Oregon's Thomas Graham defends against the pass.

Oregon was not the best in the Pac-12 defending the pass the season. Teams gained an average of 247.5 yards per game on the Ducks and scored 24 touchdowns through the air. Those numbers rank ninth and 10th in the Pac-12 respectively. Not exactly something to write home about.

But, when it comes to making plays on the ball, no one in the Pac-12 was better. In fact, no one was even close, and only one school nationally did better.

When you combine pass deflections with interceptions, you get the statistic known as passes defended. The Ducks broke up 67 passes this season and picked off 16 more. That means the team defended 83 passes.

Both the 67 pass deflections and the 83 passes defended are second nationally just to Tulane, per cfbstats.com. Those numbers are each quite impressive, as Utah ranked second in the league in best with 72 passes defended.

The Ducks were buoyed by the play of Thomas Graham. Graham finished fifth nationally with 19 passes defended. He had six in the Arizona State win alone. Deommodore Lenoir, the man who starts opposite of Graham at corner, was 44th with 12, while safety Ugo Amadi was 83rd with 10.

Breaking up passes is a category Oregon has actually thrived in this decade. That's likely because the Ducks regularly face pass-heavy offenses in the Pac-12 and play quite a bit of man-to-man defense. Last year, Oregon was fifth nationally in passes defended, they were third in 2014, second in 2012 and 2011 and first in 2010.

Here's a table of how the Ducks have fared this decade (previous years include postseason games):

Year PBUs INTs Passes Defended National rank 2018 67 16 83 Second 2017 67 15 82 Fifth 2016 46 9 55 66th 2015 56 13 69 23rd 2014 71 13 84 Third 2013 57 17 74 16th 2012 62 25 87 Second 2011 74 17 91 Second 2010 81 21 102 First

The 83 passes defended is the most by Oregon since 2014, but the Ducks played 15 games that season. In fact, the 6.92 passes defended per game is the best since 2010 when Oregon led the country with 7.82 per game.

Graham's 19 passes defended matches the 19 Arrion Springs had last year and the 19 from Troy Hill in 2014. Springs was eighth nationally and Hill third. Cliff Harris has the best mark by an Oregon player this decade when he was credited with 23 in 2010.