It isn't about athletes. Auburn is the superior offense when it comes down to playing a real defense because a power based attack is always considerably harder to disrupt or slow down than a speed based attack. Oregon can match and exceed Auburn's pace offensively (Malzahn has actually only occasionally ran the "Hurry Up" part of his offense) and they possess more team speed, but they cant come even close to matching Auburn's physicality or ability to shove the ball down a defense's throat. In a real toe-to-toe game (ie: a matchup against another top team) Auburn's play-style will always be a better option than Oregon's. It also helps that while Auburn is running the ball down your throat they also possess "speed" that they can exploit for huge gains when teams over-commit to trying to stop Mason/Marshall...namely Grant at RB and Coates at WR, and obviously both Marshall and Mason have enough speed themselves to break off big gains. In 2010 it was Onterrio McCalebb.
This Auburn offense is obviously extremely hard to defend against. The scheme is brilliant, but when you look at the positional breakdown and combine it with the scheme/play-calling it all makes sense: Outstanding OL, Great running QB, Great Runningbacks, Outstanding FB, and the receivers/tight ends all block otherwise they dont play. There are so many weapons to make a running game work.
