No. 2 Oregon is doing things no team has done before

George Schroeder, USA TODAY Sports | USATODAY

LOS ANGELES – He walked off the field, shaking his head and marveling, not quite believing what he'd just witnessed. For the past few years, LaMichael James was the focal point of Oregon's scoring machine. He sparked plenty of pyrotechnics.

A 62-51 victory over USC, though – this was something else entirely.

"You know before high school games when they run through the paper? That's what it looked like out there," James said. "It's probably the most impressive offense I've seen in my life."

How good are the Ducks? Nitpickers will note that Matt Barkley and Marqise Lee and Silas Redd and the Trojans moved the ball, too, and scored points, and never quite let Oregon run away with it. But Oregon is not built like other powers. Oregon is not built like any others.

We've been waiting all season for a team to test the Ducks for four quarters. We've been wondering how their young quarterback would handle adversity, and whether that offense was really that potent or just a product of a pillowy soft schedule.

BOX SCORE: Oregon 62, USC 51

"They're better than they were a year ago," USC coach Lane Kiffin said, which is true enough.

Oregon had just put up the most points ever scored against USC. Most touchdowns (nine). Most yards (730). "Mind-boggling," said Monte Kiffin, Lane's dad and USC's defensive coordinator. But it's possible his son didn't go back far enough. Oregon might be better than two years ago, too, when the Ducks played for the BCS championship.

"I feel like we're the best team in the country, every night," said Kenjon Barner, who's one of the reasons. Saturday, the senior running back raced to a school-record 321 yards and five touchdowns – those are also records by a USC opponent – and afterward, shrugged off chatter about the Heisman race and every other big picture question, too.

"It's just Oregon football," he added. "We put up points and you've got to stop us. … It's just us being us."

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Schematically, he's right. The Ducks look the same as always: They play fast and run faster. After playing behind James for three seasons, Barner has developed into a durable, big-play back. De'Anthony Thomas is a threat every time he touches the ball. But start, as Lane Kiffin did, with the play of quarterback Marcus Mariota, who was 20-of-23 for 304 yards and four touchdowns.

The redshirt freshman ran for 96 yards, too, and the injection of the extra running threat is probably the biggest reason the Ducks are even more dangerous.

"We have so many," Mariota said, "who can take it all the way."

Which is one reason Oregon could take it all the way, too. But possibly the Ducks' best attribute was on full display at the Coliseum: relentless unconcern. A showdown becomes a shootout? Unfazed. They just don't care. Barkley was at his best. Lee and Redd and Robert Woods and Nelson Agholor kept making plays. For one night, USC put together the kind of offensive performance that had the Trojans near the top of all the preseason polls.

And it didn't seem to matter a whit.

Toss a 75-yard touchdown pass? Make the next one 76? Don't look down, because OregonismovingdownfieldrealfastsomethinglikethisTOUCHDOWN.

Grind away the first possession of the third quarter to pull within three points? Return a kick 82 yards to set up another score? Get the crowd of 93,607 revved up, momentum ready to shift?

NevermindheregotheDucksagainTOUCHDOWN.

It's talent, certainly, but also something more.

"I think it's a pretty special offense," Barner said, "but it all comes down to attitude."

And what comes next, well, it depends. At 9-0, Oregon looks like a safe bet to finish unbeaten. USC punched holes in the Ducks' defense, which means they're potentially susceptible to a red-hot future NFL quarterback throwing to future NFL receivers. There aren't many of those combinations on the remaining schedule, and Saturday showed it might not matter, anyway.

How good is Oregon? By one measure, the Ducks might be something else.

"Our definition of greatness," said Chip Kelly, "is to be better than your former self."

Oregon's method is nothing like, say, Alabama's. But it's equally as effective and usually as devastating, which is why the clash of cultures would be so delicious in the BCS championship.

At least one spectator cannot wait. James, now a rookie with the San Francisco 49ers, had the weekend off. He watched the game from the sidelines, wearing a "STORM LA" t-shirt, fully expecting victory. And yet, he admitted afterward to being surprised by the full force of the outburst.

"Oregon can play with anybody out there," James said. "I believe that."