09/28/17 Emerald Media - Gameday Edition

GAMEDAY

WAKE UP CALL

THE DUCKS’ SEASON STARTED 3-0, but the close loss to Arizona State is a wake-up call to avoid the same fate as last season.

P L AY E R S T O WAT C H V S C A L



FREEM AN WEIGHS IN ON NFL PROTESTS



S T R E N G T H A N D C O N D I T I O N I N G P I V O TA L F O R T H E D U C K S

Let us cater your next your next tailgate!

3200 W. 11th Ave. Eugene, OR 97402 541-683-7378

1807 Olympic St. Springfield, OR 97477 541-726-1200

HoleintheWallBBQ.com

GAMEDAY GAMEDAY, the Emerald’s football edition, is published by Emerald Media Group, Inc., the independent nonprofit news company at the University of Oregon founded in 1900.

EMERALD MEDIA GROUP 1395 University St., #302, Eugene, OR 97403 541.346.5511 | dailyemerald.com

NEWSROOM Editor in Chief Jack Pitcher Art Director Emily Harris

PLUMBING HOUSEWARES ELECTRICAL HARDWARE LAWN & GARDEN TOOLS PAINT

Print Managing Editor Mateo Sundberg Sports Editors Jack Butler Gus Morris Shawn Medow Writers Maggie Vanoni Shawn Medow Zak Laster Gus Morris Jack Butler Aaron Alter Designers Regan Nelson Theo Mechain Kelly Kondo

BUSINESS President & Publisher Charlie Weaver x317 Vice President, Operations Kathy Carbone x302

2825 Willamette • Eugene, Oregon • 541-342-5191 deliver ikes and b o g r a er c ride Newspap

rald The Eme

6-8 a.m. rs u Mon & Th

G N I R I H NOW Apply in person at Suite 302, EMU or email kcarbone@dailyemerald.com PA G E 2

|

E M E R A L D G A M E D AY

|

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

ADVERTISING

Director of Sales and Marketing Lindsey Smith x303 Account Executives Carson Bieraugel Kyle Besa Ruben Estrada Alice Ligget Edith Gonzalez Dani Torrey Sam Wise

ON THE COVER

Justin Herbert sliding with the ball during the game against Nebraska on September, 9, 2017.

Photograph by Adam Eberhardt.

GAMEDAY

PLAYERS TO WATCH BY: Maggie Vanoni @maggie_vanoni

Cal Linebacker: Quarterback: Devante Downs Ross Bowers Devante Downs is Cal’s first two-time winner of the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week since 2009, placing him in the running for the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. After the first three games of the season, Downs led the conference in tackles and co-led in forced fumbles. The senior’s season is just beginning as he proves to be a force to reckon with.

Downs tied his career high with 14 tackles against USC Saturday.

At 6-foot-2-inches and 200 pounds, the 4-star ESPN recruit began his career as a mid-year enrollee at Cal in January of 2015.

After being selected for the team’s starting quarterback position less than a week before the season opener, Bowers stepped up and helped capture a victory for the Bears against North Carolina, completing 63 percent of his passes, and scoring four touchdowns for a 167.61 quarterback rating. In Saturday’s loss against USC, the redshirt sophomore threw for 303 yards and completed 44 percent of his passes.

Oregon Quarterback: Justin Herbert

Defensive End: Jalen Jelks

Justin Herbert’s second career start was against Cal last year, where he tied the school’s single game record for most touchdown passes.

Fast forward to this year, and Herbert is one of Oregon’s candidates for the Heisman. With six minutes and 41 seconds to go in Saturday’s loss against Arizona State, Herbert gave the Ducks their first and only lead of the game with a rushing touchdown. He finished the game completing 19-of-35 passes for 281 yards, three touchdowns and all without an interception. The sophomore is averaging a 68.3 percent passing completion for the season’s first four games.

Even though Saturday’s game against Arizona State ended with a loss for the Ducks, junior Jalen Jelks had a noteworthy night with personal bests of eight total tackles with five tackles for loss and an addition of three sacks. Jelks has a total of 17 tackles this season after the team’s first four games — an amount that is over half of his total from the 2016 season. Last year’s game against Cal resulted in a then-career-high for Jelks of seven tackles.

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

|

E M E R A L D G A M E D AY

|

PA G E 3

GAMEDAY

DEEP DIVE: GETTING TO KNOW CAL BY: Zak Laster @zlast3445 PHOTO: Adam Eberhardt The Oregon Ducks play the California Bears at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, Calif. on Oct. 21, 2016

PA G E 4

|

E M E R A L D G A M E D AY

|

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

Oregon suffered its first loss of the Willie Taggart era in a 37-35 defeat to Arizona State on Saturday. The team will be looking to bounce back against one of the early surprise teams in the Pac-12: the California Golden Bears this Saturday night at Autzen Stadium.

The Golden Bears went undefeated during a challenging nonconference schedule. The season began with a road game against North Carolina, then Weber State and Mississippi at home.

Like the Ducks, California also opened their conference schedule last week with a loss to the No. 5 USC Trojans in a game that California quarterback Ross Bowers would like to forget. He’s coming off his worst game of the season during which he threw four interceptions and lost two fumbles. Through four games, he’s thrown for 1,102 yards and has six touchdowns, but eight interceptions.

Joining Bowers in the backfield will be a duo of running backs that have shared the workload this season. Look for Vic Enwere and Patrick Laird to contribute on Saturday.

Laird enters the game as the team’s leading running back, but that was largely due to him running all over Weber State. Enwere has been better against the Golden Bears’ Power-5 opponents.

When looking to throw, Bowers has a main target: Vic Wharton III. His best game came in the season opener against the Tar Heels

when he caught five passes for 156 yards and a touchdown. Kanawai Noa is coming off his best game of the season, catching six passes for 110 yards against the Trojans but was kept out of the end zone.

Oregon fans will see some familiar faces on the opposing sidelines on Saturday. Bears head coach Justin Wilcox attended nearby Junction City High School, leading them to the state title in 1995. He then played four years as a defensive back for the Ducks.

Saturday will be the fifth different school he’s coached against the Ducks with, but the first as head coach.

Wilcox loaded his coaching staff with former head coaches as well as former Oregon coaches. California’s offensive line coach is longtime Oregon assistant coach Steve Greatwood. The team’s defensive line coach Jerry Azzinaro coached at Oregon for three years with Chip Kelly before departing with him to the NFL. Additionally, former Eastern Washington head coach Beau Baldwin, who coached former Duck quarterback Vernon Adams, left his head coaching job to serve as the Golden Bears’ offensive coordinator.

After Cal, wins may be hard to come by as Oregon’s next five opponents have a combined record of 14-4. Oregon’s bowl game hopes may rely on picking up a win on Saturday and spoiling Wilcox’s return home.

GAMEDAY

ROYCE FREEMAN SPEAKS OUT

Royce Freeman (21).

Connecting the Silicon Shire to the Silicon Valley

BY: Gus Morris @JustGusMorris PHOTO: Adam Eberhardt No matter how hard he tries, Royce Freeman can’t escape the endless cycle of news about American politics.

He sees it whenever he turns on his television or logs on to Twitter.

He doesn’t always like what he finds, but that partially changed over the weekend as he watched a wave of protests from NFL players, coaches and owners following harsh comments from President Donald Trump about NFL players who protested during the national anthem.

“I mean, I think it’s great,” Freeman said. “I think it’s great that the NFL is unifying. I saw a lot of unification of people of different social and economic background. And seeing that come together — whether it’s GMs, owners, players — it really touched my heart.

“I think it’s a problem that needs to be brought to the forefront, and a lot of guys are contributing to it and want to see changes made,” he continued.

In an appearance at a rally in Alabama last Saturday, Trump said that NFL players who protested during the national anthem should be “fired” and called any players that did a “son of a bitch.”

This issue first arose in 2016 when then-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, knelt during the national anthem as a way to bring attention to what he viewed as the oppression of people of color. Since then, kneeling during the national anthem has gained nationwide recognition and hit an all-time high on Sunday following Trump’s comments.

The issue of politics in sports has long been a polarizing issue, with many claiming that athletes should “stick to sports” while others say that they should use their platform to help create change.

Nonstop EUG to San Jose

Oregon head coach Willie Taggart has made clear that he wants to avoid talking about politics and instead focus on the product on the field. But Taggart has said that he’s discussed political issues with players. He says his main goal in these discussions is to make sure his players are educated on world events.

“If it’s something that’s affecting our team, or anyone, we’re going to talk about it and try do what’s best for our team and make sure we’re educated on what’s going on,” Taggart said when asked about the NFL protests at his press conference on Monday.

“The most important thing is that we continue to educate our young people.”

In an Oregonian story published two weeks ago, several players disagreed with the aspect of “sticking to sports.”

“As athletes, we should take advantage of our platform and speak on social injustice that’s going on,” senior cornerback Arrion Springs told the Oregonian. “Instead of us being silent, we should speak out about it.

“I’m on my Twitter all the time, and I see all the feed and stuff that’s going on, it’s kind of hard for me to ignore it because it could happen to me. Why would I ignore what’s happening?”

Protests made it to college football last year when three Nebraska players knelt during the national anthem.

Oregon isn’t on the field for the national anthem at Autzen Stadium, but Springs told the Oregonian that if the team was, he’s sure that numerous players, including himself, would kneel.

It doesn’t seem like protests in the NFL will end anytime soon. And as long as it’s still an issue, don’t expect Oregon’s athletes to simply stick to sports.

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

|

E M E R A L D G A M E D AY

|

PA G E 5

COVER

After loss, Ducks look to bounce back

Oregon Ducks quarterback Justin Herbert (10) makes a pass during the first half.

(Adam Eberhardt)

BY: Jack Butler, Shawn Medow and Gus Morris With 15 seconds to play in Tempe, Oregon football needed to get into field goal range in hopes of pulling off a comeback win against Arizona State.

On 4th-and-10 on the Ducks side of the field, quarterback Justin Herbert took the snap, looked up and threw the ball up the middle to a seemingly open Jacob Breeland, who was unable to make the catch. Herbert slouched down, put his hands on his knees and dropped his head.

Oregon, which had been 14-point favorites entering the game, lost its perfect 3-0 record against the unranked, 1-2 Sun Devils. The Ducks promising start had hit an unexpected snag that quieted many of the voices claiming that Oregon was back.

In short, it was a wake up call.

“It was definitely a big eye-opener because it gave us a sense of you can’t take any team lightly, PA G E 6

|

E M E R A L D G A M E D AY

|

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

regardless of how they look on film or anything like that,” running back Tony Brooks-James said.

The goal for Oregon now is to keep this loss from snowballing into a situation like last year’s.

In 2016, two victories over UC Davis and Virginia were quickly forgotten as Oregon went on to lose five straight games before finishing the season 4-8, its worst finish since 1991.

Fast-forward to 2017, and the Ducks are in a more promising, yet familiar position. Oregon logged several convincing wins to open the season, but a disappointing showing against a lesser opponent is an ominous way to start conference play. Another losing streak in the Pac-12 could doom Oregon’s season as the toughest stretch of its schedule approaches.

“We’ll look at [last season] and learn from what we did wrong last year,” quarterback Justin Herbert said. “Coach Taggart, we trust him

completely, and he’ll get us in the right position.”

In the days leading up to the Arizona State game, Oregon head coach Willie Taggart said that ASU was going to be the most athletic team it had faced so far.

That was no lie as Arizona State shut down Oregon’s running game and outran the Ducks’ defense, especially early in the first and third quarters. The Sun Devils scored 17 points in the first quarter, 14 in the third and held a 31-28 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Oregon scored 42 points in the first half of each of its previous three games but was limited to only 14 points in the first half against the Sun Devils. ASU quickly scored two touchdowns after halftime, and the game seemed like it would become a blowout.

“I think we just came out unfocused and unprepared, as far as with the mindset that we

“...YOU CAN’T LET ONE GAME BE A SETBACK FOR THE WHOLE SEASON.” ROYCE FREEMAN

needed to go out there and handle business,” running back Royce Freeman told reporters. “Just need to lock in a little bit more and start on a better foot.”

Oregon did bounce back in the game and inevitably took the lead late in the fourth quarter.

“I thought we responded well,” Taggart told reporters postgame. “We got ourselves back in it and took the lead in the fourth quarter. I was really impressed with our football team by doing that and not giving up. They fought and took the lead. We just didn’t finish it off at the end.”

But it was the sloppiness in the beginning of the game, and the penalties throughout, that hurt the Ducks. So how do they stop the mistakes, and ultimately avoiding the same fate as last season?

For one, Taggart wants to bring back the energy in the game and on the sideline. He consistently talked about bringing “the juice,” which he said his players lacked early in the game.

“Again, I put that on me,” Taggart said. “I didn’t put as much emphasis on that during the week like I had been in prior weeks. Our football team is not to the stage where they just do it all the time. We’ve got to continue to stress the message and how important it is to have energy on the sideline the entire game.”

Home games can provide the energy that a team lacks. The “Swag surfin’” song and a dance Oregon adopted during kickoffs is better when the music is blasting over the Autzen speakers. The roar of Autzen fans can be contagious.

The Ducks are home for the next two weeks, which could help remedy issues like energy. However, Taggart also blamed a lack of execution for some of the struggles throughout the game. The players are confident that they can stop any kind of negative snowball effect.

“We just really gotta lock into the little things and still play like us,” Brooks-James said. “Just come out and execute our plays and our assignments and get back into our usual rhythm.”

Oregon’s 14 penalties for 99 yards is also an indicator that the team was unfocused. Penalties

Oregon running back Royce Freeman (21) evades a horde of Nebraska Cornhuskers defenders. (Adam Eberhardt)

killed any momentum Oregon gained throughout the game against the Sun Devils.

“I told our team after the game, ‘We’re not good enough to beat ourselves and try to win Pac-12 games,’” Taggart said. “We’ve got to play clean ball games and not have too many penalties and dropped balls and expect to win those games.”

The penalties were correlated with Oregon going 1-for-11 on third down, a departure from the success on third down it experienced through the first three games of the season. The failure to get first downs is a worrying sign, but it can easily be brushed aside as simply a fluke.

Converting third downs will come when the efficiency on the first two downs improve. Oregon elected to throw the ball more than it had in past games.

Herbert threw the ball 35 a season-high times against ASU but only completed 19 of those attempts. Against Southern Utah, he went 17-of-21,

against Nebraska he went 25-of-33 and against Wyoming, Herbert completed 18-of-29.

Many times, he was forced to take the issue into his own hands. He elected to run the ball ten times, another season-high, when he couldn’t find an open receiver. The absence of wide receiver Charles Nelson certainly didn’t help.

“Charles is an excellent player and we miss him, but we’ve got to get the guys behind him ready to go,” Herbert told reporters after the loss. “We can’t just pack up the tent, we’ve got to get the guys ready to go.”

Oregon’s players are confident that they can bounce back on Saturday against Cal. They’ve been in a similar situation before, and will look to that experience to not repeat past mistakes.

“I think we’re still headed in the right direction,” Freeman said. “I mean you can’t let one game be a setback for the whole season. You can’t let it define your season. You can’t let it define your team.”

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

|

E M E R A L D G A M E D AY

|

PA G E 7

GAMEDAY

THE TALE OF TWO HALVES BY: Shawn Medow @ShawnMedow PHOTO: Phillip Quinn

After Oregon thumped Southern Utah 77-21 in the 2017 season opener, the Ducks started a trend that would plague them in second halves to come.

Oregon failed to score in the second half against Nebraska after putting up 42 points by halftime. Then the Ducks managed a mere 10 points in the second half in a win at Wyoming.

The inconsistency finally hurt Oregon when the Ducks lost 37-35 in Tempe, AZ to Arizona State. After scoring 126 total first-half points in the first three games, the Ducks had only 14 points at halftime and trailed by three. They scored 21 points in the second half but could not win. The tale of two halves for the Ducks’ season came back to bite them in their first loss of the year.

“I think any game where you go in and you don’t play like you want to, you look at what you’re doing well and what you’re not

PRE- GAME. PRE- ROLL. PREPARE.

JUST DOOBIE

doing well and you try to correct it,” head coach Willie Taggart said. “You can’t say it was a fluke — every game’s different.”

The Ducks were positive after the win over Wyoming. They put up a third consecutive 42-point first half, they contained the highly-touted Cowboy quarterback Josh Allen and they didn’t struggle in the high altitude.

When the second half rolled around, it was the storyline of the season once again.

The only points for the Ducks in the second half came off a Kani Benoit 4-yard rush in the fourth quarter.

Oregon didn’t have to worry about scoring in the second half because they shut down Allen’s offense. But for the offense, it wasn’t entirely impressive.

“It improved, you know. Certainly we moved the ball a little bit better,” offensive coordinator Mario Cristobal said about Oregon’s second-half offense. “Execution

September is coming to an end...

BLOW OUT END OF THE MONTH SALE!

Save through September 30th FLOWER POWER . . . $4 Hot Flash

$7 Grabs

$10 Steals

$13 Fire Power

Mickey Kush Pennywise Cbd Critical Cure Thin Mint Cookies

SD-OG El Diablo GG #4 Tahoe OG

Tangie C4-OG Mega Fauna Purple Dream

Golden Ticket

... NOW CONCENTRATE $40 Elite Cart $35 THC Reg $32.50 $20 Chalice 1/2 g cart

$60

$45

$32.50

Pre-rolls starting at $5 Student discounts available!

MON-THUR 9 A.M. - 9 P.M. FRI-SAT 9 A.M. - 10 P.M. SUNDAYS 9 A.M. - 7 P.M.

1553 Oak Street Eugene, Oregon 97401 (541) 345-8904 • KeepEugeneGreen.org @GreenerSide_Eug @TheGreenerSide Eugene’s First & Finest OLCC Dispensary

Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. For use only by adults twenty-one years of age and older. Keep out of the reach of children.

PA G E 8

|

E M E R A L D G A M E D AY

|

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

$45 Truly Pure Reg 1 g $25 Truly Pure Reg 1/2 g $45+ $40 Day Dream & Rich Extracts

$60

541-505-9065 1474 W 6TH AVENUE

Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of marijuana. Keep marijuana out of the reach of children.

GAMEDAY

Oregon running back Kani Benoit (29) outruns two defenders to score a touchdown. The Oregon Ducks start their season playing against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on September 2, 2017.

has still got to improve. We’ve got to keep doing everything we can to help our guys execute. ... I think we’re on the right track. We need to demand more, confront and demand more from each other.”

When asked about staying steady throughout the game, running back Royce Freeman urged persistence.

“Just something we need to work on,” Freeman said ahead of the ASU game. “Putting a lot of points up in the first half — you can never complain about that — but we just want to be more consistent as the game plays out.”

When it comes to the scoring, Oregon has not been shy. Its lowest score of the year is still the 42-35 win over Nebraska where all 42 points came in the first two quarters.

After the loss in Tempe, there will be some tweaks to improve, but the plan doesn’t change much for the offense.

“A lot of people would be happy to score 49 points, so I’m not really worried about that,” running backs coach Donte Pimpleton said. “If we score 49 points every week, I think we’d be in good shape.”

BECOMES Closest dispensary to GAME DAY!

COPY EDITORS NEEDED NOW! Fall positions available! Collaborate with the Daily Emerald to edit articles.

Help make the news read well.

dailyemerald.com/openings

Saturday, September 30th · 2 pm join us for exclusive deals and swag from Smokies and Select

71 Centennial Loop SUITE B O P E N D A I LY 1 0 A M - 8 P M

Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of marijuana. Keep marijuana out of the reach of children.

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

|

E M E R A L D G A M E D AY

|

PA G E 9

LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED

MAKE OWNED EUGREEN HOME IN OREGON FOR LOCALLY ANDYOUR OPERATED LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED LOCALLY OWNED AND OPER

$5O ELITE SELECT STRAIN PENTOPS

E EUGREEN YOUR HOME IN OREGON FOR

MAKE EUGREEN YOUR HOME IN OREGON FOR FOR MAKE EUGREEN YOUR HOME IN OREGON

O ELITE$5O SELECT STRAIN PENTOPS $5O ELITE SELECT STRAIN PENTOPS ELITE SELECT STRAIN PENTOPS

MAKE EUGREEN YOUR HOME INHOME OREGON FO MAKE EUGREEN YOUR IN OR

MAKE EUGREEN YOUR IN OREGON FOR $25HOME GRAMS OF ELITE SHATTER $5O STRAINSTRAIN PENTOPS $5OSELECT ELITE SELECT PE

$5O ELITE SELECT STRAIN & PENTOPS

$5 GRAMS - $100 OUNCES &

$25 GRAMS OF SHATTER

$25OF GRAMS OF SHATTER $5 GRAMS - $100 OUNCES $25 GRAMS SHATTER $25 GRAMS OF SHATTER $25 GRAMS OF SHATTE

& & $25 GRAMS OF SHATTER

&

& ONLY AT EUGREEN HEALTH CENTER $5 GRAMS - $100 OUNCES $5 GRAMS - $100 OU ONLY AT EUGREEN HEALTH CENTER & GRAMS - $100 OUNCES

$5 5 GRAMS - $100 OUNCES

OF OUR HAND SELECTED FLOWER $5 GRAMS $100 OUNCES DAILY, TAX INCLUDED - PLUS - A NEW SPECIAL EVERY DAY!

ONLY AT EUGREEN CENTER ONLY ATHEALTH EUGREEN HEALTH CENTE

ONLY AT EUGREEN HEALTH CENTER

EUGREEN HEALTH ONLYONLY AT ATEUGREEN HEALTHCENTER CENTER

LOVE OUR STORES & FRIENDLY BUDTENDERS?

Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. For use by adults twenty one years of age and older.

Keep out of the reach of children.

VOTE FOR US IN EUGENE WEEKLY’S BEST OF EUGENE POLL!

BESTOFEUGENE.COM

Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug. For use by adults twenty one years of age and older.

Doreach not operate a vehicleDo or machinery the influence of this drug.the Forinfluence use by adults oneuse years age and old Keep out of the of children. not operateunder a vehicle or machinery under of thistwenty drug. For byof adults twenty PA G E 1 0

|

E M E R A L D G A M E D AY

|

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

Keep out of the reach of Keep children. out of the reach of children.

GAMEDAY

DUCKS CONDITIONING SHAPING UP BY: Aaron Alter @aaronalter95 | PHOTO: Adam Eberhardt

Leading up to the 2017 season, a theme from Oregon football was an emphasis on strength and conditioning.

The days of Oregon being seen as a “soft” team would be gone.

“We want to knock you back,” offensive line coach Mario Cristobal said.

With four games in the books, have the Ducks lived up to that goal?

So far, the answer looks like a yes.

Offensively, through this point in 2016, the Ducks had 15 rushing touchdowns.

The team has 20 this year, and it is averaging 5.1 yards-per-attempt. Half of those scores to Royce Freeman, who is quick to credit his O-line.

“I’m really thankful for them and all they’ve done for me,” he said. “Running back is not a solo position. Those guys are making it happen for me. I’m honored to have that.”

The Ducks also hold a 44 percent third down conversion rate, above their 39.05 percent mark in 2016.

They’ve also been better at protecting the quarterback, surrendering only

five sacks. All of these results have been thanks in large part to tough, consistent O-line play.

“A lot of teams right now are probably getting more sore each game, but I feel like the work we’ve done this summer has made us a lot tougher,” offensive lineman Shane Lemieux said.

“We’re building on every single game, we’re getting a lot stronger.”

While offense is only one part of the equation, the defense is stronger as well.

With 32 tackles-for-loss and 13 sacks already this season, the Ducks have improved on their 2016 effort. The team is also hanging tough on third downs — only allowing 18 conversions versus 24 last season. The key has been finishing tackles with authority, something the Ducks struggled with in 2016.

In particular, junior defensive end Jalen Jelks has been a terror for opposing teams. Jelks has flashed tremendous speed off the edge, and also hits like a truck. Sophomore linebacker Troy Dye has been equally

The Oregon Ducks host the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore. on Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017.

impressive with 32 tackles and two sacks.

The Ducks’ secondary stepped up as well after a 2016 season that saw the unit struggle with tackling and pass defense. They have 27 pass breakups already, and veteran defensive back Arrion Springs and newcomer Thomas Graham Jr. have done a good job not letting receivers break their tackles.

They did struggle with Arizona State’s N’Keal Harry, who had 170 yards in seven receptions.

While the early results have been positive, it’s important to note that the season is still far from over.

Conditioning is a constant effort, and the Ducks will need to continue their work if they want to maintain their current results. Last season saw morale tumble after tough losses, which led to less emphasis on conditioning. While the team seemed anxious to bounce back after its loss at Arizona State, its physical performance from here on out will determine just how much toughness the Ducks have this year.

T H U R S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 8 , 2 0 1 7

|

E M E R A L D G A M E D AY

|

PA G E 1 1

INVEST IN YOUR

FUTURE

APPLY

TODAY

wou.edu/grad Questions: graduateprograms@wou.edu

Graduate Programs • M.A. Criminal Justice • M.A. Interpreting Studies • M.A. Teaching (Initial License) • M.M. Contemporary Music • M.S. in Education • M.S. in Ed. Deaf and Hard of Hearing Education • M.S. in Ed. Information Technology • M.S. in Ed. Special Education • M.S. Management and Information Systems • M.S. Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling

• Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) Specialization • Elementary Mathematics Instructional Leader Specialization/Certificate • ESOL Endorsement/ Certificate • Instructional Design Certificate • Reading Endorsement/ Certificate

TOGETHER WE

SUCCEED

Bring this coupon for

$1 Off Any Burrito!

limit 1 per person exp. 10/04/

Broadway

510 E. Broadway, Eugene Open 24 hours (541) 344-8070

Downtown

30 W. 10th Ave., Eugene Hours: 7 a.m. - 6 p.m.

(541) 344-5856

Chambers

1840 Chambers St., Eugene Hours: 7 a.m. - 9 p.m.

(541) 246-8775

West 11th

17

2511 W. 11th Ave., #A, Eugene Hours: 6:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.

(541) 338-4219

River Road

1060 River Rd., Eugene Hours: 8 a.m. - 9 p.m.

(541) 689-7970

Springfield

1889 Olympic St., Springfield Hours: 7:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.

(541) 747-7775