JMU's offense is somewhat paradoxical and often presented a trap for defenses. They're a run-first team that frustrates opponents into crowding the LOS to stop the run, but this not only backfired by eliminating the safeties, it gave JMU the only reliable way they had of scoring.

UW simply matched Oregon's count, and if anything tended lighter, not heavier, which was their pattern in prior games. I see nothing to support a "stacked box" hypothesis. Oregon's starting OL + TEs just weren't communicating well on assignments. 50% success rate, 2.56 YPC.

Thanks to Roman Tomashoff of Locked On Huskies for a great podcast interview as part of this article: playlist.megaphone.fm?e=RRTET78758...

For UW's offense, when I drill down there's a modest home performance bump / road performance penalty, but the opponent skew has the opposite effect as with the defense - exacerbating the apparent differential wildly.

... When I apply data controls, I find UW's defense does play better at home / worse on the road, but they're up against on-balance weaker offenses at home and stronger offenses away, so it adds up to coming out all the same ...

Thanks to @penguinoftroy.bsky.social of @reignoftroy.bsky.social for a great podcast interview as part of this article: playlist.megaphone.fm?e=RRTET53471...