Inconsistent play continues to plague this Oregon football team.
The beginning is good.
The end has been fantastic.
But the stuff in the middle has been less than stellar, and often time hard to watch.
Some would certainly describe it as ugly football.
That was the breakdown Saturday night in Autzen Stadium against the winless ( 0-4 / 0-1 ) Wildcats.
The same Arizona team who just got embarrassed a week ago by Northern Arizona, but then traveled to Eugene and played the role of a giant-killer.
Inconsistent was how Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal described it after the game.
“There is no excuse for it. We typically get what we emphasize, and we have been emphasizing starting fast and we have been starting faster” explained Cristobal.
“We have been emphasizing the fourth quarter – and we have gotten better there. We really hit home in game one and last week when after a fast start we have gotten a rut in the middle. Now, when I say rut, I don’t want to be in any way, shape, or form disrespectful to the opponent. We’re playing Division I, Power 5 football that has scholarship football players that are going to make adjustments and make plays just like we make adjustments and make plays.
So, we want to play complete games and we haven’t played our best football yet. Our players watch football. Look around the country today to look at some of the teams that lost games. There are really prominent teams and programs coming out on the wrong side of the win column because games got tight, and quarters weren’t finished. You have to pour yourself into preparation, and we do. And then, preparation has got to turn into execution. We have got to tune that up. We know that. The good thing is, we can do it after going 1-0 to get the win. Guys are enthused to get back to work, and that is what we will do.”
It wasn’t long ago when this Oregon team stormed into Columbus Ohio and took on the role of giant killer themselves and manhandled the then No. 3 Buckeyes.
Both sides of the football, in the trenches, were arguably dominant for the Ducks who forced their will on Ohio State from beginning to end.
Against Arizona there was very little ‘will’ being forced.
The Ducks defensive front was continuously knocked back for a majority of the game, while the offense couldn’t get much footing in their rushing attack,
“Well, we did not do a very good job setting edges consistently enough” said Cristobal.
“There were plays in the second quarter and in the third quarter where we gave some chunk yardage right up the gut. It is technique,… it is physicality. We are going to be real honest with our guys and go to work to make sure that everything we do is geared toward betterment and improvement.
We have seen this play before from our guys. Bottom line is that we have got to coach it better, demand it more from each other, and get it done. We have football players that are good enough to do it, we just have to get it done.”
POST GAME; MARIO CRISTOBAL TALKS ARIZONA