No quarterback sacks and no hurries!
Oregon fans might be wondering what went wrong for the Duck defense against Stanford in the season opener.
In a quick answer: Not a lot went wrong.
Given the fact it was just Game 1 and that the game plan might have been changed just an hour before kickoff due to Stanford’s Covid-19 issues, it’s a wonder the Duck defense gave up only 14 points.
According to defensive coordinator Andy Avalos, his plan was to keep the Cardinal quarterback(s) in the pocket and defend those wide receivers.
If that was the plan, it worked about 90 percent of the time.
Oregon held the Cardinal to just 214 yards passing with no touchdowns. Stanford did manage to rush for 197 yards, but 73 of those came on one play.
Jack West and Trevor McGee weren’t allowed to roam free and make plays. They did manage to burn the Oregon secondary on a few long passes, but overall, it was tough sledding to make any progress down the field.
“So obviously you always want to pressure the quarterback, those are the things we want to do, stop the run and pressure the quarterback,” Avalos said.
“Some of those situations we were in last week, we played a lot in the four-down zone and we played a lot in some short-yardage stuff, so when we get our opportunities in the longer down and distance, we have to execute and attack within the game plan.”
However, Washington State is going to present a very different challenge with the run-and-shoot first-year coach Nick Rolovich brought over from Hawaii.
Even with a true freshman at quarterback, the Cougars had their way with Oregon State last week in a 38-28 win over the Beavers in Corvallis.
It may be a pass-first offense by nature, but against the Beavers, WSU’s offense was as balanced as it gets, which made it even tougher for Oregon State’s defenders to stop.
Jayden de’Laura threw for 227 yards in his collegiate debut, but the Cougars racked up 229 yards on the ground, including Deon McIntosh’s 147 yards. According to Avalos, stopping the run first is paramount if they are going to have success up in the Palouse.
“There are some run schemes that will present some issues and (Rolovich) is committed to running the ball,” he said. “Number 1 you have to handle the run game first and within the run-and-shoot and in the pass game, they play all 53 yards (width) of that field. They’re going to spread you out and use all the green grass, so we have to do a good job with our coverages and our techniques.”
One area of concern that did come up in the Stanford game was the inability to defend the deep ball at times.
There were a few big plays through the air and some penalties called in an attempt to stop other long passes. Avalos said turning around and finding the ball instead of defending a receiver with the hands will be a point of emphasis this week in practice.
“There’s a lot of things we can grow on,” he said. “We were in great position a lot of the night on those deep balls, but we got to work on that Level 3, the finish part. We have to have the confidence to know we’re in a position to play the ball and we will.”
Defensive Coordinator Andy Avalos Press Conference 11-9-2020