Besides lacking a home-field advantage, away games require a different type of focus. Players have to hone-in on game concentration despite a crowd made up of the opposing team’s colors and playing in an unfamiliar stadium.
The No. 19 Oregon Ducks will take on the away-game test with the team’s first road trip of the season this weekend. Oregon will play the No. 24 Cal bears Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Berkley.
Head coach Mario Cristobal addressed the media Wednesday morning reflecting the team’s loss to Stanford and forwarding Saturday’s game.
Cristobal noted that defensive line Austin Faoliu and running back Tony Brooks-James remain questionable for Saturday due to injuries from last week’s game against Stanford.
Q: What did you learn about your team this week?
A: “Tough, resilient, hungry and not satisfied. Certainly, we want to always play our best. I think the best part is that we all acknowledged that cutting it close, or getting close, isn’t good enough. It’s not what we train for. … We still know that we have more in us and it’s not over yet.”
Q: Has Cal’s experience on your offensive line showed up on tape this week?
A: “Absolutely. They do a heck of job. They affect the quarterback well and a lot of their people get the ball out quick and it’s RPO stuff. They can protect. We’re very familiar with some of those guys. We recruit a bunch of those guys as well. One of their offense is our former players is there. Valentino [Daltoso] is doing a great job for them. …They have a lot of things you have to prepare for to defend effectively.”
Q: Four of their seven interceptions have come on third down passes, do you feel like that’s kind of a byproduct of them being exotic on defense?
A: “Without a doubt. They change the look, thus confusing a quarterback. You know, like the extra pat or all of a sudden he’s gonna go with the ball and pre snap, that’s going to change, and he’s got to go to his postsnap breath and that’s difficult for quarterbacks. I’m sure for the NFL guys, that’s like nothing for them, but for college, quarterbacks are still developing, it’s that extra second that now causes a pressure, a hurry, a poor decision and all of sudden the ball is going the other way. Their defense has really done a great job in setting up their offense for success.”
Q: Is there a better feeling than a road victory in college football?
A: “Playing on the road, it is different. You’ve really got to make sure the understanding of the whole thing, I know it sounds cliché, but it is a business trip. You have to create business processes. So many times people talk about talking it into existence, but you got to create into existence. With the way that you practice and the way you prepare and that’s been the focus here. We’re fully processed, oriented and focused and that’s really, in our belief, that’s the secret sauce to having success on the road. And we have to do it because that’s one thing in the offseason we focused on due to the fact that last year we didn’t do very well on the road. It’s been a big point of emphasis.”
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