Oregon Football Practice Recap: Sept. 27
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Venue: Outdoor practice fields
Format: Shells
This morning, Oregon kicked off its practice week for Thursday night’s home game against Arizona (7:30 p.m. PT, ESPN), which means a week for the Ducks of reliving last season’s debacle in the desert.
Oregon went to Arizona as a one-loss team last November, but after a crazy interception by the Wildcats, with one player leaping out of bounds to tip a ball back in to a teammate, the tone was set for as one-sided a UO loss as there’s been in recent memory. The Ducks actually outgained Arizona for the day, 506 yards to 482, but the Wildcats had all three takeaways and were brutally efficient offensively, completing 19-of-22 passes and 11-of-16 third downs to win 42-16.
“It’s a new year, and new teams, and I feel like both teams are better,” senior receiver Keanon Lowe said. “That being said, we remember vividly that feeling of going in Arizona and getting our butt whooped.”
Players won’t be able to hide from those emotions this week, nor avoid questions from media about the “revenge” factor. The key for the Ducks will be channeling all of that effectively.
“Everybody knows how it felt last year,” junior defensive end DeForest Buckner said. “Nobody’s forgotten. But we’ve just got to go to work every day and focus on what we need to do.”
Arizona enters Thursday’s matchup at 4-0, coming off a wild 49-45 win over Cal that featured 36 fourth-quarter points capped by a game-ending Hail Mary for the victory. Quarterback Anu Solomon was 47-of-73 passing for 520 yards and five touchdowns, with two interceptions, the sort of aerial onslaught the Ducks faced in their most recent game, a win at Washington State.
The Wildcats rushed for just 107 yards against Cal, 61 of those by backs, but no doubt the game plan changed when Cal took an early lead. Arizona no longer boasts a backfield of Ka’Deem Carey and B.J. Denker, who combined to run for 308 yards on the Ducks last season, but Oregon’s run defense remains on alert.
“Their running backs are still pretty strong,” Buckner said after watching Nick Wilson and Terris Jones-Grigsby on film. “Ka’Deem Carey was one of the best backs in the nation, but they’ve still got strong backs, and we’ve got to play them honest.”
That will mean being in the right position to stop the run, and then making tackles when they have the chance. Yards after contact have been an issue at times for Oregon this season, and Buckner said the Ducks had a pre-practice “debrief” this morning to address that subject.
Oregon’s offense also will have its hands full. Arizona plays a “3-3 stack” defensive front, with the linebackers “stacked” directly behind the down linemen, and has an impressive safety in Jared Tevis.
Like the defense, Oregon’s offense wants to limit the mistakes that proved so costly against the Wildcats last season. Marcus Mariota threw his first two interceptions of the season that day, and the Ducks also lost a fumble and dropped multiple passes.
“They played a whale of a game last year, and they beat us,” Frost said. ?But we did a lot of dumb things too.”
Highlights: Mark Helfrich split up the clutch periods today, running the “need-three” drives to open practice and the “need-seven drives” afterward. The defense, perhaps fueled by that pre-practice pep talk, was in command early. Ifo Ekpre-Olomu had a sack and a pass breakup to get the ones off the field, and Dior Mathis intercepted a pass with the twos. In the period to end practice, Arik Armstead sacked Mariota to make it a sweep for the defense on the day. ...
Buckner recovered a couple fumbles in 11-on-11 situations, one of them after Tony Washington stripped a scout-team QB. ... Casey Eugenio had a really nice catch in 7-on-7 in which he absorbed contact from Erick Dargan. Over on the offensive field, Mariota and Charles Nelson had a nice rhythm going in 7-on. ... In pass-rush drills, Justin Hollins beat Stetzon Bair with a spin move, but later Tyrell Crosby locked up Hollins, and Bair managed to win a rep against the freshman as well.
Other observations: With Breast Cancer Awareness Month about to begin, some of the Ducks wore pink cleats today to get them ready for an upcoming game. ... Tony James had a nice rep with the scout-team kickoff return team; he’s a guy who seems to be going hard all the time. Similarly, Zac Schuller is always moving at full speed. I think he’s somebody who still has a chance to become a contributor this season. ... B.J. Kelley and Eugenio were freed up to go back to receiver with the scout team today, as Stephen Amoako and Issac Dixon returned to the scout-team defense after being on the travel squad last week.
