When you start the season with a game against the defending national champions, you typically want to get as much preparation in as possible.
For the Oregon Ducks, who will face the Georgia Bulldogs in Week 1 of the season, it would make sense for them to be trying to scheme up how they are going to down Kirby Smart’s team, trying to slow down Stetson Bennett and the UGA offense. However, that’s not the case early on in fall camp. With an entirely new coaching staff, the focus at the moment is on making sure that the team is getting where they need to be. Everything else is on the back burner.
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“Well, we’re major focus on us right now, so that’s kind of sacrilegious for us,” defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi said after practice on Saturday when asked about game-planning for Georgia. “We’re so far away from where we want to be. You know, heading that direction, but we’re not referring to any other team.”
With two practices down, there’s still plenty of time before the Bulldogs come calling. At the moment, though, Lupoi wanted to make it clear that the Ducks need to focus solely on how they can be the best defensive unit they can be rather than working to stop a specific opponent.
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“It’s all about us, and it’s about how we can improve,” Lupoi said. “Morning, afternoon, we’re gonna go up and correct this film right now as an entire staff. We’re gonna go right back in and coach our asses off in the meeting room to improve. So that’s all we’re focused on right now.”
As we get closer to the end of August, it’s incredibly likely that we start to see Oregon shift the defensive mentality to Georgia’s offense, and work on things specifically that will slow down the Bulldogs.
It’s too early for that right now, though. Right now, the Ducks are focusing on being the best team they can be. Nothing else.
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