After making a cross-country trek last week, the No. 1 Oregon football team will play host to a team coming all the way from the East Coast in Maryland this Saturday at Autzen Stadium.
Terrapins head coach Mike Locksley spoke with news media Tuesday about the matchup against the Ducks.
Though Locksley said that the tape showed that Oregon is the best team in the country, he’s not using the Ducks’ ranking as extra motivation for his players this week.
“That number in front, we don’t emphasize that,” Locksley said of Oregon’s No. 1 ranking. “We watch the tape and they are a good team. They’re good in all three phases, they’re well-coached.”
Locksley said he typically doesn’t talk to his team about staying off social media and looking at the praise teams like Oregon receives. But the coach said his team is motivated on playing whoever the next opponent on their schedule is.
A common theme among opposing coaches Oregon faces is praise aimed at starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
Though Locksley joked that he feels like he’s heard Gabriel’s name in the college football space for “10 years,” he also said that he makes and breaks the Ducks’ offense.
“He makes them go,” Locksley said. “He’s a really talented player … The kid makes plays. He extends it in the pocket, he is the guy that makes it go. He manipulates the pocket … they do a good job of protecting him but he’s crafty inside the pocket area, which allows him to extend plays.”
Gabriel has connected on 74.8% of his passes for 2,665 yards, 19 touchdowns and just five interceptions, but Locksley also said a great complement to Gabriel’s game was Oregon’s run game.
Locksley said tailbacks Jordan James and Noah Whittington are the primary drivers of Oregon’s run game and establish how the offense plays throughout the game.
Having worked with Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi before at Alabama, Locksley said that he’s very familiar with how the longtime coordinator operates.
He knows that a huge key for the Terrapins this week will be avoiding third-and-long situations, when players like Jordan Burch and Matayo Uiagalelei are extremely effective.
“Their front seven is the strength of their defense,” Locksley said. “The big key is staying out of third-down situations. If you look at their third-down havoc rate … we have to stay out third downs and third-and-longs against this team, which means we have to be efficient on first and second down.”
The Ducks have been extremely effective on key downs over the last three weeks. Oregon hasn’t allowed a fourth-down conversion since Oct. 12 against Ohio State, with teams going 0 for 7 in that stretch. The Ducks rank fourth in the Big Ten in opponent third-down conversion rate (33.04%).
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.
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