Playing Oklahoma Wednesday night in the Alamo Bowl was like fighting in a backyard brawl with one hand tied behind your back.
This Oregon squad which took the field in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on Wednesday night was so undermanned and decimated, they were mostly unrecognizable.
But, that said, if you ask any of the players, to a man, they would tell you they’re not using it as an excuse after losing 47-32 to the Sooners.
“Truly you have everything right now telling these guys not to go out there during this time and give it all that they
have, and they were able to block out everything and be able to kind of put the forefront of themselves, the team,
the goals that they’ve had as a team, and I’m just really, really pleased with those guys” explained Oregon interim head coach Bryan McClendon after the game.
Oregon linebacker Jordan Happle, a veteran voice in the locker room, was all about giving credit where it was due, and that was to his teammates and the Sooners.
No, I don’t think depth was really an issue” said Happle.
“Kind of like you said, our mantra is next man up. Injuries are part of football. You kind of have to deal with them, whether it’s on the fly or you know beforehand. Credit to Oklahoma; they played a really good game on offense as a whole and we struggled in the first half. I think we improved a lot in the second half from a defensive standpoint as a whole, but credit to Oklahoma. They did their thing tonight.”
Duck safety Verone McKinley, more of an outspoken voice on this Oregon defense, echoed the thoughts of his teammate.
“I would say the same thing” said McKinley.
“I think that Jeff Bassa and Nate did a good job, and the guys who haven’t played as much this year, they all stepped up, and Oklahoma did a good job today. They really did. Caleb Williams, phenomenal player, different rotation at
running backs, they did a good job. But for the most part, I think we did a lot better in the second half, and as the game goes on making those adjustments. We just needed one stop. I just felt like we needed more time, and that’s just how football is.”
McKinley, who ended his season as a consensus First Team All-American and led the country in interceptions with 6, said there was no lack of fight when they very well could have given up after the thrashing the Ducks took to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
“I would say that that feeling after the Pac-12 Championship, we didn’t like it, and this one is a little different because we did fight hard in that second half” he explained. “Like I said, we were close. We were close.”
The very same sentiment came from the coaching staff as well.
Those coaches who remained in Eugene to see the season through instilled that level of toughness and fight even though the team as a whole wasn’t the same as they were when the season began back in early August.
“That’s just really how we’re made up” explained McClendon.
“But again, it really comes from a belief of the people in the locker room in each other, that those guys knew, man, that there was no quit in anybody. They knew the guy next to them wasn’t going to quit, they knew their coaches weren’t going to quit, they knew the trainers and everybody else weren’t going to quit. It makes it really easy to be able to fight for one another when that’s the case.”