Trent Bray's Best Quotes Ahead of No. 9 Oregon vs. Oregon State

Oregon State head coach Trent Bray held his weekly press conference earlier this week as the Ducks and Beavers are on a collision course for a rivalry matchup on Saturday in Corvallis.

[Use promo code GODUCKS and get 50% off an annual ScoopDuck membership!]

Bray was asked a handful of things about this week from his team’s performance last week against the San Diego State Aztecs to what this rivalry means to his team.

Below you’ll find some of his best quotes ahead of this week’s game.

Opening statement: “Looking at the tape from last week there was a lot of good stuff to build from. Obviously defense was very active and made the plays we needed to make, especially on third down. Getting them off the field, which was great to see. Offensively, the ability again to control a game and run the football was huge. I thought we took a step up in the passing game and still left some explosives out there, that are there for us. There was improvement in the passing game, but still need to get a little bit more and make those plays that we had an opportunity to make. Overall very pleased with their progression and their improvement from game 1 to game 2. Now obviously the opponent we got this week is a very talented team. We’re gonna have to improve and play better than we did last week to beat these guys. But very talented and we know the rest of who they are.”

On when he started to see his team develop their identity

Bray: “Fall camp for sure. I think this is something that has kind of been worked on all spring as we were trying to search for any identity during the spring with so many new players. But then as fall camp kind of went on this kind of became who we were.”

On if he wants to be a run-heavy team that plays good defense or if it’s what’s working right now

Bray: “I think there’s always an element—the great teams that I’ve been around or watched have been great running football teams. I think that’s where it starts. Your ability to close out games you gotta be able to run the football. It definitely helps your defense stay off the field, so (it) helps you play better defense there’s no question. But as much as we’ve done it, probably not. It’s just how the games are and what’s been working.”

On what a win against Oregon in his first year as head coach would mean to him

Bray: “3-0, that’s the biggest thing. That’s what we’re after and it’s kind of one week at a time. I know that’s kind of cliche but that’s how you live in football. It’s a vacuum. It’s a week. You got a short time to prepare. A short time to get ready and then you gotta go out and do it. And so it didn’t matter what happened the week before, what’s gonna happen the next week. It’s really just a condensed, all your energy, all your mental capacities working toward that one thing.”

On if the offense would be effective throwing 40-45 times a game

Bray: “Yeah I don’t think we’re ever going to be heavily tilted to throwing the ball 40-50 times a game. I think a balance somewhere between 60/40 or 50/50 is probably what we’re looking for.”

On if his team has embraced the role of the underdog in game vs. Oregon

Bray: “No. We haven’t even talked about that. For us that’s not really a storyline or a factor. It’s who are we playing? It’s about us, our execution our ability to go out there an execute the game plan. That’s our focus.”

On how he’d sum up how Beavers feel about the rivalry this week

Bray: “They know of it. They’re aware of it. There’s only a handful that have done it and lived it. But the biggest is the opportunity to go out and compete at the national level, the national stage and show what we can do and do it against a great opponent. And I think that’s the bigger focus for our guys.”

On what he sees from Oregon on tape and how he tries to slow that offense down

Bray: “They’ve got a tremendous amount of athletes. Obviously a very talented quarterback. There’s athletes everywhere on the field, up front, tight end, so they’re just extremely talented. So that’s what you’ve gotta be able to make sure you’re sound, you’re in the right spots, you give those guys the ability to make plays. So that’s really the biggest thing.”

On what stands out about Oregon defensive front with Caldwell, Burch

Bray: “I think it’s just back to they’ve got a collection of talent that is impressive when you look at the physical talent. So we’ve got to do a good job of again being very technically sound, playing with great pad level and using our physicality and toughness to counteract their ability to move around.”