Marcus Mariota, announced as the Pac-12 Player of the Week for his performance in Oregon’s 46-27 win over Michigan State, gave about the perfect synopsis about what he and this team continue to embody moving forward week by week at the end of his post-game press conference Saturday.
“We’re 2-0.”
That’s as far as the redshirt senior would go, and the do-everything quarterback as well as the rest of this Oregon team transitioned into preparing for Wyoming this week on Monday.
“Our mentality is still the same,” Mariota said. “I thought this practice was one of the better ones we’ve had this year and its a token to our team. Our attitude won’t change and you just got to continue to get better and look forward to another one Saturday.”
What Mariota and co. will be looking forward to is an undefeated Wyoming team under first year head coach Craig Bohl. Bohl, who took the job this past offseason, is in his first head coaching gig at the FBS level after winning three consecutive national championships at the FCS level with North Dakota State.
It will be a much different task though for Bohl heading into Autzen Stadium against a team with the flash the Ducks possess this Saturday for an 11 a.m. start.
“Going into an environment like Oregon, that’s a tough place to play,” Bohl said in the Mountain West Coaches Teleconference Monday.
“I think the biggest thing for us, we need to control the football offensively,” he continued. “Thats going to be a point of emphasis number one. Number two, we need to be very assignment oriented.”
Oregon’s offensive line will take on a bit of turnover once again after Andre Yruretagoyena exit in last week’s contest. True freshman Tyrell Crosby handled the spot in his position and by all accounts played up to par with the rest of the offense.
“Nothing phases him,” said offensive line coach Steve Greatwood. “I thought he did very well. For a true freshman to go in there in that situation and perform against a caliber of opponent that he did, I was very pleased with his performance.”
Greatwood also praised Crosby’s overall athleticism and length, calling him someone that was born to play the tackle position. He had no intentions of throwing him into a marquee matchup like the one he found himself playing in though, which had the 6-foot-5, 310-pound lineman undoubtedly tense.
“At first I was pretty nervous,” Crosby said. “After the first few plays I just realized, don’t be nervous, I know what I’m doing and don’t let the pressure get to you.”
It obviously worked and the freshman was able to play a part in a second half resurgence within the rushing attack.
“He came in for a true freshman in a game like that and buckled down and played well,” Mariota said. “I’m proud of that guy, he didn’t really have the big wide-eyed freshman eyes. He kind of came in and just settled in.”
With depth being such a positive for the wide receiving corps, it seems as of now that the offensive line is working in an identical fashion. With two depleting injuries to offensive tackles on the team, Greatwood is now bringing in a player he would have liked to “keep under the shelf” for a year, but has enough confidence to put into the game.
Follow Justin Wise on Twitter @JWISE25