CFP FIRST ROUND: JAMES MADISON VS OREGON

December 20, 2025

Bryce Boettcher

Autzen Stadium

Oregon Ducks

Postgame Press Conference

Oregon 51, James Madison 34

Q. Bryce, just initial thoughts of advancing and what that means and maybe just the performance as a whole for the defense in the second half maybe wasn't up to standard. What are your thoughts on that?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, we're going to celebrate a win, I'm happy to move on and keep advancing, so it's positive note, obviously we didn't put the standard if the second half. It is what it is, we'll look at the film and get better.

Q. Tosh talked earlier in the week about one of your guys' top if not the top goal is to take away the opposing offense's identity. Is there anything you feel like you guys were able to take away tonight, Bryce?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, I'd say in that first half, we were ones on ones. They couldn't run the ball. They had one explosive run in there, but ordinary reason that, we kind of eliminated most of their offense. Especially we got in the red area, which is a big emphasis for us this year. Our red area defense hasn't been great, so I'm proud of the guys for stepping up in those moments.

Q. Bryce, between the third and the fourth quarter you seemed to look around during "Shout". What were your emotions of that moment being this is your last game at Autzen?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, it was pretty special, man. I feel like I've had a lot of possible last games at Autzen but this one was the first that was for real for real. That was pretty special. I was looking at my family in the stands and just soaking it all in. I remember listening to that song when I was four years old coming to games and it was pretty bittersweet.

Q. You guys have played 13 games now. A long season has a tendency to wear on a team, certainly physically. Describe the mentality of this team and how you guys are attacking such a long arduous season.

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, obviously you got to be smart with how you practice. With that being said, we practice hard and we're relentless. Someone asked me on the field what describes this year's team and I would say energy, effort, and relentlessness. In football if you have those things, it's going to carry you a long way, so I'm proud of our guys.

Q. During Dan's time here, whether it's after a loss or a game like there where maybe you didn't play to your standard, the next game, the next couple of games, the level of play is better. The standard is a lot higher. Where do you feel like that confidence comes from for you guys to know that you'll play better the next time. You'll get things right from this lesson?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, we got no option to. If we don't play better, our season will be over. Texas Tech -- JMU is a good football team, I'll give them their credit, but Texas Tech is better, so we got to play good football. I'm excited for what's going to happen down in Florida. Should be fun.

Q. Between the highs in the first half and some of the lows in the second half, what is the biggest thing that you want to take away from this game to carry into that Texas Tech game, and what's the biggest thing you want the defense to focus oncoming out of this game and prepping for the one that's ahead?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, I'd say energy, effort, and doing your job. When you play hard and do your job, good things happen. When you don't do your job, as we saw in the second half, they'll hit explosives and they'll score. It's happened all season. It's just the game of football and we've also been great all season. So just learning from it. We're going to learn from it on Monday and getting ready for Tech.