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LOS ANGELES — The Oregon football offensive line on Monday didn’t sugarcoat issues it had at the beginning of the season ahead of its Rose Bowl and College Football Playoff quarterfinal tilt against Ohio State on New Year’s Day.
The No. 1 Ducks gave up seven sacks through the first two weeks of the season against FCS Idaho and No. 3 Boise State, with both being too-close-for-comfort wins at Autzen Stadium. Before that, the Ducks had given up just 10 sacks over the last two seasons combined.
Several players and coaches at Oregon’s Media Day said they didn’t play up to their standard. Extensive conversations were had on how to quickly correct their mistakes.
With fans, pundits and outsiders weighing in on the group, Oregon’s offensive line didn’t waver.
“When the house was burning, for us there was calm in the noise,” said offensive line coach A’lique Terry. “All you can do is go back to work. When everyone else has an opinion, we’re going back to work.”
Oregon offensive lineman Josh Conerly Jr. speaks during media day on Monday in Los Angeles ahead of the Rose Bowl.
Oregon football says it had full faith offensive line would make adjustments after early issues
The Ducks gave up just six sacks over the next 11 games and outrushed every opponent except Penn State in the Big Ten championship.
Oregon once again has one of the top offenses in college football with a Heisman Trophy finalist at quarterback and an 1,000-yard rusher at running back in no small part because the offensive line immediately corrected mistakes from the first two weeks.
“Obviously we weren’t playing our best, and we knew that and we owned it,” left tackle Josh Conerly Jr. said. “That’s what we put on film, that’s what we were. It was just our job to go out there and fix it from that week on.”
Quarterback Dillon Gabriel took accountability after both…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/oregon-growth-offensive-line-propelled-120529443.html
Author : The Register-Guard
Publish date : 2024-12-31 12:05:00
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