EUGENE -- A common thread of college football's bowl season so far are the calls of the Alamo Bowl's matchup between Oregon and TCU as potentially one of the most entertaining that isn't a College Football Playoff semifinal.

In principle, Ducks coach Mark Helfrich agrees.

"If I was sitting in a bar watching it I'd be really excited about it," he said this weekend as the 15th-ranked Ducks (9-3) got back to practice after a two-week break.

But Helfrich won't be in a bar on game day -- he'll be on an Alamodome sideline hoping Oregon's three weeks of preparation were enough to slow down the 11th-ranked Horned Frogs (10-2) and their third-ranked offense that's gained, on average, 564 yards each game.

"Going against them is just a huge challenge, Helfrich said. "They've got multiple talented receivers, multiple backs. Their offensive line does a great job. For teams in our league, they're kind of a Washington State passing game with a Utah run game aspect."

For an Oregon defense that has allowed 36.8 points per game and 6.0 yards per play, each of which rank 100th or worse in the 128-team FBS, it almost goes without saying that TCU poses the latest daunting challenge. A case could be made it's the greatest challenge this season for the Ducks, too.

Running back Aaron Green's 97.5 yards per game is fifth in the Big 12 and he's scored 10 touchdowns on the ground. All-American Josh Doctson, who wouldn't be fully healthy if he played after wrist troubles, is nonetheless the FBS leader with 132.7 receiving yards and seventh with 1,327 yards despite missing two games.

The linchpin is Trevone Boykin, the quarterback and ninth-place finisher in Heisman Trophy voting who is expected to play at full strength after a November ankle injury.

"Of the quarterbacks we've faced this season, this is the first guy who really can run and will run it," defensive coordinator Don Pellum said, calling Boykin a "fabulous" athlete. "A lot of the offense we've faced, they're spread offenses but the quarterbacks aren't running that much. They're holding you with play-action pass fakes. This guy takes off and he's really good so you do have to account for him."

Oregon structured its bowls practices so that it won't truly dive into TCU-specific planning until Tuesday. Its first three bowl practices were likened to spring workouts that allowed young players the opportunity to take reps of UO's own system rather than mimic an opponent's look on scout team.

That extra time is one of the perks of bowl season, and Pellum is glad to have it given the difficulty nearly everyone has had defending TCU since co-offensive coordinators Doug Meacham and Sonny Cumbie arrived two years ago and injected spread-the-field Air Raid influences into a sagging offense.

TCU's passing and rushing averages rank ninth and 24th nationally, and it's in the top-20 in converting third downs, a category in which Oregon ranks 103rd.

"You have a chance to go back and watch the entire season and a lot of times we'll watch a team and there are some things they did effectively way back when that was against a defense like ours," Pellum said. "You have to prepare for those things."

But if the Horned Frogs are liable to add a few wrinkles into the playbook in the next three weeks -- one area in need of improvement is its 102nd-ranked red-zone efficiency -- so are the Ducks.

"There could be a couple different things added," Pellum said. "I'm sure there will because there's a quarterback who can take off running so you have to do some different concepts to make sure you have that covered."

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Oregon gained two big-time recruits this weekend...

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-- Andrew Greif

agreif@oregonian.com

@andrewgreif