There's still a lot to unpack from the 2018 season. DuckTerritory.com will begin several season-in-review series next week. Those will include position reviews, ranking last year's top players, offering season letter grades and looking back on predictions we made prior to the season. All in all, next week should be a lot of fun.

Today, however, we'll be looking forward.

It dawned on me earlier this week that you could make a pretty strong case that both the offense and defense are capable of having special seasons in 2019. That's why next season holds so much promise.

But for the sake of this story, I thought I'd take the time to pick which side I expect will have the better season in 2019. Clearly this will be purely subjective. Sure, I'll toss in some data (which won't surprise anyone familiar with my work), but for the most part this is my predicting and projecting what will transpire over the next 11 or so months.

There are still several obstacles lying in the way of actually predicting what each side of the ball will look like. The spring signing day still looms, and the Ducks could add 3-6 more players. We also still await word from Troy Dye. Will he go pro or will he return for his senior season? Lastly, who will be leading Oregon's defense? Cort Dennison is already out the door, and there's been buzz about whether or not Jim Leavitt will be back either.

But, let's just pretend that none of the spring signees impact things greatly, that Dye returns and that there's no more staff turnover.

I'll start with some data. Here's a chart of Oregon's offense and defense ranked in the Pac-12 and nationally in five key statistics:

Scoring Total Yardage Rushing Passing Turnovers Offense (2nd/31st) (3rd/43rd) (5th/59th) (7th/47th) (6th/51st) Defense (6th/53rd) (6th/67th) (6th/47th) (9th/91st) (2nd/16th) *(Pac-12/NCAA)

As you can see, the offense actually performed at a bit higher level compared to league and national averages in most aspects. That may take some by surprise, and sure these stats don't capture everything, but that's a good baseline to build off of. The offense in 2018, based on the numbers, was better.

Even with that, I think the defense has a higher upside next fall.

Why?

Well, despite the offense returning 10 starters, and 19 of 22 players on the two-deep, I think the overall talent level of the defense is a little bit higher. Justin Herbert will undoubtedly be the best NFL Draft prospect on this team. You could argue that Penei Sewell is next (although he won't be eligible until 2020), but after that, defense reigns supreme. You could conceivably argue that the next half dozen best prospects are defensive players.

I also think that the defense's talent is more balanced. By that I mean that there isn't the glut of talent in one position group like there is on offense. Oregon will have one of the nation's best quarterback and fantastic offensive line. But the skill position players are shaky at best. Dillon Mitchell's departure in particular places this team in a rough spot. Will the Ducks have a go-to receiver for Herbert to throw to, and perhaps more importantly will 2-3 others step up to provide him more options in the passing game? Defensively, the Ducks return future pros along the defensive line (Jordon Scott), at linebacker (Troy Dye), corner (Thomas Graham and Deommodore Lenoir) and safety (Jevon Holland) among others.

But, what really puts them over the top is the incoming freshman class. Oregon cleaned up on the recruiting trail, but unlike past years where the class boasts elite skill players and little else, this class is built around the program's highest-rated defensive line prospect ever (Kayvon Thibodeaux), the highest-rated linebacker (Mase Funa) and the highest-rated defensive back (Mykael Wright). I'm not forgetting that this class also includes highly rated offensive lineman, wide receiver and running backs, but the dearth of defensive talent incoming should really lift this unit. Don't be surprised all three of those players to push for starting spots.

The defense also has the momentum. We saw just how good this group could be, even though four starters from the Redbox Bowl have now exhausted their eligibility. We also saw what the worst form of this offense looked like. Even if there's a change at defensive coordinator, I feel better about the overall status of the defensive play-calling than on offense.

Overall, there are just more question marks right now offensively than defensively. I expect the 2019 season to be special, and I think it'll be led by one of the most ferocious defensive units in school history.