OPENING STATEMENT
Our guys came out today and there was a lot of good football played tonight. I’m really excited and proud of the steps forward we took in a lot of areas. One of the things we talk about all the time is before you learn how to win, you’ve got to keep from losing. When you turn the ball over five times and commit nine penalties, that’s what’s going to happen.
I think Oregon’s a really good football team, as we know. They’re the No. 3 team in the country and rightfully so. They’ve won every game and they’ve won them well. We had a great battle going and had some opportunities. You look at some of the plays that were unfortunately not made for us, we had a throwback in the kick return, it’s a 65 yard return and we wind up not being on the details. There’s a lot of positives with the way our guys competed. We’re not a moral victory team, but what we are is a team that strives to get better every day and I do believe we got better today than we were yesterday.
Q. The vibe of the team when it was a five-point game going into the fourth quarter…
COACH FISCH: The vibe all the way through was, we’re in this football game and it’s the kind of game we wanted to play. We talked the whole week about how we thought the game was going to go and we said that in the start of the fourth quarter it was going to be a one-score game. Whether it be for us or for them, it’s going to be a one-score game, and then we’re going to let it roll and see what it looks like.
They’re very good, they’re very, very good. We gave them the ball in bad spots and they were able to rip off some beautiful runs. They’ve got some great players. Mario’s done a great job. He’s been here since 2017 when he came as the O-line coach and he’s recruited extremely well and built this program up, and they’re a force to be reckoned with.
Q. The things to build off of from this game…
COACH FISCH: We came into Autzen stadium against the No. 3 team in the country and it was a five-point game going into the fourth quarter. We rushed for over 200 yards, threw for over 200 yards. Jordan was able to call a lot of plays and that’s a lot of repetitions that he took. I wasn’t going to take him out and not let him finish the game. I like the way we controlled the ball in terms of time of possession, that’s a big thing for us. If we can be physical and get rid of these negative plays, tackles for losses and be able to run the football, good things are going to come.
But right now, we saw the standard in the Pac-12. We saw what it looks like, we saw what it looks like when you recruit the way they recruit for the amount of years they’ve recruited. Pretty impressive.
Q. Jordan McCloud’s performance…
COACH FISCH: Jordan’s our best quarterback and that’s why we started him. Jordan will remain our starter and he’ll play as long as he stays healthy. The more we were with him, the more he understood the system. The biggest concern I had going into the season was he only got here in training camp and we didn’t have him in the spring like we did the other two. His poise – this is a hard environment – we’re at the University of Oregon and it’s their first Pac-12 game. We come out and throw an interception on the first play, and then go down 10-0, but we respond and make it 10-7. Then we just continue to go, and he’s had the poise to keep on battling. He was never afraid to throw the football, I’m sure he’s really upset right now and I hate that for him. Those things happen and we’re going to grow from it and get better. He’s our best player at that position and that’s why we played him.”
Q. The season-high in rush yards…
COACH FISCH: Our guys are becoming more and more comfortable with the scheme. They’re becoming more and more comfortable with what we’re trying to accomplish. The runners ran with a sense of purpose today and you could see there was a discipline in the run. You can see sometimes in a zone running scheme like we run, you have to have a discipline. You have to have the discipline to know when to bounce it outside and I feel like with reps and opportunities, they’re getting better at it.
Q. The safety…
COACH FISCH: I’m still a little salty about the interception. We can’t miss on a corner route in that spot and we kind of lobbed it in there. Then I just ran to the huddle and said ‘a safety would be beautiful right now, boys’ and not only did they give it to us, but we responded with a touchdown in the same way it happened in the BYU game. That was really good. I think we’re a healthy football team going into the bye week. We’re going to put some shoulder pads on and we’re going to treat this thing as a way to get better.
Our guys came out today and there was a lot of good football played tonight. I’m really excited and proud of the steps forward we took in a lot of areas. One of the things we talk about all the time is before you learn how to win, you’ve got to keep from losing. When you turn the ball over five times and commit nine penalties, that’s what’s going to happen.
I think Oregon’s a really good football team, as we know. They’re the No. 3 team in the country and rightfully so. They’ve won every game and they’ve won them well. We had a great battle going and had some opportunities. You look at some of the plays that were unfortunately not made for us, we had a throwback in the kick return, it’s a 65 yard return and we wind up not being on the details. There’s a lot of positives with the way our guys competed. We’re not a moral victory team, but what we are is a team that strives to get better every day and I do believe we got better today than we were yesterday.
Q. The vibe of the team when it was a five-point game going into the fourth quarter…
COACH FISCH: The vibe all the way through was, we’re in this football game and it’s the kind of game we wanted to play. We talked the whole week about how we thought the game was going to go and we said that in the start of the fourth quarter it was going to be a one-score game. Whether it be for us or for them, it’s going to be a one-score game, and then we’re going to let it roll and see what it looks like.
They’re very good, they’re very, very good. We gave them the ball in bad spots and they were able to rip off some beautiful runs. They’ve got some great players. Mario’s done a great job. He’s been here since 2017 when he came as the O-line coach and he’s recruited extremely well and built this program up, and they’re a force to be reckoned with.
Q. The things to build off of from this game…
COACH FISCH: We came into Autzen stadium against the No. 3 team in the country and it was a five-point game going into the fourth quarter. We rushed for over 200 yards, threw for over 200 yards. Jordan was able to call a lot of plays and that’s a lot of repetitions that he took. I wasn’t going to take him out and not let him finish the game. I like the way we controlled the ball in terms of time of possession, that’s a big thing for us. If we can be physical and get rid of these negative plays, tackles for losses and be able to run the football, good things are going to come.
But right now, we saw the standard in the Pac-12. We saw what it looks like, we saw what it looks like when you recruit the way they recruit for the amount of years they’ve recruited. Pretty impressive.
Q. Jordan McCloud’s performance…
COACH FISCH: Jordan’s our best quarterback and that’s why we started him. Jordan will remain our starter and he’ll play as long as he stays healthy. The more we were with him, the more he understood the system. The biggest concern I had going into the season was he only got here in training camp and we didn’t have him in the spring like we did the other two. His poise – this is a hard environment – we’re at the University of Oregon and it’s their first Pac-12 game. We come out and throw an interception on the first play, and then go down 10-0, but we respond and make it 10-7. Then we just continue to go, and he’s had the poise to keep on battling. He was never afraid to throw the football, I’m sure he’s really upset right now and I hate that for him. Those things happen and we’re going to grow from it and get better. He’s our best player at that position and that’s why we played him.”
Q. The season-high in rush yards…
COACH FISCH: Our guys are becoming more and more comfortable with the scheme. They’re becoming more and more comfortable with what we’re trying to accomplish. The runners ran with a sense of purpose today and you could see there was a discipline in the run. You can see sometimes in a zone running scheme like we run, you have to have a discipline. You have to have the discipline to know when to bounce it outside and I feel like with reps and opportunities, they’re getting better at it.
Q. The safety…
COACH FISCH: I’m still a little salty about the interception. We can’t miss on a corner route in that spot and we kind of lobbed it in there. Then I just ran to the huddle and said ‘a safety would be beautiful right now, boys’ and not only did they give it to us, but we responded with a touchdown in the same way it happened in the BYU game. That was really good. I think we’re a healthy football team going into the bye week. We’re going to put some shoulder pads on and we’re going to treat this thing as a way to get better.
