Fiesta Bowl: Liberty's Jamey Chadwell Assesses Oregon Defensive Performance

Liberty's offense ran through every defense they faced in 2023. Once the calendar flipped to 2024, however, they ran into a challenge they couldn't overcome: the #8 Oregon Ducks. Oregon beat Liberty 45-6 in Monday's VRBO Fiesta Bowl.

A huge aspect of the Ducks' win was the performance of quarterback Bo Nix. However, the Oregon defense also did their part, holding the Flames' heralded rushing offense to 168 yards, a season low. Nearly half of that yardage came on two specific plays: a 33-yard run by Aaron Bedgood and a 41-yard run by Quinton Cooley.

RELATED: Liberty Fall To #8 Oregon in Only Loss of Season

"The challenge was they're big in the box and sometimes we can hand it off and get some big yards. We weren't able to do that," Chadwell stated postgame. "Secondly, when you get behind, you get away from it, right? So you're not really able to grind on people and some of those things. So there's a combination of that."

Starting with their third possession, the Ducks had six consecutive touchdown drives. As Chadwell noted, that limited their options in the running game as the deficit grew. When a team needs big plays in a hurry, it's hard to depend on the run game for several reasons - namely the clock.

"They're the best defense we played. You have to really scheme them up to make some things happen," Chadwell noted of the Ducks' front seven, who made four tackles for a loss. 

"When you get behind the chains, get behind the sticks, you're not able to maybe do things that you would like to do to keep the clock running and get the yardage that you need. We had some big plays that happened, but they're few and far between. There were a couple of times on drives early, second-and-four, second-and-five, you get a good first down and then you don't get nothing on second, now you're at third and medium. That's a challenge with the way they can cover. That was one of the things."

Ultimately, Chadwell insisted that Oregon's defensive approach was what they expected. However, the Ducks were just the better team on this particular day.

"It wasn't the scheme they were doing," Chadwell noted. Our guys will tell you, we knew where they were at. There wasn't anything they didn't show us that we weren't prepared for. But you have to be able to buckle in, and we weren't able to do that consistently."

The Flames finish the season 12-1 after reaching their first New Year's Six game and achieving a Conference USA championship their first season in the league.