As much as Oregon offensive coordinator Nick Aliotti wanted to move on from the loss to Stanford on Thursday, he couldn’t help but wonder how the game would’ve ended up if a couple of plays gone the Ducks’ way. Sure, he said, the Cardinal controlled the game by pounding the ball with their running backs 66 times, but their coaches would’ve been forced to adjust their offensive gameplan had the Ducks executed a few plays early on.
“Had one thing happened differently, they (the Cardinal) probably don’t get to stay in that group and pound it and take the air out of the ball,” Aliotti said after Thursday’s practice. “But it’s 17-0 at halftime and they chose to take the air out of the ball and they did it very effectively.”
The Ducks’ failures to score early on and an interception by Ifo Ekpre-Olomu nullified by a penalty were instances Aliotti pointed to that could’ve changed the entire course of the game. Instead, Stanford took an early lead and was able to run offensive packages with several extra offensive linemen (the “group” Aliotti referred to in the quote above).
“Basically, they were playing with seven or eight offensive linemen, but three of them had tight end numbers,” Aliotti said. “We addressed and thought about putting in an extra guy, bigger guys, more linemen, practice some of it but [we] didn’t believe we could get it in.”
In hindsight, Aliotti said, the Ducks probably could’ve gotten those substitutions in, but they didn’t feel comfortable at the time. Hindsight is something Aliotti tries to remove from his mind with regards to losses, but it’s something he said gets harder and harder to do as the years pile up.
“I think as we get older as coaches, we don’t get to savor the wins very long,” Aliotti said. “When you get a loss, it lingers a little bit longer than you like.”
To get rid of that lingering pain, he said, the Ducks have to focus on the week ahead of them.
“The best way to get whatever bad taste you have in your mouth out is to practice well, prepare well for the next game and, obviously, win that game and that will erase a lot of things,” Aliotti said.
The next game for the Ducks is this Saturday at home against Utah, and Aliotti is trying to solely focus on that game. He said he’s impressed with their quarterback, Travis Wilson, and their offense as a whole. The Utes might only be 4-5 (1-5 in the Pac-12) but Aliotti is not looking at them as a below-.500 team. After all, the Utes’ one conference win came against a pretty good opponent.
“They’re a good team,” Aliotti said of Utah. “They haven’t won a lot of games but they’re a good team. They beat Stanford.”
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Head coach Mark Helfrich announced after practice that the Ducks will no longer platoon their kickers. Freshman Matt Wogan will take over all of the kicking duties, replacing veteran Alejandro Maldonado.
Maldonado had been the primary field goal kicker this season but platooned with Wogan on extra points. Wogan handled the kickoff duties, as well.
On the season, Wogan has converted 30 of his 31 extra point attempts and his only field goal, a 38-yarder again Tennessee.
Maldonado, infamous for some costly missed kicks against Stanford in 2012 and USC in 2011, is 3-of-5 on field goal attempts, with a long of 34, and has connected on 29 of 30 extra points. He also serves as the punter.
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