When the Oregon Ducks line up inside Autzen Stadium for their second scrimmage of the fall season on Saturday afternoon, there will be exactly two weeks until they face off against the Georgia Bulldogs.
Before they can even start to think about that, though, the Ducks need to focus more on how they can get better. Forget about trying to scheme up a defense that will slow down a sure-fire All-American tight end in Brock Bowers, or an offense that can find holes in one of the best defenses in the nation. At this point, the Ducks are thinking about the Ducks, and little else.
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“We’ve got so much more to go just with our own team,” defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi said on Thursday. “That’s really where the focus is, you know, is improving every day on ourselves. So not a lot of talk about (Georgia) at all. More so just addressing our internal issues out on the field, what we need to improve. And, you know, when it gets closer to game week, we’ll start ramping it up as far as opponent preparation.”
With the second scrimmage coming on Saturday, it will give the Ducks an opportunity to run through several game scenarios that they need to lock down. Lupoi said that Lanning is doing a great job of putting the team into situations in practice that they will undoubtedly run into on Saturdays, be it the defense working to stop an offense backed up near the goal line, or the offense trying to protect a lead with 4 minutes left on the clock.
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There are also a lot of logistical things that the team needs to drill down as well, according to linebacker Jeffrey Bassa.
“Mostly I would have to say like really transitions just on and off the field,” Bassa said. “You know kind of getting like into the game mindset, you know what transitions and stuff like that. You know offensively and defensively I feel like the coaches have done a very good job of you know, like installing all the plays and stuff like that.”
With just two weeks left before the season starts, time is running out for both coaches to assess the talent, and players to prove that they deserve a spot in the starting lineup. We’ve also seen several guys step up into leadership roles and use actions and words to get the team into the right spots to be successful.
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“We’ve got a bunch of guys that are committing to be mentally and physically tough,” Lupoi said. “And what I’m starting to see over here after a few weeks now is the leadership start to rise and that’s awesome because we need that. You know, we see it through individuals and specific units where leadership starts to arise and people are really reacting to that.”
With a roster that is full of talent on both sides of the ball, you can feel comfortable that the Ducks will be able to hold their own against the defending national champions. If they can drill down on the logistics and turn every stone over in the next couple of scrimmages, this team might enter that first week with enough confidence to make a statement in the college football world.
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