Oregon’s slide has put a sharper spotlight on what’s happening once the Ducks leave practice and get into game action, and edge rusher Teitum Tuioti didn’t shy away from that conversation after the loss to UCLA.
The Ducks woke up on Oct. 11 outside the rankings after No. 12 UCLA pushed the previous No.
13 Oregon out of the top 25. That result naturally raised questions about whether something deeper is going on inside the program, especially when it comes to the way the team carries its work from the practice field into games.
Tuioti said the issue comes back to keeping the whole group connected.
“I feel like sometimes that throughout the games, whether it's good, whether it's bad, I think sometimes we get too honed into our own selves. When we got to really, like, bring everyone along with us, and that starts with me as a leader," Tuioti said.
He put the responsibility on the veteran core as well.
"Starts with all of our vets here," Tuioti added. "We've got to bring people along, and I think we gotta do a better job in practice and in the game.”
The box score doesn’t tell a simple story, either. Oregon’s pass defense held UCLA to 205 passing yards, and starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava managed 162 yards with two interceptions before leaving with a lower-body injury. Backup Ty Dieffenbach added 43 passing yards, but UCLA didn’t need much in the air once it settled into its approach.
The Bruins leaned on the run game and the clock, finishing with 140 rushing yards and controlling the style of the game. That has been a problem area for Oregon in both of its losses. Even Oklahoma State found success on quarterback keepers and by taking advantage of poor eye discipline in the upset over the Ducks.
Against UCLA, Tuioti and Oregon’s defensive front did what they could, finishing with four tackles for loss from that room. Still, the rest of the night never quite settled around them. Oregon’s offense was inconsistent, the ground game produced only 73 yards, and the quarterback spot shifted from Dylan Raiola to Brock Thomas after Raiola was benched.
The Ducks finally punched in a late touchdown before the two-minute mark and got the ball back, but a fumble shut down any chance at avoiding the upset.
Now the outside noise has turned loud, with Oregon getting written off after the two-point home loss, including in the Big Ten title race and the College Football Playoffs. Tuioti, though, is keeping his focus on what comes next.
"I think we'll focus on the next. Like, every week is going to be a new opportunity for us," he explained.
"Obviously, this is not the way we wanted our season to go, for sure. A lot of guys came back to this program.
A lot of guys came to this program, you know, to get a sneak peek at what Oregon has to offer, and I truly believe that we can still be a great team no matter what if we really put it together."
Even with the loss and the ranking drop, Oregon still sits No. 9 in ESPN’s Football Power Index. The numbers have changed elsewhere, though: the Ducks’ chances of winning the conference are now under four percent, and their College Football Playoff probability is under 10 percent.
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