It’s Time For Oregon To Be Angry

You could say this date has been circled on the calendar for a little while. On Thursday, November 7th, 2013, Oregon plays Stanford.

I think the Ducks should play angry. Hell, I think the Ducks should be angry.

Oregon should have won its first national championship last year. There’s absolutely no doubt.

If the Ducks didn’t lose to Stanford last year, undefeated Oregon plays undefeated Notre Dame for the title. One-loss Alabama, and by extension the SEC, doesn’t figure. And I don’t think the Fighting Irish would have had a fighting chance against Chip Kelly’s team.

Oregon has been so incredibly dominant over the last four years, it would be a crying shame not to see this run of success capped off in the way it should be: That elusive first national title.

This is the year. Who knows how much longer Marcus Mariota will be around Eugene, or the rest of Chip Kelly’s team, and who can say what exactly will happen once Mark Helfrich has to recruit his own players and find a new quarterback?

The championship window has been open for almost half a decade. It won’t stay open forever.

This year, the Ducks have to make good.

Right now, Oregon is sitting in the third spot in the BCS standings. Florida State is ahead of the Ducks, and Ohio State lurks just behind.

Neither those three teams, nor the #1 Crimson Tide are likely to lose this year. In the case of FSU and OSU, their respective schedules are weaker than a baby tree in a hurricane.

In the case of Alabama, the machine has given no sign of cracks in the armor.

Oregon will jump Florida State with a win, and play for the title if they are undefeated. The Ducks’ strength of schedule, strength of conference, and strong standing with the human voters ensures that.

But some style points wouldn’t hurt. This is the BCS after all.

There’s also a Heisman to play for. Mariota is the Ducks’ best-ever shot at the most famous individual trophy in team sports, better than Joey Harrington or LaMichael James.

Mariota is such a perfect quarterback, it’s a wonder he didn’t get signed out of high-school as a six star recruit by the Dallas Cowboys.

Instead, he was a three-star sleeper picked out of the fertile hunting grounds of Hawaii by Kelly and his staff.

Mariota’s college record is 20-1. That one loss was to those pesky Cardinal.

Mariota didn’t block for DeAnthony Thomas, remember? It was a rookie mistake from a man who seemingly didn’t have a rookie season.

Mariota is a good guy. He’s mild-mannered, likeable, and studious. He’s calm and composed, and you won’t see a lot of panic.

And in a week in football where Richie Incognito and people like him are rightly being put under the microscope for their brutish, disgusting, ugly, and horrible manner, we should appreciate a player like Mariota.

But he should come out angry. Really angry. Without that Stanford loss, he’s an undefeated college quarterback on track for his second straight national championship in his sophomore year and the chance to become one of, if not the most famous college football player ever.

It’s time for revenge. Not because Oregon hates Stanford. There’s no bad blood here. But because that’s the logical next step for the Ducks – a hammering of their closest conference rival. Stanford is in Oregon’s way.

Watch the Ducks against good teams, and you’ll notice they don’t put teams away in the first half. Oregon hasn’t comparable talent to the top teams in the Pac-12. They won’t blow anyone out on natural ability alone.

It’s in the second half, when the pace grinds down defenses and suddenly players find a little more space, a little more time, when the Ducks take teams out.

If it’s close at the intermission Thursday, don’t worry. But I’d love to see the Ducks come out on fire, and take it to Stanford from the opening whistle. Offense, defense, special teams. Everyone played a part in that loss last year, and if the Ducks have the game all but won as the teams go to the locker-room, they’ll have made a strong statement to the BCS, the Pac-12, and the football world.

We mean business this year. We’re here to finish the deal.