whittington and freshman Jordon Davison make up 56% of Oregon\u2019s total running back carries, while freshman Dierre Hill Jr. accounts for just 65 carries. However, Hill leads the Ducks with an average of 8.6 yards per carry and a first-down carry average of 9.3 yards on 43 carries.<\/p>\n

Davison and Hill both tallied 75-plus yards in the first round victory, while Whittington\u2019s reps were limited in the ground game. Whittington had produced five games of 70-plus rushing yards in the six weeks prior. <\/p>\n

Texas Tech boasts the nation\u2019s top rush defense,<\/a> but it has yet to face a three-back system. However, a handful of Red Raider opponents had two running backs tally five-plus carries in a game.<\/p>\n

One away from perfection<\/p>\n

Similar to Texas Tech, Oregon was one unfortunate result away from an undefeated campaign. That result came against the nation\u2019s lone undefeated team, Indiana. <\/p>\n

The Ducks defeated No. 3 Penn State, No. 15 USC and No. 20 Iowa en route to their second consecutive appearance in the College Football Playoff. The program produced a top-10 scoring offense and defense during the stretch. <\/p>\n

Oregon didn\u2019t compete in the Big Ten Championship, but it rivaled the two programs that did compete in it in terms of quarterback play. Ohio State\u2019s Julian Sayin led the nation in passing efficiency at 182.1, with Oregon\u2019s Dante Moore close behind at 170.1. Indiana\u2019s Fernando Mendoza led the country with 33 passing touchdowns, while Moore threw a seventh-best 28.<\/p>\n

The Ducks were routed by eventual national champions Ohio State 41-21 in the quarterfinals last season<\/a>, touting a then-undefeated record. <\/p>\n

Redzone defense is a weak point<\/p>\n

If there was ever a team to play in a win-or-go-home scenario for Oregon, it\u2019s Texas Tech. The Ducks\u2019 Achilles heel of defending the red zone is the weakest part of Texas Tech\u2019s offense. <\/p>\n

The Ducks give up a score on 90% of opponents\u2019 trips to the redzone, while Texas Tech\u2019s struggles have become so apparent that McGuire renamed it the \u201cNo Stone Zone.\u201d Stone Harrington is Texas Tech\u2019s kicker<\/a>, who McGuire said has been called on far too often within the 20-yard line.<\/p>\n

McGuire said he believes the Ducks\u2019 red zone defense is stronger than its percentage says, but that his team\u2019s red zone offense is also better than the media\u2019s consensus. Both programs showed struggles on that front in each of their last games. Oregon gave up three touchdowns on drives that reached the red zone, and Texas Tech stalled out in the red zone four times against BYU in the Big 12 Championship.<\/p>\n

Find more Texas Tech coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No. 4 Texas Tech has spent the bulk of December scouting No. 5 Oregon, despite the College Football…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":99124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[732,7092,3688,154,27,29,28,415],"class_list":{"0":"post-99123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-behren-morton","10":"tag-colleges","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-texas-headlines","14":"tag-texas-news","15":"tag-texas-tech-red-raiders"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}