Mark Helfrich and Oregon have started the season at 2-1, and in their two wins over Eastern Washington and Georgia State, the Ducks have given up an average of 35 points per contest, while scoring 61.
With the Pac-12 schedule getting started this weekend against Utah, giving up 35 points per game to the "tune-up" portion of your schedule isn't exactly ideal. Now, granted, the days of defenses pitching a few shutouts a year are probably in the rear view mirror as high octane, uptempo offenses have come to the forefront.
Nonetheless, Helfrich was asked an interesting questions yesterday during the weekly press conference: "What defines a good defense these days?"
Helfrich only needed two words (and just four letters to be exact) to answer the question.
"A win," he responded with a chuckle. "I think that's the bottom line, and everyone's goal is perfection. We'd love a shut out, and we'd love to score 60 points every week, but that just doesn't happen."
"That's why players are committed to each other, coaches are committed to the players and everybody is committed to getting better, but there are always things that you don't anticipate when there are human beings involved."
Is Helf right here? Or is there more to having a good defense nowadays? Does it come down to stats? Yards per game? Points allowed per game? Or perhaps the old coaching adage of keeping the opponent under 17 points is more sensible?