TEMPE, Ariz. -- Oregon's diminutive defense lining up against Colorado's massive offensive line -- gotta be a mismatch, right?

You bet. The Buffaloes never stood a chance.

	Steve Smith came up with three interceptions, thanks partly to the pressure put on Colorado by the Ducks' quick defensive front.

With blazing quickness and a break-neck blitzing scheme, it was Oregon's defense -- not Colorado's high-octane offense -- that set the tempo in the Ducks' 38-16 Fiesta Bowl victory. And what a frenzied tempo it was.

Oregon held the Buffaloes' bulldozing rushing attack to just 49 yards -- 183.5 under their season average. By the time Colorado's Big Uglies got out of their stance, Oregon's front seven already was in the backfield, wrapping up Colorado's mighty running backs before they even reached the line of scrimmage.

How did they manage this against a Colorado rushing attack that combined for 603 yards on the ground against Nebraska and Texas? It's pretty simple -- Oregon's front seven hit the holes before Colorado's running backs could.

"We were way too fast for them," explained outside linebacker Wesly Mallard, who finished with a game-high 13 tackles and a sack. "They weren't ready for our speed up front."

The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Mallard was one of the Ducks -- bad pun omitted -- who was considered too small to tangle with the big ol' Buffs, a subject that got plenty of attention in the days leading up to the game Tuesday. Same with middle linebacker David Moretti (6-foot-1, 235 pounds) and inside linebacker Kevin Mitchell (5-11, 212). And it's true, those guys probably would've gotten pancaked by one of the Buffaloes' oversized O-linemen, 320-pound mammoths Andre Gurode and Victor Rogers, for example. But they'd have to catch them first.

"We had trouble with their speed at linebacker," admitted Colorado coach Gary Barnett, who watched his team suffer its worst defeat ever in a bowl game. "They blitzed us a lot at the point of attack."

Mallard, Moretti and Mitchell finished with 34 combined tackles (Moretti had 11 and Mitchell had 10) and blitzed fearlessly the entire game. The linebacking trio wreaked so much havoc on Colorado's running attack that, trailing 28-7 early in the third quarter, the Buffs were forced to scrap their game plan and turn to the air.

And that's when things really got ugly. Oregon harassed quarterback Bobby Pesavento into a nightmarish 11-for-27 performance, picking him off twice. Pesavento, normally steady and effective, looked lost as wave after wave of blitzing Ducks pounded him before and after every toss. Both of Pesavento's picks were snagged by cornerback Steve Smith. Smith also picked off Ochs later in the game and set a Fiesta Bowl record with three interceptions.

"They put a ton of pressure on us and we didn't have any answer for it," said Pesavento, who was replaced by Craig Ochs -- Colorado's original starter this season before going down mid-season with an ankle injury -- in the fourth quarter. Ochs managed 140 yards and a late touchdown against Oregon's reserves.

"They're a power team that likes to run ball," explained cornerback Rashad Bauman, who nearly took Pesavento's head off while blindsiding him on a third-quarter blitz. "Once we got them away from that, they played into our hands."

Oregon coach Mike Bellotti's game plan was nothing new -- stack the box with nine defenders, isolate the cornerbacks and force Colorado to beat you throwing the ball. Packing the box with nine players is not a novel approach -- Nebraska and Texas both tried it to no avail in their recent losses to the Buffaloes. But packing the box with nine players so quick that they made Colorado's offensive line look bolted to the turf?

"They could block us when they double-teamed us," said defensive tackle Zack Freiter, whose finished with just one tackle, mostly because the law firm of Mallard, Moretti and Mitchell were getting there first. "But when it was a one-on-one matchup, I could tell that we were a lot quicker."

And that's what made the difference. Well, that and the fact that Oregon wasn't short on motivation. The Ducks had heard all week about their pint-sized pass rushers, their little linebackers and their slight secondary. How in the world were they going to stop Colorado's vaunted offensive juggernaut?

Consider that question answered.

"How many yards did they finish with on the ground?" asked Bauman, standing at midfield after the blowout, the Phoenix native enjoying the spotlight of his old hometown.

When told, Bauman unleashed an exaggerated grin and jokingly turned to walk away. "End of interview," he said.

But the outspoken senior cornerback couldn't resist, and swiveled back to face the crowd again.

"You guys pumped Colorado's offense up a lot," he yelled, gesturing wide-eyed at the crowd of media around him. "But we took the air out of 'em."