The No. 6 Oregon football team returned to practice in the Moshofsky Center on Monday to begin preparations for a showdown in Palo Alto, Calif. against No. 3 Stanford.@@http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings@@
With their trip to Washington behind them, the Ducks can now train their eyes fully on what could be the most important game of the season. Monday’s was a solid practice, according to head coach Chip Kelly, and Oregon will have to keep its focus throughout the week to prepare for Andrew Luck and the Cardinal.
“It’s a good, good, good football team,” Kelly said. “They’re not ranked No. 3 for no reason. They’ve been very decisive in all their wins, except for a great overtime game against USC. They’ve got a great quarterback, the best in the country, and then a lot of other guys to go along with him.” @@this is actually a nice quote. Way to go, Chip!@@
Indeed, preparations for Stanford will begin and end with Luck, the Heisman Trophy frontrunner and presumptive first pick in next April’s NFL draft. With 2,424 yards to go along with 26 touchdowns and only five interceptions, the Ducks will certainly have their hands full.@@http://www.gostanford.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2011-2012/teamcume.html#TEAM.IND@@
“He can do it all,” Kelly said. “He’s a big strong kid, he’s tough to take down … he’s extremely accurate and he’s extremely smart, so he’s the whole package.”
To stop — or even slow — Luck, Oregon will have to count on sustaining a pass rush that recorded six sacks last weekend against Washington. In Kelly’s eyes, there is plenty of reason for optimism in that regard.
“Our defensive line is playing fantastic,” Kelly said. “I knew it was going to be a strength of our team coming into the season, even though we lost a few guys … they’re very athletic and there’s not just one guy. It’s an entire group and they’re all playing at a really high level right now.”
Yet there is a difference between defending Luck and other Pac-12 quarterbacks and even Oregon’s players acknowledge that.
“It’s going to take a lot to get after that guy,” defensive end Terrell Turner said. “You know, because even when you get after him, he’s still going to get up. He’s intelligent, (he uses) play-action fakes and all that other stuff.”@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=1149820@@
What Kelly and the Ducks do have going for them, however, is experience. This will be the third straight year Oregon has faced off with Luck, with the star largely neutralized last year at Autzen Stadium after throwing two costly interceptions.
“We’ve played this guy before,” safety Eddie Pleasant said. “Our guys are used to playing against him … we just gotta go out there and be ready.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=1149816@@
“We had a good practice (Monday), just gotta go out there firing and have fun on Saturday night.”
Pleasant honored as Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week
After registering five tackles and two interceptions against Washington on Saturday, Eddie Pleasant was named the Pac-12’s player of the week on defense. It was the first such honor of Pleasant’s four-year career.
Both interceptions came in the first half and Pleasant totaled 65 return yards. For the year, the senior ranks fifth on the team with 42 tackles, including two for a loss and one sack to go along with three interceptions.@@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3383&SPID=233&DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205329425&DB_OEM_ID=500@@ @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205266631@@