Not caring what the scoreboard was blaring for all to say, South Dakota Coyote’s head coach Joe Glenn came into the press conference with mostly good things to say about his team’s performance and the Oregon Ducks. In his opening remarks he said that he was “really proud of our teams efforts” and that they “played hard against a very good and talented football team.”
Regarding the final score, 62-13, Coach Glenn went onto say that “if you look back at last year, this is about what they did to most teams they played when Mariota was healthy…I know that in their first four games they averaged over 60 points a game”.
Marcus Mariota getting ready to throw his first TD pass of the game.
When asked what made the Ducks a tough team to beat, Coyote running back Jasper Sanders said, “They were huge. I didn’t realize how big they’d be. And they were fast, which is to be expected … they’re Oregon.”
On whether the team was intimidated or not, Coach Glenn said, “I don’t think so. I think they had anticipation like the coaches do and maybe butterflies. It’s the first game of the year … I don’t think they were nervous … I thought we waded in there and traded some pretty heavy punches and put some good drives together.”
“Running the ball through the field” is something the team did well according to Jasper. The biggest thing they’d take away from the game was the knowledge that “this was the best team they’d face…Nobody’s going to be that big or that fast.”
An offense-defense struggle
Talking about how the coaches and team had said that they wanted to get better as the game went on, Sanders said, “I think we did get better. We played pretty much the best team in the nation, and confidence wise, I think we did get better.” South Dakota had one of the worst offenses in its league last year, so getting better on offense has been at the top of its list.
“It was really loud. I really thought it was going to be a lot bigger, but 55,000 is still a lot. Like it’s loud. When they got towards the end zone or on third downs, I couldn’t hear nothing,” Jasper said, talking about the noise level at Autzen stadium.
South Dakota’s offense showing some muscle.
The team tried to adapt to the noise, but the volume made it impossible for the players to communicate, causing more errors. Coach Glenn said, “The crowd got really loud and we had snap count issues,” adding that, “the players couldn’t hear anything.”
“They were fast. Fastest team we’ve ever gone against…or will go against. They just don’t mess up. They are amazing athletes…so consistent what they do on every play. Nobody messes up. That’s what makes them such a great team. I think that’s a part of why this was such an awesome experience for us,” said linebacker Keyen Lage on his experience playing Oregon.
With Oregon’s 97th consecutive sell-out and a crowd of 57,388 people on hand, the Ducks definitely won the day.
Top Photo by Craig Strobeck
Related Articles:
Pat Pannu (Editor and Writer) is a recent graduate of the University of Oregon. Pat’s been a crazy Duck fan since she moved to Oregon in early 2004 and has been 95% of all home games since the 2005 football season. She loves to talk about sports though those talks somehow always end in arguments. Pat loves to hear other’s view of the sports and teams that she loves and can’t wait to hear from you all. Follow her on twitter @patpannu