Are Dante Moore, Kenyon Sadiq enough to lift Oregon over Texas Tech in Orange Bowl?

The College Football Payoff quarterfinal slate is full of fascinating matchups, but perhaps none of them are more intriguing than the Orange Bowl between Oregon and Texas Tech.

Oregon has flown somewhat under the radar for a lot of the season after losing one of its only marquee matchups of the regular season at home against Indiana back in September. However, Dan Lanning and company got quality wins near the end of the regular season against Iowa, USC and Washington. The Ducks will come into this game with a lot of momentum after blowing out James Madison in the first round of the CFP.

On the other hand, Texas Tech hasn’t played since all the way back on Dec. 6 in the Big 12 Championship Game against BYU. The Red Raiders dominated that game, winning it 34-7 in the end. There’s a chance that Texas Tech will be a little rusty coming off the bye, but Joey McGuire and company have proven that they are no fluke. Texas Tech has one of the best defenses and most explosive offenses in college football, which should make this one of the games of the year in college football.

However, Texas Tech has not seen a team quite like Oregon all year in the Big 12. BYU and Utah, the two best teams that Texas Tech played this season, didn’t have anywhere near the team speed that Oregon has on both sides of the ball. The best passing attack that the Red Raiders faced was probably Arizona State, a game they lost (without starting QB Behren Morton) where Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt threw for more than 300 yards.

Will that catch up to Texas Tech in this game, or can its defense continue to dominate and get the Red Raiders their first-ever CFP win?

Who will win the line of scrimmage when Oregon has the ball?

The strength-on-strength battle in this game comes when Oregon has the ball. The Oregon offensive line and the Texas Tech defensive line are two of the best units in football and should make for an entertaining battle on Thursday.

Oregon’s offensive line was a finalist for the Joe Moore Award, given to the best front five in the country. Iowa eventually won the award, but the Ducks had a great shot at it after a stellar season both on the ground and in pass protection. On the other side, Texas Tech’s defensive line is full of NFL prospects from the transfer portal, including one of the best pass-rushers in the sport in David Bailey.

While the pass rush of Texas Tech and the explosiveness of Oregon will steal a lot of the headlines coming into this game, both of these units make their hay in the run game, and that may very well decide this game.

Perhaps no team has a deeper crop of running backs than Oregon does. Veteran Noah Whittington combines with a freshman duo of Dierre Hill Jr. and Jordon Davison to form a three-headed monster that just about nobody has been able to stop so far this season. Oregon runs for more than 217 yards per game, the 13th-best mark in the country.

Oregon is also very good at getting explosive runs and breaking off big chunks. The Ducks have 31 runs of 20 or more yards this season, good for fifth in the nation. If Texas Tech gives them these explosive plays, it will be a long day for McGuire and the Red Raiders.

It will be fascinating to see if that continues to play out against a Texas Tech team that gives up nothing on the ground. The Red Raiders have the best run defense in the nation, allowing only 68.5 yards per game. They also have only allowed five runs all season of 20 yards or longer, the second-best number in college football.

If Texas Tech can slow down this Oregon rushing attack, Bailey and the rest of the pass rush can get after Dante Moore in the passing game. If not, Will Stein should have all options at his disposal to carve up another very good defense.

How does Texas Tech match Oregon’s team speed?

Texas Tech isn’t under matched athletically against very many teams, and it may not be in this game either. However, in terms of pure speed, Oregon is a different beast than just about any team in college football and will present a big challenge in this game.

The Ducks have athletes everywhere, and Will Stein does everything he can to get them the ball in space with chances to make plays. Dierre Hill Jr. is one of the most explosive running backs in the country, and his role in the offense has started to grow as his freshman season has gone along.

On the perimeter, things get scary pretty quickly. Jeremiah McClellan has come on strong in the absence of some of the other receivers that have been injured for the Ducks, and Malik Benson has been a walking explosive play both on offense and special teams. Oregon also has two great tight ends in Kenyon Sadiq and Jamari Johnson, both of whom will be playing on Sundays eventually, who can make big plays in the passing game.

Those guys help Oregon create a ton of explosive plays on the outside, in addition to the aforementioned big-play ability on the ground. The Ducks lead the entire country with 91 plays of 20 or more yards on the season, good for about seven per game. With wide receiver Dakorien Moore back from a knee injury and feeling healthier in this game, the offense will be even scarier.

Texas Tech has a very good secondary led by star cornerback Brice Pollock, but it is still the weakness of this unit and that’s before playing a receiver room as talented as Oregon’s. The Red Raiders have only given up 33 plays of 20 yards or more on the season, tied with Oregon for the second-best mark in the country, but the Ducks present a different challenge.

If Texas Tech can keep the Ducks in front of it, the defensive front will have enough bites at the apple to impact the game and make some splash plays of its own. However, Oregon has the speed to turn this into a firework show on offense if the Red Raiders aren’t careful.

The post Are Dante Moore, Kenyon Sadiq enough to lift Oregon over Texas Tech in Orange Bowl? appeared first on ClutchPoints.