In contrast to last years spring football game, Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota was admittedly much more relaxed this time around knowing he’ll be the fall starter when the 2013 season officially gets underway August 31st against Nicholls State.

“I was a lot more relaxed,” said Mariota after Saturday’s game.  “Going into last year’s spring game, the nerves were getting to me, and I just wanted to do well.    Today we were able to go out there as an offense,…we’ve been with each other now for a year, and let’s kind of go out there and show what we’ve been doing, how we’ve progressed.”

Now, a year later, Mariota looks as comfortable in the Oregon offense as a football fan does in his barcalounger on a Saturday afternoon.

His success last year and his heightened grasp of the Duck offense has him poised for a serious run at the Heisman Trophy, a conference title and a legitimate shot at the national championship in the coming season.

After Saturday’s lopsided 65-10 win over the Duck defense ( Green ), Mariota spoke with the media and discussed his teams spring performance and life after Chip Kelly.

( Watch Marcus Mariota’s post game press conference by clicking the video box above )

Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota picked up right where he left off from the 2013 Fiesta Bowl as he easily orchestrated the white offense into the end zone on his first three possessions.   ( Game Stats;  13 of 15 for 169 yards – 2 Touchdowns / 5 carries for 11 yards )

While Mariota shined, back up quarterbacks Jeff Lockie and Jake Rodrigues got off to a shaky start at the beginning of the second quarter.   Of the two, Rodrigues seemed to have the stronger arm and played with a better grasp of the offense.

Lockie did show signs of why Chip Kelly recruited him out of Monte Vista High School in Danville, CA.  Late in the second quarter Lockie threw a beautiful 49 yard touch pass for a touchdown to Bralon Addison.

Running back Byron Marshall started in the backfield for the white team.   Marshall showed good speed and the ability to deliver punishment to the defensive line and linebackers.  ( Game Stats;  6 carries for 60 yards with 1 Touchdown )

On the outside, WR Bralon Addison showed why coaches have been singing his praises this spring.   In the first half, Addison scored on a 49 yard touchdown pass from Jeff Lockie.  Overall, Addison had ( Game Stats;  8 receptions for 136 yards with 1 Touchdown )

The games leading receiver was actually Eric Dungy with 9 receptions for 56 yards.    Josh Huff pulled in 4 receptions for 60 yards with 2 touchdowns.

A noticeable absence from Saturday’s spring game was slot receiver and RB De’Anthony Thomas, WR Daryle Hawkins and DB Reggie Daniels.

Players who caught the attention of the media were sophomores TE Pharaoh Brown, DE Christian French and WR Bralon Addison.

Defensively, sophomore DE Christian French led the way with 9 tackles, 7 of those solo’s.   French also notched 1 sack and 1 tackle for loss. As a whole, the defense collected 3 sacks and 11 tackles for loss.

Attendance:  36,588 lbs

GAME OVERVIEW

At the outset, most thought the new scoring format of this years spring game would yield a more exciting and competitive game considering the lack of team depth and injuries.

That certainly wasn’t the case as the Oregon offense ( White team ) cruised to a 65-10 win over the defense ( Green squad ) on Saturday in front of 36,588 fans in a sun drenched Autzen Stadium.

Admittedly in his post game comments, head coach Mark Helfrich said the new scoring system didn’t exactly work they way he and his coaches thought it would.

“The scoring system,…if it’s not 100% real football someone’s gonna be mad” said Helfrich after the game.

“The biggest thing is our guys competed,…and that’s all that matters.   You try to throw the scoring system on it to make it more realistic.   What was the final score ( to the media ),…I reviewed the film before I came out here and it was actually 65-64.”

Helfrich obviously joking with the media knowing his scoring system was definitely out of balance between the two squads.

Overall though, Helfrich said he was pleased with the teams effort and progress through this years spring practice and saw both good and bad things that he and his staff will look at in the film room and address going into the fall.

“Obviously very happy that our guys competed and ended up being injury free on the day” said Helfrich.

“We got the guys in there that we wanted to see.  We had a set number of series for our first two groups on each side of the ball.    Wanted to get some live kickoff work,…wanted to get some live punt work.”

Because of spring injuries, Saturday’s starting lineups on both sides of the ball are likely not the starting lineups Oregon will have when they take the field against Nicholls State in late August.

For the defense, the line was comprised of DT Taylor Hart, DT Wade Keliikipi, DT Arik Armstead, DE Tony Washington, LB Boseko Lokombo, LB Joe Walker, LB Rahim Cassell, CB Terrance Mitchell, CB Troy Hill, S Brian Jackson and S Issac Dixon.

On the offense, the line consisted of LT Andre Yruretagoyena, LG Hamani Stevens, C Hroniss Grasu, RG Everett Benyard, RT Jake Fisher, TE Colt Lyerla, WR’s Josh Huff, Bralon Addison and B.J. Kelly, RB Byron Marshall and QB Marcus Mariota.

While the offense maintained its same potent style and pace from the Kelly era, the defense struggled to keep up especially since Nick Aliotti’s squad faces the offense each day in practice.

After the game, Aliotti gave high praise to his teams offense, but was less enthused with the performance of his defense and seemed to point to his core group of linebackers.

“I don’t want to make it seem like the sky is falling,…the sky isn’t falling” said Aliotti in his post game comments.

“We’ll be ok there,…probably better than ok there.  When you’re used to Kiko and Michael Clay,..I mean that’s a drop.  That’s two guys that played 2 – 3 years as starters,..great football players,…and NFL players.”

On the positive side, Aliotti said he was pleased with his starting defense in the first half with the three and outs they were able to force on the number one squad.

Aliotti quickly followed that statement by saying he had hoped to see more out of the two’s and three’s.

( Watch the Mark Helfrich post game interview by clicking the video box above )

Last year at this time, and as an early arrival at Oregon, 4-star recruit ( DT ) Arik Armstead was preparing for his very first spring football game as a true freshman.

A daunting task for any young player fresh out of high school.

On the eve of his second spring game and with a year of valuable experience under his belt, Armstead is well on his way to becoming a dominating force on the defensive line in the Pac-12.

Earlier this week, Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti suggested this may be the most talented and physical defensive line since he’s had since becoming the defensive coordinator with the Ducks.

When talking about Armstead, Deforest Buckner and Alex Balducci, Aliotti is gives high praise.

“Put it this way,  ( players of their caliber ) may have been in the program,” Aliotti explained.   “But they didn’t play as freshmen and weren’t at this point like these guys are going to be as sophomores.”

Because all three played as true freshman, Aliotti say’s being thrown into the fire will pay dividends when the season begins in the fall.

“I expect them this year to really take a quantum leap,” Aliotti said.

“It’s really going to help our rotation more because they are going to be that much more experienced.”

“I think we’re going to be dominant for years to come,” Armstead told reporters this week.

( Watch Arik Armstead’s interview by clicking the video box above ) 

One of the marquee story lines from last season’s spring football game was the quarterback battle between Marcus Mariota and Bryan Bennett.

The question on everyone’s mind was, could this young and talented redshirt freshman, ( Honolulu, Hawaii ) prove himself to be the star player and leader Mark Helfrich and then coach Chip Kelly expected him to be?

It was clear ( from that game ) Mariota was not only going to demonstrate himself as the front runner going into fall camp, he was indeed going to be Oregon’s next big star.

Looking back though, Mariota admits when he took the field last spring in front of 44,000 fans at Autzen Stadium, he was as stressed as he’d ever been because the public to that point hadn’t yet seen him play.

“I was pretty stressed out,…I’m not going to lie” said Mariota when asked about last years game.

“It was really the first time a lot of people would see me play.  Now, I think that’s why it’s feeling a little different for me.  The stress stand point isn’t there.”

Because there’s a lower level of stress, Mariota admits his confidence is much higher and will serve him well moving forward.

“I think for me the state of uncertainty was part of what stressed me out the most” said Mariota.

“But now that I’ve gone through a season and went through last years spring game, I think the confidence level for me is pretty good.”

It’s likely head coach Mark Helfrich and offensive coordinator Scott Frost will limit Mariota’s practice time on Saturday simply because it’s not prudent to risk the possibility of injury especially since Mariota has nothing to prove.

The Ducks can certainly ill afford to lose another star player on an already thin roster of healthy players.

Limiting Mariota’s practice time though does allow the offensive brain trust to accumulate additional game speed repetitions of back up quarterbacks Jeff Lockie ( Danville, CA ) and Jake Rodrigues ( Rocklin, CA ) who are battling for the No. 2 slot on the fall depth chart.

( Watch the video interview with Marcus Mariota by clicking on the video box above ) 

Mark Helfrich announced Wednesday his first annual spring football game as head coach will be a controlled practice with his offense going head to head against the defense.

The format change from a split squad to offense vs defense is thought to be the byproduct of accumulating injuries from the past month of spring practice that’s made it impossible to field two competitive squads with adequate depth.

So, rather than risk additional injuries, Helfrich and his coaching staff decided to hold another controlled practice that will ‘first’ include kickoff and punt situations.

“And then after we get through those situations, we’ll just place the ball and go,” said Helfrich after Wednesday’s practice session.

Helfrich explained this specific format will give his coaching staff an additional practice that will lend itself to the continuing process of specifically evaluating players rather than a split squad situation that doesn’t always provide the most competitive match-ups.

“It’s almost cleaner, the way we’ll be able to arrange the matchups,” Helfrich explained.

“Sometimes in the spring game you’ll have Dion Jordan going against me ( meaning Helfrich ), and that’s not a good match-up, and nobody else gets to finish that play.”

So, how will the game ( practice ) be scored?

In the course of Oregon’s typical up-tempo practice, it’s likely to be somewhat confusing.

Helfrich explained the offense will score in its normal fashion, while the defense will be awarded points based on typical big plays,…turnovers, sacks, fourth down stops, etc.

“There’s a lot of guys that still need to learn situations, and practice situations,” Helfrich said.

“I don’t care who wins, or who won in the past.  I want to compete, get better and stay healthy.”

The University of Oregon also announced this week the north grandstands of Autzen Stadium will be closed during Saturdays spring game due to the current construction taking part.

The closure of those seating areas will limit the attendance to 37,400 whereas last year the attendance topped out at 44,129.

For those fans wanting to attend Saturday’s final practice of the spring, university officials suggest to arrive early to find seating.    Admission is free with three cans of non-perishable food which will be donated to ‘Food for Lane County.’

Soldier salutes at the 2012 Oregon spring football game

Saturday’s contest is also a tribute to America’s military where players will provide their game jersey’s to military members in attendance as a gesture of appreciation.