In nature, a duck has virtually no chance against a wolverine.  On a football field, though, things are different.  In Ann Arbor this past Saturday, a group of Ducks from the University of Oregon showed just how different.

The Michigan Wolverines, who were still reeling from their opening week loss to 1-AA Appalachian State, had an entire week to stew over one of college football's most stunning upsets.  In so doing, they had one of two ways to respond in their next game - they could either play like the angriest team in the country, taking out their frustration on the next team that got in its way or they could sink with the pieces of their seemingly shattered season dragging them down.

Honestly, I had hoped for the latter but feared the former, and expected Oregon to walk right into the offensive buzzsaw of Mike Hart, Chad Henne, and Mario Manningham with 110,000 loud, angry Michigan fans cheering them on. 

It didn't happen.

Although Hart, Henne, and Manningham all had their moments early in the game, moving the ball well against the Ducks' defense, turnovers and stalled drives limited the damage to just 7 points despite rolling up over 190 yards in the first quarter alone.  Whatever questions those sustained Michigan drives seemed to raise on the Oregon sideline went away quickly.

On an afternoon where the Ducks had all of the answers, Oregon's senior QB Dennis Dixon provided the loudest one late in the first quarter.  After Michigan had taken a 7-3 lead on Henne's 7-yard TD pass to Adrian Arrington, capping an impressive 10-play, 71-yard drive, Dixon delivered the game's biggest dagger, an electrifying 85-yard strike to Brian Paysinger that put the Ducks back in the lead for good.  Dixon's pass, a perfectly thrown dart that hit Paysinger in full stride, served notice that Oregon's offense could and would strike from anywhere on the field.

For Dixon, his history with the Ducks has been a jagged one, at times brilliant but maddeningly inconsistent.  In 2006, he threw for over 1,000 yards with 6 TD's and 2 interceptions in leading Oregon to a 4-0 start.  However, in Week 5, he had a turnover-filled disaster in a blowout loss to Cal and seemed to implode from there.  In his final seven regular season games, he threw 11 interceptions and was eventually benched for the season finale against Oregon State.  The uncertainty of whether "Good Dennis" from the start of the season or "Bad Dennis" from the middle and end of the season would show up on a given week finally proved too much, and the steadier but far less spectacular Brady Leaf piloted the team in the final two games of the season, both losses and put a disappointing end to an underwhelming 7-6 season.

However, to say that "Good Dennis" has been on the field for both of Oregon's games in 2007 is an understatement.  Against Michigan, Dixon wasn't just good.  He was great.  

Completing 16 of 25 passes for 292 yards and 3 scores, Dixon ran the Ducks' spread offense to perfection.  When he didn't have open passing lanes, he used his elusiveness to scramble for significant yards.  Few things are more demoralizing to a defense than having a pass play shut down only to yield a first down on a QB scramble.  And Dixon's elusiveness was never more evident than on a 9-yard TD run in the second quarter when he faked a "Statue of Liberty" style handoff and practically walked into the end zone while the defense, the television announcers, most of the crowd, and probably some of his own teammates were duped by his brilliant sleight of hand.  A particularly telling sign of Dixon's increased effectiveness as a runner - his 76 yards on the ground against Michigan and his devastating 141-yard performance against Houston in the season opener have both already topped his 2006 season-high of 69 yards.

When it wasn't Dixon punishing the Michigan defense, it was junior running back Jonathan Stewart.  Stewart, an impressive combination of power and speed, ran angry against the Wolverines.  Plowing his way through defenders, Stewart finished the game with 111 yards on just 15 carries (a 7.4 per carry average) and a score.  And that score was a big one.  It was a bruising 4th-and-goal run that put Oregon up 18-7 and set the rout in motion.  

Even Stewart's back-up, Jeremiah Johnson, put up impressive numbers, picking up 89 yards on 13 carries.  In all, Oregon ran all over the Michigan defense for 331 yards.  Despite the graduation of last year's leader, center Enoka Lucas, the big, experienced offensive line seems not to have lost a beat.

With the running game clicking on all cylinders, the Ducks were able to open the passing game up as well.  In addition to Dixon's brilliant scoring strike to Paysinger, he was able to connect on two other long scoring passes, a 61-yard bomb to Derrick Jones and a 46-yarder to Jaison Williams that sealed the scoring in the game and cemented the Ducks' 39-7 win.  At 6'5", 240 pounds, Williams creates size and speed mismatches every time he steps on the field.  The only things preventing him from being one of the elite receivers in the country are his suspect hands.  He continued his pattern of dropping catchable passes by booting several against Michigan.

Defensively, the Ducks played well but did look vulnerable at times against the Wolverines before Hart and Henne left the game with injuries early in the second half.  With the lopsided score rendering the Michigan running game useless and a true freshman QB (Ryan Mallett) in to replace the senior Henne, Oregon was able to apply pressure to an inexperienced, one-dimensional offense.  However, after Houston's Anthony Alridge torched the Ducks' run defense for 205 yards in the season opener and Mike Hart ran for over 100 yards in the first half of the Michigan game, the interior play of Oregon's D needs to improve.

Still, the defense has forced four turnovers in the each of their two games in 2007, and the starting secondary of Walter Thurmond III, Willie Glasper, Patrick Chung, and Jairus Byrd has played well in each.  It is the defensive line that has been problematic for the most part.  In addition to the aforementioned run stopping difficulties, the D-line hasn't shown it can mount a consistent pass rush when the game is still close and run-pass options both remain viable.

Of course, when you drop 39 points and 624 yards in total offense on a team, a bruising defense becomes more of a luxury item than a true necessity.  However, the Michigan game does beg the question, are the Wolverines really that bad or are the Ducks just that good?  I suspect the answer, as with much in life, lies somewhere in between those extremes.  Still, putting a  32-point beatdown on a traditional CFB power in their house on national TV speaks well of a team trying to forge an identity in the early weeks of a new season.

How high the Ducks will fly this year is still to be determined.  However, looking to nature for an answer probably wouldn't tell you that much.  Like how little chance a duck would have against a wolverine.

On a football field, it's a different story.  Ducks can roar, Wolverines can be mauled, and both "Good" and "Bad" Dennis may have just been replaced by Dennis the Great.

Stats:

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/boxscore?gid=200709080029&page=plays http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/boxscore?gid=200709080029 http://www.cfbstats.com/2006/player/529/77003/passing/gamelog.html http://www.cfbstats.com/2006/player/529/77003/rushing/gamelog.html http://www.cfbstats.com/2007/player/529/77003/rushing/gamelog.html http://www.cfbstats.com/2007/player/529/77003/passing/gamelog.html http://msn.foxsports.com/cfb/gameTrax?gameId=200709010060