For Oregon interim head coach Bryan McClendon, his message has been clear and concise to his team since taking the reins of this Duck football team.
Finish!
In very difficult circumstances, and when this team could have very easily tossed in the towel, McClendon has done an incredible job holding them together with his loud and resounding message of ‘finish what you start.’
“One of the biggest messages that has been echoed throughout this time is this part of the year is about finishing” explained McClendon during Tuesday’s Alamo Bowl head coaches press conference.
“This part of the year is about finishing. You have a clear opportunity to be able to finish something that you start. Goals are great. They’re definitely great motivation. They’re definitely a great tool to use to be able to kind of fuel different things within your program. And it does hurt at times when you don’t get them. But you still have so much to play for.”
At the Alamodome Tuesday morning both McClendon and Oklahoma interim head coach Bob Stoops sat together in front of the lights and cameras of the media to answer similar questions about their respective teams.
Both the Ducks and the Sooners are facing defections in one form or another, but both remain upbeat about the opportunity in front of them to take the football field one final time of this 2021 season.
“When the bowl schedule comes out, you see that you’re playing the University of Oklahoma, there’s not much time to sit up there and be feeling sorry for yourself,” said McClendon.
“That has helped tremendously also, just with the competition that we’re playing, the team that we’re playing against, the storied history of the program. It grabs your attention from the word ‘go’.”
For Stoops, the opportunity is about one thing,….and one thing only. Representing the logo on the helmet!
“You’re playing for that logo, that helmet, that program,” he said.
“There’s a big history there. Anytime we take the field, we want to represent it the right way by the way we play, the manner in which we play, the toughness, the energy, how hard we play. Those things don’t change. Even though they’ve been through, just as Oregon has, a little bit of upheaval in the last few weeks, the bottom line is we’re getting ready to play. If we’re going to play, we need to play the right way. We’re playing a great program in Oregon. Of course, that has our attention as well.”
With all of the player and coaching turmoil for the Ducks, there’s been a significant amount of speculation of just who is missing from the Ducks roster. And is that number truly 31 missing players?
“It won’t be quite that much,” said McClendon when asked to clarify the number of players not available to play.
“I’ll say this, they probably missed some time in one way, shape or form coming back from some injuries, things of that nature. You get in Bennett Williams back, who he wasn’t unavailable, but you’re getting him back. They’ve missed time in one way, shape or form. To act like we’re going in there how we were in Ohio State, that will be false also.
I mean, we’re having to dig into some depth at some different spots. But most of it is all bumps and bruises associated with play. I mean, I think what we have to do is make sure that the guys are able to step up. It’s given guys some opportunities to be able to do that.
It’s not 31. I don’t know what the number is to be able to correct or rectify what’s out there. I didn’t even know that till you said that. We’re not missing 31 guys right now out of 85.”
( ALAMO BOWL VIDEO ) OREGON’S BRYAN MCCLENDON AND OKLAHOMA’S BOB STOOPS MEET THE MEDIA