Mario Cristobal Previews Format for Oregon Spring Football Game

Oregon is set to cap off spring football with Saturday's spring game at Autzen Stadium.

With 14 of 15 spring practices in the books, Oregon Head Coach Mario Cristobal is still finalizing the format for Saturday's spring game.

The team format remains undecided, whether that be offense versus defense or two different teams. The first half will be completely live with tackling, whereas the second half will be a running clock in the "thud" format, likely to prevent injuries. 

Even so, Cristobal is confident he'll be able to get the most out out of his team this weekend.

"We're trying to see who's available, who's gonna make it. We feel good about playing a real quality game," he said in a press conference this week.

Many players weren't present for the team's spring scrimmage, and an in-depth health report is murky at this time. Cristobal did however comment on underclassmen Justin Flowe and Dontae Manning, two highly-touted recruits that we've yet to see much of at Oregon.

"They've gotten back recently and they've played more and more snaps each and every day. They are exciting to watch, those two guys are explosive and difference makers.

"Them along with a bunch of other guys are going to get their turns and opportunities," Cristobal said. 

Stay tuned for more updates on that tomorrow afternoon.

As for the quarterbacks in action Saturday, Anthony Brown will get "the bulk" of the reps and the remaining reps will be divided among the rest of the quarterbacks.

"When you have a competition where everyone's alive in it you want to keep everybody alive and getting opportunities," Cristobal said of the ongoing quarterback battle. 

On Friday Lane County entered the state's extreme risk in the state of Oregon's COVID-19 protocols, a move that will once again create an empty and eerie Autzen Stadium. 

Cristobal said it was news that was "rough" and "hard to take."

"Like anything else in a pandemic year you roll with it and you go forward--we're gonna do what's safest and what's best for everybody," he said.

The Ducks' defense has yet to mirror the dominance of 2019, and returning to form has been a major focus of spring football. Specific areas Cristobal is hoping to see improvement include how the defense is called and increased physicality.

A massive piece to the puzzle will be Tim DeRuyter.

"When you bring in a coordinator like Coach DeRuyter who has seen all that stuff and has had great success against a lot of teams in our conference--a lot of things come to light that you're going to be able to apply that should make a really significant difference,"  Cristobal said of the former California defensive coordinator.

The players will grow comfortable in the scheme over time, but right now Cristobal has his attention on the point of attack. 

"And the most significant difference is us doing a better job coaching the physicality and demanding more physicality, and our players demanding more physicality from themselves," the head coach said of his defense.

"It's always going to start up front in the trenches when it comes to defending the run and knocking it back, and we've made up a lot of ground in that."

As the end of spring football approaches, the head coach reflected on what he was hoping to learn about his team prior to spring. 

"In a day and age where there's so much talk, you want to be a part of an organization that is about action and wanting to see it put into action on a daily basis," he said of the program's culture. "We want to make sure that how we do anything is how we do everything."

The culture appears to be stronger than ever in Eugene, and Saturday's game should serve as further evidence.

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