The Ducks offense struggled against UCLA, and freshman quarterback Braxton Burmeister was part of that. However, compared to the week before against Stanford, he showed improvement. So, Oregon coaches are trying to build on his improvement.

“You can just see a little more confidence and (he is) a little more calmer in certain situations,” quarterbacks coach Marcus Arroyo said. “There was some improved pocket development that you can see.”

Head coach Willie Taggart stated after the Stanford game that Burmeister wouldn’t be starting if he practiced the way he played in games. The coaching staff is trying to simulate games as much as possible to develop the young quarterback.

“We talked about doing some things in practice that kind of, you do in, maybe, a spring development that you do with certain guys,” Arroyo said. “One thing we can do is build some things that are more game-mode. I think making 7-on-7 a team pass, and putting some guy in front of him for a rush, is just something that we’ve all done in the past and feel like that’s one thing that we can do.”

Burmeister did run the ball well against UCLA. He scored two touchdowns on 16 rushing attempts, and the Ducks made it clear they are going to utilize his talent.

“One of the things he does well is he’s pretty dynamic with his feet at times; he can create some second chances and create some good stuff in the run game,” Arroyo said.

The negative side of running a quarterback is he gets hit often, so they would like to limit that.

“We’ve talked about it,” Arroyo said. “It goes all the way back out to fall camp when we had the slip-n-slide out there. You’ve got to take as many hits off yourself as you can. It’s already a physical enough game at this level.”

Ultimately, despite the three straight losses, the Ducks are trying to cultivate hope.

“You really have to continue to teach and exhibit positivity, right? That’s your role as a coach,” offensive line coach Mario Cristobal said. “And the thing is, you can’t base it on something that’s not really there. It can’t be a false hope. When you watch our game … there are so many opportunities that we didn’t take advantage of.”

Follow Jack Butler on Twitter @Butler917

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