Focus Will Be Tested As Ducks Face First Road Game Of 2018
09/24/18 | Football, @GoDucksMoseley
Oregon is looking to bounce back from defeat on the road against a ranked California team this Saturday (7:30 p.m., FS1).
Less than 24 hours after having to swallow a foul-tasting result against Stanford, the Oregon football team was back to work early Sunday evening.
The Ducks' first practice for this week's game, against California on Saturday, featured "good mental intensity and focus," head coach Mario Cristobal said. Which is good news, considering all No. 19 Oregon (3-1, 0-1 Pac-12) is contending with this week.
Start with the fact the Ducks for the first time in 2018 are going on the road, which was particularly unkind last fall. Consider that Cal is enjoying a resurgence under former UO defensive back Justin Wilcox, the Golden Bears' second-year head coach who has them ranked for the first time in three years.
The Golden Bears also come into this week's game off a bye week, having used last week to rest up and prepare for the Ducks. Then add the need to bounce back from the loss to Stanford, all while facing the time-management challenge of school starting at Oregon this week.
"The reality of it is, there's more stuff going on," Cristobal said Monday, during his weekly press conference on the Ducks' day off from practice. "It becomes what you let it become, or what you coach it to become. As a coach you have to be honest with yourself – say, OK, these things are going on, let's be sure to address them, and get out in front of them."
To account for the start of fall quarter, the Ducks will move up the start of practices this week by a half-hour. That will allow the 25 or so players with a noon class to get off the practice field with an hour or so to get cleaned up, eat lunch and get to campus on time.
Oregon resumes practice Tuesday morning. That workout and one Wednesday will be in full pads, as the Ducks look to clean up the breakdowns that cost them the Stanford game, and prepare for a California team that is off to a 3-0 start, and ranked 24th in the latest top 25 from The Associated Press.
The Golden Bears are primarily doing it with defense. In wins over North Carolina, Brigham Young and Idaho State, Cal has seven interceptions, which leads the Pac-12 even though most conference teams have played one more game.
The Golden Bears are forcing three-and-outs on 39.29 percent of opponents' drives, by allowing just a 25 percent success rate on third down, both of which also lead the conference.
"What they've shown is a tremendous amount of playmaking ability on defense," Cristobal said. "They do a great job in the secondary."
The Golden Bears host the Ducks on Saturday (7:35 p.m., FS1), with Oregon looking for its first conference road win since 2016 at No. 11 Utah. After opening the 2017 road slate with a nonconference win at Wyoming, Oregon went 0-4 in Pac-12 road games, three of those losses taking place while quarterback Justin Herbert was sidelined due to injury.
"You've got to understand, this is a business trip," Cristobal said. "We're not going there to have family time. We're not. There's always a window there, a small one, for families to see their sons – because that's important. There's a reason we recruit California heavily, and that's one of them; it's like it's local. But going on the road requires a special kind of discipline and focus; having a mindset that puts you in that business mode. And it's gotta be that way the entire week."
So far under Cristobal, discipline has been a strength for Oregon. After being the nation's most-penalized team in 2017, the Ducks lead the Pac-12 through four weeks of this season, averaging just 4.5 penalties per game.
But focus broke down at crucial times against the Cardinal, during a second half in which Oregon went from threatening to go up 31-7 to watching Stanford tie the game in regulation and win in overtime.
"When you look at it, we played the type of football we want to get to play on a consistent basis for about 90 percent of the game," Cristobal said. "You see some great moments of physicality at the line of scrimmage. You see high levels of execution on both sides of the ball. Then you see 10 percent where the breakdowns were pretty significant."
Comparing Oregon's 49-7 loss at Stanford in 2017 to the 38-31 overtime defeat Saturday, "it's not difficult to see our progress as a team," Cristobal said. But, he added, "there's never going to be a consolation prize in a loss. We don't operate that way. You can destroy your psyche if you do that."
Cristobal on Monday confirmed that running back Taj Griffin, who did not play against the Cardinal, intends to transfer.
Griffin announced his desire to transfer on Twitter following the game. He had six carries for 31 yards as part of Oregon's crowded running back rotation in the three nonconference games, and an 83-yard touchdown reception in the opener against Bowling Green.
"It's playing time oriented," Cristobal said of Griffin's decision. "Any time a student-athlete has a decision to make that's in the best interest of himself, we support it 100 percent."
Under new NCAA rules enacted this season, Griffin can sit out the rest of the fall as a redshirt and play a fifth season elsewhere next fall. Griffin finished his UO career with 138 carries for 879 yards and six touchdowns in 31 appearances.
Cristobal on Saturday got a taste of what Autzen Stadium's home-field advantage can provide.
The first-year coach began his day with an appearance on the ESPN College GameDay set, and said the throng of Oregon fans there for the pre-dawn start to the show was "a shocking sight." A few hours later, they provided the Ducks a tangible benefit, influencing a false start penalty on Stanford's first offensive play of the second half.
"They made it an unbelievable setting," Cristobal said. "And one of the best things is, being on GameDay and to have a nationally televised game, the entire country was reminded what Oregon is. The fan base, the enthusiasm, the support, it's unmatched. It was absolutely awesome."
