After Oregon's tough loss to Colorado, veterans of the team held a players-only meeting to try and figure out how to solve their problems on the field. Seniors were apparently the majority of the people who spoke, and it had a big impact on and off the field for the entire roster. After practice Wednesday, cornerback Arrion Springs said there is a cut-throat mentality to Oregon's practices similar to how Nick Saban runs things at Alabama.

"Definitely, I feel like that's how it is at Alabama. Cause coach Saban is definitely an a-hole, so I feel like everyone is on edge all the time and just really want to perform well. So, we are preparing that environment here now," said Springs.

Offensive lineman Shane Lemieux echoed Spring's thoughts, saying the team sort of lost its culture in the beginning of the season.

"The culture here wasn't what it used to be. We need to work. Just wearing the jersey, we actually have to play for it."

"Everyone comes to Oregon, 'hey I am going to go to Oregon and win games,' you can't just do that," continued Lemieux. "You have to come here, practice, put in the effort, that's what people in the past did. You can't expect to win. You have to put in the work."

Veterans of this Oregon program know what it takes to get to the highest level of college football, and they were the ones who spoke during the meeting. It appears to have lit a fire under the younger guys.

"It's time to step up and start winning games," said Lemieux. "We're angry, we're confident. We're ready to go."

"Definitely, it [had a personal impact]," said Springs. "You've got to sit there and reflect on what they are saying and look in the mirror to see what you can do to help. I feel like I have performed a lot better this week, and ya know just cover my guy, do what I can do."

Defensive lineman Rex Manu also said the meeting was a big success and the Ducks can now go into Pullman and get some momentum back.

"Definitely, I hope for myself and for the rest of the team that we are pretty tired of losing," said Manu. "To just go into Washington and win at Washington would be a pretty good morale boost. Show everybody we're not done yet."

"I wouldn't say concerning, actually, it's a little relieving because we know what we have to address with the team," continued Manu. "That's something that we are are making sure of every day. I would say today was one of the best Tuesdays of the season so far in terms of people having high energy and wanting to work to get better."

Players-only meetings rarely come as the result of a team winning, so it is very telling that this team has come to this point already. Having said that, Oregon has leaders with the experience to get the Ducks out of this hole and I think it will have an impact. Fans will be looking for some fire and urgency from the players this Saturday. Only time will tell if the meeting is truly what this team needed, but there is reason for fans to be hopeful going into Washington State.

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