Oregon Ducks Postgame Interviews: USC

Oregon Ducks football postgame interviews for Saturday, November 5 game against the Southern California Trojans. If you missed anything from the players or coaches following the Ducks 45-20 loss, fear not, that’s why we are here.

IMPRESSION OF USC:

“We couldn’t get in any rhythm offensively. You got to give them credit. They had a great plan. Went with some base stuff and mixed it up. Plug one hole of the dike and another one opens up. Whether it was a one-on-one match-up. Just one half-step of communication you don’t get done, and those guys are good enough to make you pay for it.”

TAKING THE BALL TO START GAME:

“Why take the ball to start? That is our mentality. We believe a lot in what we are doing. The possessions are what matter in college football. There are a million things you could go back on. This series or that series. That’s certainly not a deciding factor. You don’t want to base your philosophy on giving up touchdowns on consecutive drives.”

USC OFFENSE:

“They're talented and very well coached. Those guys on their backend have been vilified the last few years. They’re all grown up, with a couple new guys up front. They’re playing as a team very well right now. Complimenting one another very well. You look at the times their defense answers the bell and stops us after some other….deficiency. They answered. At some point you got to go. Some analytics that may be the answer. Feeling. Feeling we had a good play there and didn’t convert.”

SATURDAY’S GAME:

“Tonight is obviously unique. There are things with every guy, every week that we are trying to solve. Some of that is mental. Some of it is psychological. And some of it’s physical. Somewhere on that continuum. Tonight is different from other nights. Couldn’t get in any rhythm offensively.”

CLOSING TALENT GAP WITH REST OF PAC-12:

“I don’t know if you’re eluding to recruiting, but obviously recruiting is a part of it. Playing your tails off. Confidence. Coaching them up to develop them. There is no secret to any of that. That’s always ongoing.”

Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images

DARREN CARRINGTON DROPPED BALL:

“I don’t know (if the sun had anything to do with it). It would have been pretty big. That play, that snap, they were bringing perfect pressure for what we had called. You got to seize those moments. Make those plays. For all of our young guys, the message is, ’That has to happen on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. Watching film and totally dialed in on this play.’” Whether its the third and inches that sprung him to a huge touchdown. ‘I have to fit my gap with great pad level.’ You got to get these guys on the ground. They’ll make a two yard gain into 70 (yards)."

“I think we just had to get things started. It was pretty stagnant for the first couple drives. When we get things rolling, we are a lot better. We never got off the ground.”

DARREN CARRINGTON DROP:

“I don’t think it was a momentum killer. I just think it was a missed opportunity that we should of had. We’ll get it next time. I know he (Carrington) was bummed about it after, but he’ll get that nine times out of 10.”

OFFENSIVE LINE PERFORMANCE:

“I thought they did well. I just didn’t get the ball off quick enough. They did a good job of protecting me. We just didn’t get things rolling.”

USC BLITZ:

“We did our best preparing for them. But, you can’t always simulate things in practice. It was tough out there, but we did our best. The first couple quarters, I don’t think we did very well. Then we switched up our snap cadence and we did better. They just brought a bunch of stuff we haven’t seen yet. We did our best to try and get guys to block them but at the end of the day, we just couldn’t."

SIDELINE MANNER:

“No loss is a good outcome. Any loss is something you should be upset about. I just think we got to come out next week and prepare.”

PERFORMANCE:

“Up-front, they did a good job blocking for them. When Sam (Darnold) gets out of the pocket, he’s tough. He can make plays happen with his legs. We just got to plaster the receivers and we didn’t. I think that was the problem.”

FRIENDSHIP WITH USC QB SAM DARNOLD:

“In high school, we played baseball together since we were like eight years old. He’s that duel threat. If he scrambles, you got to get on him quick. He can get some pretty big chunks."

INTERCEPTION IN 3RD QUARTER:

“Anytime you get a turnover like that, it can be a momentum changer.”

FAILING TO MAINTAIN MOMENTUM FROM CAL/ASU GAMES:

“It is disappointing because we put in all this work. We grind every day and you don’t come out with that W. At the end of the day, you just got to take your L’s and get back to grinding on Monday.”

OFFENSIVE INEPTITUDE:

“It does eventually, but it shouldn’t affect us like that. We should be out there trying to score points to help our team. To get turnovers to help our offense. You just got to keep doing your thing, every play. Every play you have play like it’s your last. Play 100 percent all the time, and good things will happen.”

Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images

“Tony deserved to start. I need to improve.”

“Didn’t play up to what we needed to."

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