Jeffrey Bassa shares conversations Oregon's defense had early in Fiesta Bowl

The Oregon defense got off to a slow start in the Fiesta Bowl against Liberty.

The Flames opened the game with a six-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to take a quick 6-0 lead less than 3 minutes into the game.

As it turned out, those would be the only six points that Liberty would score all afternoon as Jeffrey Bassa and the Ducks defense shut out the Flames the rest of the way.

After the game, the All-Pac-12 linebacker Bassa shared what kind of conversations Oregon had on the sideline following Liberty’s impressive opening drive.

“Little things like just keeping our poise,” Bassa said. “That’s something that we preach every day at practice and then also all the time in the facility. I think coach Lanning and coach [Tosh] Lupoi do a great job of instilling that into our minds.”

Liberty outgained Oregon 130-88 in the first quarter but was dominated the rest of the way.

The Flames combined for 164 yards over the next three quarters and did not score another point. The Oregon defense refocused after the early struggles and played lights out to close out the game.

“So yea, just keeping our poise, going to the sideline, not keeping our highs too high and our lows too low. I think that’s something that a lot of these guys in the offseason were focusing on with that mindset of ‘next play mentality,'” Bassa said. “We know that we’ve gotta flush the next play and look at that next play and reflect on it and grow from it. So I think that first drive – reflecting on the first drive and going to the sideline and keeping our poise and we were going to execute at a high level from them on.”

Jeffrey Bassa played a big role in the Oregon defense having a successful afternoon. The junior led the Ducks with eight tackles, a tackle for loss and two quarterback pressures.

After the win, Oregon coach Dan Lanning spoke about how important Bassa is to the Ducks defense.

“Jeff makes this defense tick,” Lanning said. “We give him an unbelievable amount of defense that he has to process through his mind, getting us in the right call. And obviously that showed up today.”

The good news for Oregon is that the Fiesta Bowl won’t be Bassa’s final game in a Ducks uniform. He announced earlier this week that he will be returning for his senior season after earning Defensive MVP honors in the Fiesta Bowl.