The Oregon Ducks closed out their home schedule at Autzen last weekend with a senior night victory.

However, with less than a week remaining in their regular season schedule, the Ducks will need to overcome their three-game losing streak on the road to beat their long-time rivals, the Oregon State Beavers.

At Monday morning’s press conference, Cristobal briefly reviewed his impressions from Saturday’s 31-29 win over ASU and later addressed the team’s narrowed-in focus toward Friday’s Civil War in Corvallis.

“We’re rebuilding a program too and to me, that’s the biggest focus over anything else,” Cristobal said. “We got to understand what we are, where we’re going and the progress that we made. We want to continue it, so I’d say the bulk of the focus is on that.”

Despite the win on their record, the Ducks once again could not carry over their first-half momentum into the second half. Oregon dominated the Sun Devils in the first two quarters, entering halftime with a score of 28-13. However, unable to score again until the last 10 minutes of the game, Oregon allowed ASU to catch up. Thanks to the Sun Devils failed two-point conversion and a strip-sack from junior La’Mar Winston Jr., Oregon was able to defend its lend and win the game.

Cristobal noted he was specifically impressed with the performances by walk-ons Justin Collins and junior Nate Heaukulani.

“[It’s] a testament to them and their coaches for bringing them along like this,” Cristobal said. “Those guys work really hard. Those guys do all the right things all the time. Over here there is no judgment whether you are a fifth-year senior or if you just walked on, if you are producing and show that you can be trusted out on that football field, you are going to get a shot.”
With Saturday already two days behind them, the Ducks have switched their focus to this week’s annual Civil War, where the Beavers and the Ducks will meet for the 122nd time in the state’s biggest rivalry game. This year’s Civil War will be held in Corvallis, and the Ducks will be looking to redeem themselves after losing 34-24 two years ago in the Beaver territory.

“We educate our players on the history and the great ones that have played here and played over there and all the games that have gone on in-between,” he said. “It’s important for our players to understand how important this game is to everyone in this state. … When your team has so many guys from so many different parts of the country, you’d hate for them to never understand how deep-rooted the feelings and emotions that go into this rivalry.”

Friday’s matchup will be OSU head coach Jonathan Smith’s first Civil War on the team’s coaching staff, as he was a quarterback for the team in the late 90s and early 2000s. Cristobal noted that the Beavers’ ability to create explosive plays will be a strong challenge for Ducks to overcome.

“There is a lot of carryover from what you’ve seen in coach Smith’s history and he does a great job,” Cristobal said. “[He’s] a great football coach, extremely smart. They scheme you up pretty well, they understand where the holes are and they go after it. From game one against Ohio State to coming back like they did against Colorado, they continue to turn out yards and points.”

Friday’s annual Civil War will kickoff at 1:05 p.m. at Reser Stadium in Corvallis.

Update on athlete status:

According to Cristobal, freshman offensive lineman Steven Jones remains in concussion protocol and will be re-evaluated tomorrow. Cristobal said he is optimistic about Jones’ return for later this week.

Senior tight end Kano Dillon did not dress for Saturday’s game as Cristobal said he suffered a strained ab during last week’s practice. Dillon is currently in recovery and Cristobal said if he gets better, he will most likely play in Friday’s game.

Redshirt freshman running back CJ Verdell went out for the fifth straight game with an injury. Cristobal said on Saturday, Verdell was hit hard in the stomach/rib-area but is doing OK and practiced on Monday.

Freshman offensive lineman Penei Sewell, whose ankle injury in Oregon’s game against Washington in early October left the Ducks without a starting left tackle, will take an extra week to recover.

Freshman outside linebacker Andrew Jonhson Jr. remains uncleared, but Cristobal said he expects him to be cleared for Oregon’s bowl game. 

Follow Maggie Vanoni on Twitter @maggie_vanoni