Three days after their season opening victory at home against Nicholls State, the Oregon Ducks are back to business as usual at practice, full fledged into game planning for Virginia. The Cavaliers opened their season with a 19-16 win over BYU in Charlottesville, VA. Oregon and Virginia have never faced one another in their respective school histories and have very different play styles.
“They’re big guys, they’re physical dudes,” said quarterback Marcus Mariota on Virginia’s defense. “They’re gonna run down hill, they’re gonna try to stop the run and we just gotta make sure we’re on point on with that stuff and hopefully we can communicate and [it will] lead to good situations for us.” Virginia ranked in the top half of the ACC last season in total rushing yards allowed, rushing touchdowns allowed and yards per carry.
Defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti praised his defense for their efforts Saturday, but also said adjustments need to be made for this weekend at Virginia.
“My biggest fault is I wanted it to be great and not good, but I was satisfied,” Aliotti said. “We ran hard, we played hard. I didn’t have confidence in my substitutes at outside backer so [Boseko Lokombo] and Tony [Washington] played way too many snaps and I need to change that. Overall, yes, I was more pleased than displeased. We’re never gonna be 100 percent.”
“Torrodney Prevot played really well,” Aliotti said. “He might have zigged when he was supposed to zag but the end result was he made some tackles, he caused a sack and a fumble and made some tackles in the open field and played really well. So I was pleased by him.” Prevot, a freshman, recorded five total tackles, had one sack and a forced one fumble in his Oregon debut against Nicholls State.
Aliotti also addressed the challenges teams face when playing on the road for the first time in the season, adding that road games interfere with his sleep schedule.
“I think that it’ll be interesting for some of these young puppies to be playing away in an atmosphere that people don’t like you. It’s a ‘just us’ kind of mentality and we’ll see how we handle that. This team has been pretty good for the most part on the road… Virginia is coming off a good win against BYU and I’m in hopes that they’ve got our attention and that we’ll go out there and play a good game.
“As an older guy I wish the game was at 12:30 Eastern instead of 12:30 Pacific because then I’m gonna get home at about midnight and I’ll be really tired. Actually that’s the only thing I’m displeased about.”