Four Top Ten Teams Battle Tonight
Thursday, November 7th, 2013 -- 7:38 AM
Four top ten teams will go head to head tonight in college football as No. 3 Oregon takes on No. 5 Stanford and No. 6 Baylor hosts No. 10 Oklahoma.No. 10 Oklahoma at No. 6 Baylor:
Baylor?s (7-0, 4-0) fast-paced offense leads the nation at 63.9 points and 718.4 total yards per game, the Bears are outscoring opponents by an average margin of 48. They scored 69 in their season opener and have reached 70 points four times since. Tonight at home they face a No. 12 Oklahoma team that revamped its defense during the offseason because of matchups just like this one. According to ESPN.com, the Sooners (7-1, 4-1) were hurt by spread offenses run by West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M during the final stretch of 2012, so they switched to an alignment with three defensive linemen and five defensive backs. It's worked well for most of the season, as the Sooners rank 10th in the FBS in total defense, allowing 314.3 yards per game.
No. 3 Oregon at No. 5 Stanford:
Slowing down Heisman hopeful Marcus Mariota will be the top priority when sixth-ranked Stanford (7-1, 5-1 Pac-12) hosts No. 2 Oregon (8-0, 5-0) tonight in a matchup of the winners of the past four conference championships. Mariota has thrown for 2,281 yards and 20 touchdowns and run for 587 yards and nine TDs this season. He's completing 64.0 percent of his passes and, perhaps most impressively, has not thrown an interception. ESPN.com reports that the Cardinal have a physical, gap-plugging 3-4 scheme under defensive coordinator Derek Mason, who emphasizes the most basic fundamentals: tackling and discipline. Since losing 27-21 at Utah on Oct. 12, Stanford has shut down Brett Hundley and UCLA (10 points) and Sean Mannion and Oregon State (12 points) in back-to-back victories. Stanford has forced a turnover in 33 straight games, the second-longest streak in the country.
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