This is the first time I have been able to get in here and comment on this thread. I being from Alabama, love SEC football. I always have and always will. The PAC 10 is an extremely top heavy conference with 2 of the best teams in the country........Oregon and Stanford. The rest of the teams, compared to the rest of the nation are at best Mediocre or have been since I have been in the northwest. When Stanford played Oregon, I still believe Stanford was the better team on the field in all aspects of the game except for one part and that was conditioning. The Ducks are an amazing team when it comes to conditioning. Their bigger guys are probably in better shape than most of the nations skilled players. I tip my hat to Chip Kelly for his conditioning program.
What the Ducks had not seen all year was a physically larger team who's conditioning program is just as good as theirs. They had not faced a team with similar athletic abilities. Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon State (sorry beaver fans) lacked the conditioning it took to even step on the field with Oregon as did Stanford. Auburn had this and they showed it. I really got a laugh when the announcers were already playing up Oregon's conditioning at the end of the first quarter talking about how gassed Auburn's defense looked. They really didn't look that warn down to me and I'll bet you Kenyon Barner and LaMichael James would tell you the same thing.
I will say though, the Ducks are in a League of their own out here in the Pac 10 and I feel that the top 2 teams in the country played for the national title on monday night and honestly I can't say that the best team won because it could have gone either way. Both teams looked great defensively and I'm proud of the ducks for showing some D just as much as I am Auburn being able to stuff LaMichael all night.
By the way Miles, they only had 30 runs because they didn't run as many plays. Chip Kelly called a horrible game. I'm sure he has reviewed game film and saw how bad Auburn's pass D is. Why wouldn't he attack that? Jeff Mahel (or however you spell it) is one of the, in my opinion, best receivers in the country as DT is one of the better QB's. Especially out of the pocket. It wasn't the players that lost the game, it was definatelly coaching.