[buzzsprout episode=’63168′ player=’true’]
The now BSC ranked number 3 Oregon Ducks will travel to Sun Devil stadium in Tempe Arizona Thursday (6pm) night to take on the Arizona State Sun Devils.
The Sun Devils are 5-1 on the season with their only loss coming in week 3 when they traveled to Missouri.
A Thursday night kickoff will have no effect on this Oregon team, they have experienced them many times before, and are used to having to play on an abnormal schedule to accommodate the national spotlight.
For Oregon however, they practice exactly the same. With no game played this past Saturday the Ducks dedicated last week as “improvement week.”
Many assistant coaches were gone and it allowed other players to rest up at the halfway point in the season.
The Ducks went back to work as they would any week, except their Monday was really last Saturday.
Little things like this do not effect a team at this level. Chip Kelly preaches to not focus on outside influences. This is one of those instances, where they focus on their game.
They focus on one week of practice at a time. As Chip Kelly says, “we will play whenever they tell us to… “
But is this team, who currently sits at 6-0 good enough?
Have they reached their full potential for this year?
If you ask around the locker room there is a common response, an instructed one maybe? But after getting pushed down a notch in the rankings this past week, this team wants to prove itself and is hungry to improve.
“I think in all areas, halfway through the season we’re good in some areas, not so good in other areas, but we want to improve in every aspect” – Michael Clay
Both teams coming in have scored 50-points, or more in their last game, this will most defiantly make things interesting. At least looking at it on paper you would think.
Looking back to when the Ducks faced University of Arizona everyone expected a pac-12 shootout, rather than the 49-0 shutout the Ducks handed the wildcats.
“But you have no idea.. You have all these preconceived thoughts going into the game, but I don’t think anyone would have thought that’s how (the Arizona game) it was going to turn out.” –Chip Kelly
How will the ducks come out Thursday night, will they get off to a hot start and continue to significantly outscore their opponents in the first 2-quarters?
Or, will Arizona State step up to the plate and look to pressure first year quarterback Marcus Mariota, who will be making his first real away game start this week.
“They do have a new quarterback and he is a great athlete and great player but he hasn’t been on the road and done that, so we are hoping we can do things to impact him and minimize the explosive plays. “- ASU Head Coach, Todd Graham
Whatever the case is, this is week 7 for the Ducks and nothing more than that.
They don’t care what the experts may predict or who has them ranked where. This is their super bowl and they will play it like such all the way till December.
Then, they will look up and see where they sit, and ask themselves.
Did we do good enough?
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