Effort Against Eastern Has Defense Focused On Improvement
By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
When Mark Helfrich was done addressing the UO football team following Saturday’s 61-42 victory over Eastern Washington, he turned to one of his senior leaders.
“Rodney Hardrick, what do we do now?” Helfrich asked.
Hardrick paused to consider the question, before responding: “Get treatment.”
“We sing the fight song, bro!” said Byron Marshall, reminding Hardrick of the Ducks’ final act following a victory, before they get cleaned up and head out for the night.
But after surrendering 42 points in Oregon’s season opener, members of the UO defense weren’t in much of a mood to celebrate. Eastern Washington showed the stuff of the top offense at the FCS level last season, which the Eagles were, by putting up 549 yards of offense against the Ducks – 438 through the air, and 246 of those to big receiver Cooper Kupp.
“We’ve definitely got to get better,” senior defensive end DeForest Buckner said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do Monday, and I hope everybody comes to work. Because honestly, that was awful.”
Eastern kept things competitive in the first half in part by converting all three of its fourth-down attempts, one on each of their three touchdown drives to stay within 37-21 at the half. In the second half they grinded out two 13-play drives, taking shots down the field against an Oregon defense that started all seniors in the front seven but that relied on two sophomores and a true freshman at cornerback.
One of the two new starters was Arrion Springs, who matched up with Kupp several times.
“That kind of woke me up a bit,” Springs said. “I feel good now. I feel like next week’s going to be good. We know what we need to work on, and this week will be good for us.”
If the demeanor of the seniors in the postgame locker room Saturday was any indication, this will be a no-nonsense week of work as Oregon prepares to take on Michigan State.
Hardrick’s reaction to Helfrich’s question in the postgame locker room showed where his head was at already. “Automatically it’s the next step, how we’re going to get better,” Hardrick said. “The next step is to get (medical) treatment, then watch the film, then get prepared. I’m already looking forward to practice, because there’s so many things we could have done differently.”
Among the biggest issues was tackling. The Ducks seemed pleased with their tackling in scrimmages during preseason camp. But it was an issue at times early in the 2014 season too, perhaps a by-product of how teams try to balance live tackling in practice with the injury risk that poses. Ultimately, there may be no better preparation for tackling in games than, well, tackling in games.
“Watching games on TV there’s so many missed opportunities,” Hardrick said. “That’s what we want to get away from. If we can get over that faster, we’ll be better off.”
To counter the Eastern Washington passing game, the Ducks relied largely on their nickel package after halftime Saturday. That charged the two defensive linemen and both outside linebackers with rushing the passer, if not more, but still the Eagles sustained those long possessions (albeit against members of Oregon’s second- and third-string on the final scoring drive of the night).
Buckner wasn’t pointing the finger at the young secondary afterward.
“If one person breaks down, we all break down,” he said. “And the whole defense was terrible tonight. We did some good things stopping the run game; we’ve got to step up our defense against the pass.”
All they can is focus on getting better, beginning with Monday’s practice – or even earlier, as Hardrick’s mindset illustrated. Helfrich appreciated the response.
“You hit rewind to clean it up, and then it’s like hitting 'next chapter' on the DVD,” the UO coach said. “You’ve got to move ahead.”
