Oregon’s Mark Helfrich Has To Win

This article courtesy of FishDuck.com, a partner of Oregon Sports News.

When starting a new job mistakes are to be anticipated, they are a part of the learning process.  There is a honeymoon of sorts and perfection is not the expectation. For Mark Helfrich, that statement could not be more inaccurate.

In his first ever head coaching position, Helfrich has been given the keys to a Ferrari (a talent-loaded football team) and a new otherworldly garage (the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex) to park it in. In his first year in the driver’s seat, Helfrich will be expected to race his blitzkrieg-scoring machine straight to a national championship, doing better than a predecessor that took the team to four consecutive BCS bowls. Pressure much?

Most fans and pundits alike are assuming the switch from former head coach Chip Kelly to Helfrich will be nothing more than swapping a visor for a baseball cap. While the difference in strategy and execution remains to be seen, most folks are looking straight past the X’s and O’s.  They are thinking “how could the Ducks NOT win a national championship this season?”

That reasoning seems fairly sound given the following.

1)   If at all possible, the offense will be the best it has ever been. With Marcus Mariota entering his second year as the starting quarterback, the attack will be led by a guy who had arguably the best freshman year in school history. With De’Anthony Thomas, Byron Marshall and Thomas Tyner all as options at tailback along with an experienced and diverse receiving corps, points will come from anywhere and everywhere.

For the rest of this column, please visit FishDuck.com by clicking here.