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Opening comments ...
"Really exciting week for us here. Super pumped about the crowd that we're about to see in Autzen. I think there's a lot of excitement surrounding this game, I know our players are really pumped to get out there. I think Coach Sanders has done a great job -- obviously this team, he's created a lot of momentum and they've done phenomenal in their first three games. So this will be a fun one for us."
How do you feel about the Pac-12's early success?
"Yeah, I think there's a lot of great teams in the conference and I think that's really evident with how they've performed outside of the conference, right? We've talked to our players about, hey, preseason's over. You've been playing opposing conferences, other teams, but now this is when we get in the meat and potatoes of what really matters to us and the goals we want to accomplish. There's some great teams. I think we'll continue to see that each week. I think we have a really tough schedule and certainly a tough opponent coming up here this week."
What accountability do you plan for the penalties -- would you take Bo out of a game for a delay of game?
"If it was their fault -- it wasn't their fault. It's a coaching error, something we've got to improve."
Travis Hunter won't be playing this game, but what have you thought of him so far?
"Yeah, he's a special player. I absolutely hate that for Travis. He's a dynamic kid, he's got a special personality and obviously is tremendous on the football field and he certainly gave them an edge. So I hope he gets healthy soon. I hate to not to get to see him play in this game because he's meant for a stage like this -- the stage that we're going to have this Saturday."
What stands on film about Colorado?
"Sean Lewis, their offensive coordinator, does a phenomenal job. He creates a lot of issues. They're the fastest-pace team in our conference, they're obviously passing for a ton of yards, their quarterback is playing as well as anybody right now and he has a really good grasp of their system. I think they do a really good job of connecting on balls down the field, having a lot of changeups, creating some efficiencies in their offense with the tempo that they move with. Defensively, Coach Kelly does a great job. We're kind of cut from the same tree as far as philosophy and how he operates. I think they're playing well within their scheme. They understand their strengths, their weaknesses, they understand how to utilize their players and I think that shows up throughout the film for them."
How do you go about stopping their receivers Weaver and Horn?
"Yeah, they both really, really talented. They're really good. They're people we have to be aware of on every snap and they're certainly not the only ones. Their running back right now is a guy that we recruited out of Derby, Kansas, and he'll probably be the fastest man on the field almost every time he's on the field if not every time he's on the field on Saturday. He's got elite speed. Weaver's been performing at a very high level, but they're dynamic, we've got to make sure we know where those threats are at and we can take care of them."
How similar is what Charles Kelly is running defensively to what you run now?
"There's similarities, but it's certainly not the same. There's definitely things that we've modified that they don't do, and there's certainly some things that we do that they don't do. But there's definitely some similarities."
What's made Sanders such a good quarterback?
"I think he always keeps his eyes downfield and looking for opportunities to find open receivers, and that's something his wideouts have done a great job of. He's had several scramble opportunities, but I would describe him as a guy that scrambles to throw and not necessarily scramble to run. But when he has to run with his feet, he can. He's extended plays, and when you extend plays it's hard to cover for a long time. So we have to do a good job of not allowing him to extend plays but also make sure we plaster guys in the back end when he does."
Cole Martin moved around this last week in the secondary -- is that trying to find the best fit for him or utilizing his versatility more?
"Combination of both. We talk about always, we want to multi-train players at multiple positions so we can always have their strengths. Cole's a really good football player regardless of what position we put him at, and just trying to figure out where he can help us and making sure we can have our best 11 on the field."
What are your thoughts on the linebackers?
"I think they've gotten a lot better game to game. There's been a lot of improvements in general just in our tackling and execution. I think they've been really good communicators as a whole -- they're really the signal-callers on your defense. Certainly some more levels of growth for them, but I won't get into specifics on things that they can get better. They know exactly what I expect from them."
How do you assess Will Stein through three games?
"Yeah, I think our coaching staff's done a phenomenal job just in general in adjustments and understanding what we want to accomplish, but even better at having a critical eye themselves of where they can improve the next week, right? I think that's the best things we do is how we approach a Sunday and not looking at just the result or the scoreboard but looking at where we can improve moving forward. Will and everybody on the offensive staff, and Tosh and everybody on the defensive staff, and special teams with Joe, I think all units have really done a good job of that."
What impressed you the most about how Colorado closed out that win over Colorado State?
"Yeah, I think it shows resiliency. You look at every single season for every team, teams that have success, there's going to be moments of adversity throughout the season -- you can't flinch. And they didn't flinch in that moment. They had some belief all the way through, and it certainly carried over at the end of the game."
What do you think is off on the deep shots so far?
"I think it's a small sample we'll get better at. We've got to create that in practice more, which we did today. We worked on shots downfield a little bit more today in practice and it's something we want to be able to execute at a high level."
Their defense has forced 10 turnovers, what's made them effective in that way?
"Yeah, they're a havoc team, right? They find ways to make sure their players have good vision of the ball, right? They have some instinctive players that play with a level of aggressiveness that you can see, and they do some challenging things that are going to create that."
What have you seen from Patrick Herbert's emergence?
"What he's proven is he's a guy we can trust on the field to execute at a high level and do his job. He's always very assignment-sound, and he's done some great things when he's gotten the ball in his hands or when he's challenging for an opportunity to go get a block. Really, that entire tight end unit I'm really proud of. I know there was a moment in the game on Saturday where I went up to Terrance and I gave him a hard time about a catch or something, and he goes, 'Coach, I don't care about any catches -- I just want to control the C gap.' And when you start hearing your players talk about things like that, start saying the right things about what they want to accomplish for their team and it doesn't necessarily matter who gets the glory or who gets the praise, I think that unit's a great example of guys taking care of their job and doing what they have to do for the team."
Do you think there is anything in your locker room that make this matchup personal?
"Umm, that's a good question, I don't know. I think every game is different. I'm sure Nikko wants to go out there and perform really well. He doesn't have to make the moment any bigger, but I think the reality is our team just wants to go out there and perform well every time they touch the field. I don't know if that really answers the question. I can't speak to somebody else's feelings."
Brenden Schooler had an impressive field goal block for the Patriots -- did you see that and is that something you can incorporate?
"That was the short motion one in, right? Yeah, I did see it on Twitter. Maybe, we'll see. I hope they don't go on two, right? Or change up the cadence. That might make it a bit harder, but it feels like they had a good beat on what that's going to look like. We always like to see our Ducks have success."
Given how Deion Sanders has utilized bulletin board material, do you regret at all what you said at media day back in August?
"No, I don't regret anything that I've said for this program. At the end of the day, obviously I wasn't talking about Deion's team -- I was talking about the past and the future for our team. But if that serves as material for them, great, right? I don't think it's going to have any bearing on the game or the success of the game."
Is there an unusual component to this matchup because you might not play them again for a long time?
"It doesn't change the way you prep or play. It really changes postgame prep, right? When you're know you're playing a team again, I think you take different notes after the game, but no, it doesn't really change much beyond that."
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