Oregon travels across the country to take on the Virginia Cavaliers in what is expected to be a heated affair between the two teams. Heated in more ways than one: the weather report at the time of kickoff is calling for 86 degrees and 48 percent humidity, something the Ducks out of rainy Eugene aren’t accustomed too.
“I think the coaches are doing a great job with the way they want us to practice and hydrate so we should be OK and ready to go,” said Oregon senior safety Brian Jackson.
Apart from just the weather, the Ducks are going to have to cope with the ability of playing many young athletes, mainly freshmen and sophomores. Currently, the Ducks have 21 underclassmen listed as a part of their two-deep depth chart comprised of 44 athletes.
Besides the young athletes who see viable playing time, the farthest the Ducks have traveled in the last four years is Tennessee in 2011 when they beat the Volunteers 48-13. This means that no one on Oregon’s roster has traveled past Knoxville, Tenn. in a Ducks uniform to play a game.
“It’ll be interesting for some of these young puppies to be playing away, in an atmosphere where people don’t like you,” Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said. “It’s a ‘just us’ kind of mentality and we’ll see how we handle that.”
Oregon set multiple records in their opening 66-3 win over Nicholls State, including a school record 772 yards of total offense and having three 100-yard rushers for the first time ever in a game.
Quarterback Marcus Mariota and running backs De’Anthony Thomas and Byron Marshall ran for 113, 128 and 124 yards, respectively. Oregon’s Heisman hopeful quarterback also completed 12-21 passes for 234 yards a touchdown.
Scoring will come more difficult this time as the Ducks will have to contain Virginia defensive end Eli Harold. Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich is big on Harold, comparing him to former Duck Dion Jordan, who was taken third in last year’s NFL draft by the Miami Dolphins.
Virginia’s defense held BYU to 16 points in their 19-16 come-from-behind victory over the Cougars, giving up 362 yards of offense. Likewise, the Cavalier’s offense mustered up only 223 yards on offense while turning the ball over twice.
Virginia brings it’s own three headed attack of quarterback David Watford, tailback Kevin Parks and wide receiver Darius Jennings, all of whom received praise from Jackson. Watford went 18-32 for 114 yards and a touchdown while Parks ran for 65 yards and touchdown and Jennings added 62 yards and a touchdown receiving.
The Ducks will counter with junior middle linebacker Derrick Malone and junior defensive end/outside linebacker Tony Washington, both of whom played very well in the season opener. Malone had a team-high 11 tackles while Washington added seven tackles and a sack.