Oregon Ducks offensive lineman Marcus Harper II discusses facing Washington in the Pac-12 Championship.
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00:00 Talk to different guys about how much they thought about that loss.
00:03 How much of you, how often have you thought about it?
00:05 >> Same time.
00:05 Every single game.
00:06 >> Like, I'm kind of lost track about how many wins we had.
00:12 I just remember we had one loss.
00:14 So to get this rematch again, and then pack to a championship, and
00:17 the last pack to a championship game is something special.
00:20 Like it just keep getting added on, the higher the stakes.
00:23 So, and we know the harder it gets, the better we play.
00:25 So we're just excited for the moment, grateful for the opportunity.
00:28 >> What would be different about you guys this time?
00:31 >> Neutral side, we've kept improving ever since then.
00:35 And in our connection as a whole,
00:36 that's just been the difference maker in every single game ever since that loss.
00:41 You know what I'm saying?
00:41 No matter what the circumstances we're going at, whether it be at practice or
00:45 in a live game, we just kept running tighter and tighter daily.
00:48 And that's just a message to the culture that we built,
00:50 that Lennon built, and instilled in us ever since January.
00:52 So in moments like this, in situations like we had up in there in Seattle,
00:56 we never folded, we never broke apart, and we just banded together.
00:59 And so that's gonna be the difference maker around this time.
01:02 They won't be able to break us, you know what I'm saying?
01:04 We're just a well-connected team.
01:06 >> A lot of guys have talked about just how physical that week of practice was
01:08 after the loss.
01:09 Can you kinda go into detail on that?
01:11 Just how different was it from a normal week?
01:12 And have you guys carried that over the rest of the year?
01:15 >> I mean, yeah, I mean,
01:16 you've seen the way we've produced on Saturdays ever since that game.
01:18 And so we've just been increasing the intensity each day,
01:21 just to get back to this moment.
01:22 Cuz we know down the line it wasn't gonna be given to us.
01:25 We had to go take it game in and game out.
01:26 And so that's what we did.
01:27 I mean, the results showed every Saturday since then.
01:30 So we just banded tighter together, which was the most important thing.
01:33 And then we just kept going and going and going, going harder and practicing.
01:37 I mean, the results, we were blessed with this opportunity on Friday.
01:39 So can't be nothing but grateful.
01:41 >> When you were getting filmed for the first game,
01:43 what are some areas that you saw that this group, the offensive line in particular,
01:46 just didn't move on?
01:47 >> Yeah, right, just making sure we're getting off on second level defenders.
01:49 They got some great defensive linemen up front, number 91, number 68, and
01:53 just all the guys that play.
01:54 And so the great run stoppers, and so they hold double teams a lot longer, so
01:58 we can get off the second level defenders.
01:59 I mean, we were literally this close, small play here, small play there,
02:03 getting off on linebacker, second level defenders.
02:05 I mean, Bucky and Jordan James, you've seen what they've done for
02:07 the rest of the season.
02:08 So we keep doing those small things, we'll be all right.