Oregon coach Aliotti plays it fast, not loose
LOS ANGELES ? Despite the horribly inadequate 80-yard practice field and the other deprivations that we've come to associate with UCLA football, there were great players there in 1998.
Nick Aliotti just wasn't coaching them.
He was the defensive coordinator of the Bruins, who were headed for a national championship game against Tennessee as they entered December.
Then UCLA lost to Miami, 49-45, earned the Rose Bowl as a lovely parting gift, and lost that, to Wisconsin, 38-35.
"I don't really want to go back there," Aliotti said the other day. "I still remember that Miami game. I'll never forget it. And Wisconsin was pretty much the same thing.
"We were young on defense, not very good. We had trouble tackling big, good running backs like Edgerrin James and Ron Dayne."
James rumbled for 299 yards, which canceled out Cade McNown's 515 yards passing.
In the aftermath, Aliotti called it "not only the worst defensive effort I've ever been associated with but the worst I've ever seen even on TV."
Guard Andy Meyers termed it a "joke" and head coach Bob Toledo, pointing a blue-and-gold foam finger, publicly demanded Aliotti simplify the defense.
You might remember the rest. That was Aliotti's only year at UCLA. He had run Oregon's defense in the Rose Bowl season in 1994 and returned there in '99.
In '01 Oregon finished No. 2 nationally and held Colorado to 49 rushing yards in the Fiesta Bowl ? the Buffaloes had been averaging 245.
The past four years Oregon has won 43 games and three conference titles. Last year it held Auburn and Cam Newton to two touchdowns in a final-seconds, 22-19 loss for the BCS national title.
On Monday, the Ducks play Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.
Toledo? UCLA fired him after the '01 season, when all the other scapegoats had been slaughtered. He was fired by Tulane this season.
UCLA? Its new defensive coordinator will be its third in three years.
And the college game has evolved to where Aliotti always was.
Fuel-injected offenses have changed all the definitions. Unless you're Alabama or LSU, your defense is judged by how you take away the ball, how much you score, and how you stop big plays. Playing fast and downfield has always been Aliotti's way, and nobody in Oregon has much of a problem with it.
"Our goal last year was make sure Cam didn't kill us with his feet," Aliotti said. "We did a decent job (22 carries, 64 yards). But Auburn had a juggernaut. If someone had told me Auburn would score 22, I would have signed my name and said we'd take it.
"But I remember last year, they all said this would be a high-scoring game and they're saying the same thing this year."
The Ducks are 59th nationally on total defense, which is based on average yards allowed, and 82nd in pass defense. But they are third in sacks (3.31 per game) and tied for 17th in turnover margin.
Those numbers speak with forked decimal points. Because Oregon's offense goes boom-or-bust so instantaneously, Oregon's defense gets little R&R time.
The Ducks' defense was on the field for 1,005 plays. That led the Pac-12 by 92 plays. Only Southern Mississippi, Oklahoma State and Oregon played defense for 1,000 or more.
So Oregon's per-play yield was 4.9, tied for first in the league.
"Those who don't understand the game get carried away more on the stats than the way the game is played," Aliotti said, a statement that can apply to all sports at all times.
"Our offense can score in less than a minute or go 3-and-out in less than a minute. That's why we play so many players. We'll play nine defensive linemen, six linebackers, seven or eight DBs. Your backups know they're going to play, so they pay attention. It's really like a hockey team, guys flying over the bench.
"We knew this was Chip's deal," Aliotti continued, referring to head coach Chip Kelly and his no-huddle, "so that's what we preach. We play four plays in practice fast, then put in a new group and do it again. But it's nice when you have a 6-7 minute drive. Even if you don't score, believe it or not."
The year before Aliotti had to deal with Newton, Aliotti had to study Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor. This year his problem is Wisconsin's Russell Wilson. But then his defense has beaten Stanford and Andrew Luck the past two seasons. On Nov. 12 Luck averaged only 6.2 yards per pass against the Ducks and was picked twice.
And Aliotti, pariah of 1998, now is being asked if he has head coaching aspirations.
"It's not the time or place to talk about that," Aliotti said. "We've made a home in Eugene.
"But I appreciate your question."
Contact the writer: mwhicker@OCRegister.com. Follow on Twitter: @MWhickerOCR
Source: http://www.ocregister.com/sports/aliotti-333773-defense-oregon.html
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