Head Coach Mark Helfrich:
On the focus of his team
“We just touched down so that’s literally the first thing we do tonight is re-focus. We’ve got all hands on deck and we’re not missing anybody for any reason at this point. We want to get focused on winning a football game. We’re here to win a football game and have a great football experience. Anybody who has traveled this far and has spent this much money to get here wants to see a good showing on the field. So we try to get that going immediately tonight and try to get into a game-week process.”
When asked if everyone from the team made the trip
“Everybody’s expected. From a disciplinary perspective and from an academic perspective we’re good to go. We’ve got a couple of delayed flights and delayed connections here and there. Some guys are going to miss the meetings tonight, so we’ll get that going when they get here.”
On the team schedule leading up to practice tomorrow morning
“Team meeting on kind of the do’s and do’s of how we go about things. The Alamo Bowl people come and do a presentation on San Antonio and the Riverwalk and just general stuff that every bowl does. Then we split up offensively and defensively a little bit, we’ll lift, charge the system a little bit and then go to bed. Then we’ll get up, get on central time and get our bearings.”
On expected behavior of the team while in San Antonio
“There’s no difference whether we’re in Eugene, Oregon, San Antonio, Texas or London, England. We’re going to represent our team and represent ourselves and all those things go hand in hand. We don’t have a separate set of rules for bowl week and guys need to behave like Men of Oregon and do everything that that entails.”
When asked if the absence of TCU wide receiver Josh Doctson changes the Ducks’ defensive gameplan
“Not too much. He’s a dynamic, dynamic player but we’re focused on ourselves. There’s certain things they do and he does that are unique challenges, but we need to defend their team. Obviously, (Trevone) Boykin presents a tremendous amount of problems himself.”
On TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin
“There’s not really anyone like him in the Pac-12 this year. He’s not a huge guy in stature as a passer and what they do. But then he can really throw it and really run. He’s an elite passer, he’s an elite runner and they have a great system.”
When asked if he could compare Boykin to a single-wing tailback
“Well he throws a lot better than most single-wing tailbacks I’ve seen. That’s what makes him a unique threat. He’s just that total package. There’s not anybody that we’ve faced that’s really like him. He’s kind of like Vernon (Adams Jr.) as a passer, but a much more dynamic runner in how they approach it. We haven’t faced anyone like that this year.”
When asked about play-calling duties between him and assistant coach Matt Lubick
“Yeah, we’ll talk about in the next couple of days. It’s gone really well. You have to go with what your guys do really well and do it with confidence. Certainly we’re going to have a few changes with this much time to prepare. With them (TCU) having a few more bodies healthy they’re going to change. We have to be able to deal.”
When asked if he and his team are excited to be back in Texas for the third straight bowl game
“We’re definitely excited. We’re playing football. We get to do that together and not everybody gets to do that. This is an honor to be in San Antonio, this is an awesome bowl experience. It’s ironic to be in a situation to be playing four bowls in three years and having three of those four bowls be in one state, it’s new. There’s so many bowls now in Texas, I think there’s at least two or three today alone.”
When asked if he and his team are excited to be playing TCU in their home state
“It’s exciting until you watch film and realize how good they are. Coach (Gary) Patterson has done a phenomenal job. They are so good, so sound, so tough, and physical in every phase. Their special teams are elite, they’ve got world-class speed on offense, on defense and on special teams. The guys doing it are very and the guys coaching them are very good.”
On Darren Carrington’s relationship with deceased New Mexico football player Markel Byrd
“You do exactly that, you reach out. Tyree Robinson and he were childhood friends as well as Darren. It’s just an incredibly sad and unfortunate situation. You’re sitting there talking about things that matter like family and spending time with loved ones. Then something like that happens and it just shows how important this time is with your team, your family, and your loved ones. We’ll absolutely talk about it and we’ve already talked about it but it’s an unfortunate situation. But it’s another opportunity for a bit of a life lesson to realize how lucky we all are.”
When asked if he expects a high-scoring game
“Well I know every time anybody says that it makes the defenses really unhappy. I know my defense is prepared and I know Coach Patterson’s defense will be prepared. We’re bringing a whatever-it-takes mentality. We’re playing on the road, there’s no question about that. It’s going to be a hostile environment from our standpoint against a very good opponent. It doesn’t matter what the score is. I’ll take 3-2, even though I’ll be disappointed in the offensive output I’ll still take it.”
When asked if Oregon uses uniforms as recruiting tools
“It has become a recruiting tool. That’s something that I think is what we used to be known for. Our players are involved in that process a lot. I hope it’s the guys in the helmets that everybody talks about. But if that’s something that gets us in the conversation of recruiting and gets us in the conversation then we’ll take that too.”
When asked if he feels comfortable with his offensive gameplan
“It looks great on paper right now but it’s all about the players being able to execute with confidence. Again, that’s what we’ll do in the next coming week is just edit out rather than add to. Coaches always have this great idea on Saturday morning and put it into play but it ends up being garbage. But our guy had some really productive training sessions in Eugene and now we’ll come back down and here and just go through it again. We’ll do it twice in terms of our normal gameplan cycle.”
On the focus of his team
“We just touched down so that’s literally the first thing we do tonight is re-focus. We’ve got all hands on deck and we’re not missing anybody for any reason at this point. We want to get focused on winning a football game. We’re here to win a football game and have a great football experience. Anybody who has traveled this far and has spent this much money to get here wants to see a good showing on the field. So we try to get that going immediately tonight and try to get into a game-week process.”
When asked if everyone from the team made the trip
“Everybody’s expected. From a disciplinary perspective and from an academic perspective we’re good to go. We’ve got a couple of delayed flights and delayed connections here and there. Some guys are going to miss the meetings tonight, so we’ll get that going when they get here.”
On the team schedule leading up to practice tomorrow morning
“Team meeting on kind of the do’s and do’s of how we go about things. The Alamo Bowl people come and do a presentation on San Antonio and the Riverwalk and just general stuff that every bowl does. Then we split up offensively and defensively a little bit, we’ll lift, charge the system a little bit and then go to bed. Then we’ll get up, get on central time and get our bearings.”
On expected behavior of the team while in San Antonio
“There’s no difference whether we’re in Eugene, Oregon, San Antonio, Texas or London, England. We’re going to represent our team and represent ourselves and all those things go hand in hand. We don’t have a separate set of rules for bowl week and guys need to behave like Men of Oregon and do everything that that entails.”
When asked if the absence of TCU wide receiver Josh Doctson changes the Ducks’ defensive gameplan
“Not too much. He’s a dynamic, dynamic player but we’re focused on ourselves. There’s certain things they do and he does that are unique challenges, but we need to defend their team. Obviously, (Trevone) Boykin presents a tremendous amount of problems himself.”
On TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin
“There’s not really anyone like him in the Pac-12 this year. He’s not a huge guy in stature as a passer and what they do. But then he can really throw it and really run. He’s an elite passer, he’s an elite runner and they have a great system.”
When asked if he could compare Boykin to a single-wing tailback
“Well he throws a lot better than most single-wing tailbacks I’ve seen. That’s what makes him a unique threat. He’s just that total package. There’s not anybody that we’ve faced that’s really like him. He’s kind of like Vernon (Adams Jr.) as a passer, but a much more dynamic runner in how they approach it. We haven’t faced anyone like that this year.”
When asked about play-calling duties between him and assistant coach Matt Lubick
“Yeah, we’ll talk about in the next couple of days. It’s gone really well. You have to go with what your guys do really well and do it with confidence. Certainly we’re going to have a few changes with this much time to prepare. With them (TCU) having a few more bodies healthy they’re going to change. We have to be able to deal.”
When asked if he and his team are excited to be back in Texas for the third straight bowl game
“We’re definitely excited. We’re playing football. We get to do that together and not everybody gets to do that. This is an honor to be in San Antonio, this is an awesome bowl experience. It’s ironic to be in a situation to be playing four bowls in three years and having three of those four bowls be in one state, it’s new. There’s so many bowls now in Texas, I think there’s at least two or three today alone.”
When asked if he and his team are excited to be playing TCU in their home state
“It’s exciting until you watch film and realize how good they are. Coach (Gary) Patterson has done a phenomenal job. They are so good, so sound, so tough, and physical in every phase. Their special teams are elite, they’ve got world-class speed on offense, on defense and on special teams. The guys doing it are very and the guys coaching them are very good.”
On Darren Carrington’s relationship with deceased New Mexico football player Markel Byrd
“You do exactly that, you reach out. Tyree Robinson and he were childhood friends as well as Darren. It’s just an incredibly sad and unfortunate situation. You’re sitting there talking about things that matter like family and spending time with loved ones. Then something like that happens and it just shows how important this time is with your team, your family, and your loved ones. We’ll absolutely talk about it and we’ve already talked about it but it’s an unfortunate situation. But it’s another opportunity for a bit of a life lesson to realize how lucky we all are.”
When asked if he expects a high-scoring game
“Well I know every time anybody says that it makes the defenses really unhappy. I know my defense is prepared and I know Coach Patterson’s defense will be prepared. We’re bringing a whatever-it-takes mentality. We’re playing on the road, there’s no question about that. It’s going to be a hostile environment from our standpoint against a very good opponent. It doesn’t matter what the score is. I’ll take 3-2, even though I’ll be disappointed in the offensive output I’ll still take it.”
When asked if Oregon uses uniforms as recruiting tools
“It has become a recruiting tool. That’s something that I think is what we used to be known for. Our players are involved in that process a lot. I hope it’s the guys in the helmets that everybody talks about. But if that’s something that gets us in the conversation of recruiting and gets us in the conversation then we’ll take that too.”
When asked if he feels comfortable with his offensive gameplan
“It looks great on paper right now but it’s all about the players being able to execute with confidence. Again, that’s what we’ll do in the next coming week is just edit out rather than add to. Coaches always have this great idea on Saturday morning and put it into play but it ends up being garbage. But our guy had some really productive training sessions in Eugene and now we’ll come back down and here and just go through it again. We’ll do it twice in terms of our normal gameplan cycle.”
