EUGENE - One could look at Oregon's defensive team statistics and not be that impressed.

Fifth in the Pacific-10 Conference against the rush, eighth against the pass and sixth in total defense.

But it's a lot of others factors - and individuals performances - that have allowed the Ducks to be among the best in the conference at this point in the season.

You have to dig a little deeper to figure out why Oregon has allowed just 22.5 points per game, good enough for third best in the Pac-10 entering Saturday's Civil War game at Autzen Stadium.

Oregon is third in the conference in opponents' third-down conversions and fourth against fourth down.

The Ducks have the best red-zone defense, allowing opponents to score just 68.6 percent of the time.

The Ducks are the least-penalized team in the Pac-10 with just 41 penalties for an average of 47.5 yards per game.

The Ducks allowed no first downs by penalty twice this season.

Oregon's 19 penalty yards against UCLA were the second lowest in the conference this season.

The Ducks set several conference single-game lows for 2007 in the 16-0 loss at UCLA in Los Angeles last week.

The Bruin offense got just 1.9 yards per play and 6.6 yards per pass completion.

In addition, UCLA 28.2 pass completion percentage was bettered his fall only by UCLA's defense in the same game (23.5, 4 of 17).

Having one of the nation's top offenses - through nine games at least - keeping the ball away from the other team doesn't hurt either.

At the heart of the Oregon defense are junior rover Patrick Chung and junior defensive end Nick Reed.

Reed, a two-time Pac-10 player of the week this season, leads the conference in tackles for loss (20.5) and quarterback sacks (11).

Chung has led the Ducks in tackles each of the last four games (42 total) and is second in the conference in tackles with 9.5 per game.

"Patrick Chung continues to lead us in tackles and continues to be a leader of this football team on defense and special teams," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said. "He'd play offense if he could."

Chung and Reed will certainly be counted on again Saturday.

"I can't say enough about those two guys," Bellotti said. "They're the kind of guys that have great motors, that work very hard, that lead everyday in practice, that lead in the game, that make plays to back up their status."

Undersized at 255 pounds, Reed finds a way to make plays against bigger players.

What he lacks in size, he makes up for with technique and speed.

"He may not look like the best football player, but he'll trick ya," said senior defensive tackle David Faaeteete said. "That's what happens. People underestimate his ability."

Reed gets it done in the classroom as well.

Earlier this month, he and senior quarterback Dennis Dixon were named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District 8 first team, as voted on by college and university sports information directors throughout the western portion of the United States and Canada.

Reed, from Trabuco Canyon, Calif., is a history major with a 3.39 grade-point average.

Reed isn't ready to take any credit for individual accomplishments, quickly pointing to the team as a whole.

But with the Duck offense struggling without its top three quarterback options, Reed and the defense will again be leaned on to lead the way against Oregon State.

"This year it's been kind of a give-and-take thing. There's been games when the offense has really done great," Reed said.

Then there's the last seven quarters, when the Oregon offense has not produced much at all.

"It hasn't always bounced our way, but I think we've done really well," Reed said. "It's always been Oregon's offense here, Oregon's offense there bailing us out of trouble. We're really glad it's our chance to shoulder the load."