In its first public appearance in more than three months, Oregon football stayed bland on both sides of the ball in a 41-14 lopsided White victory over Green.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205421189@@
Defense coordinator Nick Aliotti, who served as head coach of the winning side, said the team rolled out simplified concepts for the scrimmage, but he would break down the film player-by-player for more insight.
“I’ll watch the film and look for individuals because we did very little on defense,” Aliotti said. “And I’m sure they did very little on offense. We were very, very vanilla. There was not one blitz.”
Despite the limitations, Aliotti’s side did a commendable job containing sophomore quarterback Bryan Bennett, who was 19 of 32 for 209 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.@@https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/842780.pdf?ATCLID=205421189&SPSID=3383&SPID=233&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@ The Green team also racked up three sacks while holding the White side to a mere 2.3 yards per carry.@@see previous@@
Aliotti’s offense, overall, flourished. Redshirt freshman quarterback Marcus Mariota had a nearly flawless afternoon, going 18 of 26 for 202 yards and a touchdown.@@see previous@@
“We had three turnovers — two picks and fumble,” Aliotti said. “We had a score on defense. Mariota looked like he played really, really good. I’m not a quarterbacks’ coach, but I thought he was fantastic.”
One of the central storylines for Oregon’s defense coming into Saturday was the acclimation of freshman defensive lineman Arik Armstead. The highly touted recruit hasn’t even been on campus for a month and accordingly came into spring with low expectations. Thus far, he says he’s successfully adjusting to the intricacies of the program.
“I heard things about our up-tempo offense, and we play against them every day,” Armstead said. “That was a big adjustment for me — running play after play after play. That was a big adjustment, but I got used to it after a couple practices. I wasn’t really expecting anything. I just wanted to come in and see for myself, really.”
He said that defensive line coach Jerry Azzinaro@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3376&SPID=233&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=3679796&Q_SEASON=2012@@ gave him a few assignments on what to work on during the spring game.
“Today I felt I ran to the ball hard and tried to push hard,” Armstead said. “Coach (Azzinaro) told me to work on my finishing, and I was working on that during the game and got better at that. I’m young, so I need to work on everything. I’m not the best at anything yet.”
Aliotti said he’s looking forward to molding him into a force to be reckoned with.
“I’m really excited about him because he’s a big body who can run, and he’s tough,” he said. “For a high school senior, he wasn’t in all of practice or anything like that. It’s too big for him. He has a lot of things to learn and a lot of things to do. But I can’t create big and fast and strong, and he’s got all that — and that’s a great start.”
Oregon’s secondary looked relatively solid on both teams. The longest pass allowed by either side was a 35-yard bomb from Mariota@@https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/842780.pdf?ATCLID=205421189&SPSID=3383&SPID=233&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=500@@ to receiver Daryle Hawkins for a touchdown. With Oregon looking to replace two of its key possession receivers from last season in Lavasier Tuinei and David Paulson,@@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?SPSID=3378&SPID=233&DB_OEM_ID=500&Q_SEASON=2011@@ the lack of yardage could be chalked up to a dearth of proven chemistry.
Sophomore cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu provided one of the biggest defensive highlights of the day, making a diving effort to snag a Mariota pass for an interception inside his own 20-yard line.
“I was just working a cover-two concept there, and I was reading the quarterback’s eyes,” Ekpre-Olomu said. “And when I saw the first guy go out, I just kind of baited the quarterback into making a deeper throw and made a break on the ball.”
Asked about the budding quarterback controversy between Bennett and Mariota, he said he’s seen the pair bring different skills sets to the table.
“Marcus and Bennett — they’re two different types of quarterbacks,” he said. “Bryan is the gunslinger that can thread the needle. Marcus is a quarterback that will pick you apart down the field, throwing check downs and just facilitating to every single person on the field.”
How did Mariota get by him for an 82-yard touchdown run in second quarter?
“He has that explosion,” Ekpre-Olomu said. “I tried to take an angle on him, and I wasn’t able to get there.”
Defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti had his own take on the positional battle.
“I know nobody wants to hear this — I think they’ve been neck-to-neck,” he said. “They’re both good players, they both make good plays. It looked like Mariota had better protection than Bryan did. That was a huge difference.”
Oregon defense shows a glimpse of things to come next season
Daily Emerald
April 27, 2012
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