Oregon Ducks College Football Pregame Quote, 08/25/2025

Exciting week, its finally here. (We) get to go play a football game against a really good opponent. You know, Coach Vigen has done an unbelievable job with his team. I think he’s the second-winningest coach in Montana State history. Obviously, they’ve competed for championships. And when you watch their team play, you see why they’ve been so successful. They do a really good job disguising coverages on defense, playing with relentless effort. They have some guys that have had a lot of success, a little bit of continuity there, good rushers, but some guys that can play football on that side of the ball.

On offense (they) also have a lot of talent. Taco Dowler is a really talented wide receiver, he’s been really good in the return game for them as well. You know, quarterback that we’ve actually seen before, Justin (Lamson), is a guy that we played against when he was at Stanford. It sounds like he has good control of the offense. So there’s going to be some new pieces, some changes, obviously new coordinators on both sides of the ball for them, one that’s been there on defense, and then one that’s a change there offensively. So, have to prepare for a lot of different things but excited for this opponent.

Montana State led the FCS in rushing yards last season, what makes their ground game so successful?

Yeah, I think they present a lot of different pictures that are tough. Their guys play with some physicality. I mean, they have some guys returning up front that have been good players for them on the offensive line, but they’re really good at creating hats in the run game. They’ve always been dangerous when it comes to quarterback-run as well. And that’s something that, you know, that (Lamson has) shown in his past — his ability to run. So it’s something we certainly have to prepare for.

How do you prepare for a team with a new offensive and defensive coordinator?

You prepare for a lot and ultimately you try to say, ‘okay, our rules have to play out.’ You can get a lot of different things and you have to say, okay, ‘our rules are sound.’ And if you have sound rules, the rest kind of takes care of itself.

How much film have you been able to find on Montana State offensive coordinator Pete Sterbick from his time at Colorado School of Mines?

Yeah, we’ve been able to get some. You have to work connections a little bit differently when it comes from Hudl and trying to find different ways to find that. But we’ve been able to find a lot of film.

When prepping for Montana State starting QB Justin Lamson, how much film do you watch from the previous time you faced him?

You look at that for an evaluation as a player, but you you spend a lot more time watching scheme from you know coordinators perspective and what Montana State did last year on offense perspective as that falls in.

How do you prepare your defense for a rushing attack like Montana State’s?

Well, just that, I mean, they’ve had a lot of success. They’ve outrushed their opponent in several of their wins, like that’s a common denominator for them: when they outrush their opponent, they win the game, right? So we have to do a great job of rushing more than they’re able to rush and stopping the run when we get those opportunities.

How much of a gauge is an FCS opponent who has had a lot of success in the redzone for your own redzone defense?

Yeah, I think it’ll be a good gauge.

The NFL partnered with Microsoft to implement AI, what’re your thoughts on it making its way to football?

I’m not using ChatGPT on my sideline to decide what we’re gonna run. But, I mean, I’d be interested in what kind of information that provides, but I don’t know if that’s made it (down) to us. I mean, AI is something that’s going to continue to grow. It’ll continue to be a part of the game — probably as much as anything, from a scouting standpoint — but it’s probably still the early days for us at our level.

How has your team made itself better in preparation for this game?

I think we’re ready to hit another team, right? We’re ready to hit somebody else other than ourselves. That being said, I think there’s a lot of respect for this team that we’re about to play. And I think it’s a great first team to have that opportunity for. So, we will take all the days of prep that we can get.

But it’s about us playing to our standard. There’s some unknowns about the opponent because it is game one and they’ve had some changes just like we had. So, can you make sure that you have sound rules again for your players and let them go execute at a really high level? The thing that I’m probably most proud of in fall camp is there’s not a day where I was like, ‘Okay, we didn’t get work accomplished today.’ We got better every day with this team and they had a level of maturity to go do that.

You hired Verone McKinley III in a recruiting role, what made you excited to bring him on staff and why was now the right time to do it?

Yeah, we really care about the guys that have given so much to this program and Verone’s a great example. He was a great player here, went on to have an opportunity in the National Football League and a chance to keep playing. And I think he realized, ‘Hey, I want to still be around football.’

And, when you can have guys that have great experiences at Oregon, that love this place like we love it and want to be back here, you (bring them back). I’m excited to see what he’s gonna be able to do for us. I know that all that’ll come with hard work and just finding a way to make our team better.

A lot of guys in your program will be playing their first game as an Oregon Duck or first game of college football this weekend, do you play into that anxiety to motivate or just try to ease their nerves?

I haven’t really talked about it yet. Because the truth is, there’s going to be a lot of guys out there playing for us that haven’t played a lot. But what gives you confidence in those moments is that they’ve had a lot of experience in practice and that the experience — that we’ve done a good job of making it feel like a game —  it’s going to carry over.

What makes Emmanuel Pregnon so good at playing guard?

Yeah, it starts with the ability to move bodies. You have to have great size, he has that. He has great strength. I think the intelligence required for offensive lineman — people don’t realize the amount of calls they get made on the offensive line and change when the picture changes — He’s handled that really well. But ultimately, he’s a fun player to be around. His teammates enjoy him, they play harder for him. He’s athletic and he’s got great size.

We’ve asked a lot about how the team is prepared and excited, but what is your mood thinking about Saturday?

Excitement. Yeah, I mean, I have a lot of excitement. (My) favorite part of the year is getting to coach football, right? And I enjoy practice just as much as the games at times, just because you get to see the growth and the opportunity improve. But yeah, I’m really excited to get out there.

What kind of upside does Kingston Lopa offer in the secondary?

Kingston’s a guy that was a great (receiver) coming out of high school and is, obviously, also a really talented defensive back. He has some athletic traits that aren’t common at his position and certainly help us out.

Do you think week one will give you enough to evaluate the sort of team you will be this year?

Well, I think — regardless of the result — whoever we are on Saturday, I hope it’s not remotely close to who we’ve become. You always talk about becoming the best version of yourselves, and I think we’re a long ways away from what we could become. But I think this would be a good starting point to assess exactly where we’re at.

Closing statement:

Make sure all of our fans show up! I know we’re gonna have an unbelievable crowd on Saturday (and I’m) excited to see Autzen full again.