Sitting at the podium during media day on Friday, LaMichael James began to feel a bit restless.
“Everybody is asking pretty much the same questions,” James said. “I feel like we should have taken the session from yesterday and played it back today.”
Many other players likely shared James’ sentiments. After all, they have waited more than a month to play in the biggest game of their lives, all the while being peppered with the same questions day after day.
This is particularly true for members of Oregon’s highly celebrated offense. Tops in the nation in points per game (49.3), the Ducks work at a frenetic pace that leaves opposing squads breathless.
Yet the constant questioning about said offense appears to be fatiguing the Ducks themselves. At this point, everyone would just like to play the damn game already.
For wide receiver D.J. Davis, it is all a part of the process.
“You gotta know we’re in the biggest game of this year,” Davis said. “Everybody’s talking about one versus two, two good offenses going at it. Anytime you get to play in a game of this magnitude, you gotta take everything.”
“Two good offenses” might be a bit of an understatement in discussing Oregon and Auburn, and many feel that the game will come down to a simple matter of who scores more.
Davis isn’t so sure about that.
“If it’s a shootout, it’ll be a shootout,” Davis said. “But I believe both defenses are really stout, real good in the second half, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the final score was 3-2.”
The Ducks are familiar with slugfests, particularly after taking a team trip to see “The Fighter” this week. For quarterback Darron Thomas, the film was a valuable follow-up after seeing one of Micky Ward’s fights early in the season.
“Coach (Chip) Kelly showed us his fight at the beginning of the year,” Thomas said. “His last fight that he had, he battled all 12 rounds. That’s one thing Coach Kelly (has) been talking about, each game is a round. We gotta take each game round by round.”
There can be little doubt that Auburn will enter Monday’s game with the intent to pummel the Ducks. Having viewed Oregon’s offense on tape for over a month, the Tigers can be expected to know every in and out of the system.
“They got all our film just like we have all their film,” Thomas said. “They got every game. So now it’s just a matter of who’s going to come out and do their job and physically win the game.”
Kelly agreed with his quarterback.
“When you have this amount of time to prepare, I think both teams will be prepared,” Kelly said. “It will come down to the play makers on the field making plays.”
Thomas will, of course, play a substantial role in whatever Oregon does on Monday night. Kelly wouldn’t have it any other way.
“He has been fantastic,” Kelly said. “To be a sophomore first-year starter and take his team to a Pac-10 championship and an opportunity to play in the championship game is phenomenal.”
With hardened linemen like Auburn’s Nick Fairley coming after him, Thomas will have to stand tough in the pocket. Luckily, he has been doing that all year.
“Darron will get hit, and he’s up in five seconds and ready to go again,” left guard Carson York said. “Guys hit him hard. I think there’s some sort of mind-set that he has, that ‘It doesn’t matter how hard you hit me, I’m going to get up.’ I think everybody else respects that a lot.”
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