The Ducks don’t lose very often, but when they do, somehow the national reaction is different. Stanford lost to Utah in October, but nobody talked about it as a death-knell for their style of play. It wasn’t a flaw in their system, or proof they couldn’t compete against a fast team that spread the field. It was one loss, nothing more, nothing that diminished their program or its national reputation. A week or two later they were back in the Top Ten.
Dressed for success: There are $68 million black-granite reasons not to doubt Phil Knight’s passion and loyalty to Oregon football (Twitter.com photo, @UACoachMurphy).
Last year Alabama lost to Texas A&M, a spread team with a dangerous mobile quarterback. At the Home Depot set on the Alabama campus, the ex-jocks in suits weighed in on the game, but no one talked glibly about how this would set Alabama football back for years. Of course they didn’t.
Yet Oregon has lost 8 games in five years. And every time they do, it’s a national referendum on the viability of the program. Cowherd, Schroeder, Mandel, Bayless and the rest will trot out the predictable dismissals about a finesse team that wilts in a big game, ignoring the 54 wins and four BCS bowls, a record that includes a 53-32 victory over The Cardinal, a win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl, and a doubling-up of Kansas State in the Fiesta.
This week the country is raving about Miles Jack. Just two and half weeks ago the Ducks took the best shot from Jack, Jordan Zumwalt and Anthony Barr, and won 42-14. UCLA is a fast, physical team, but that game doesn’t count. It only gets added to the permanent record if Oregon loses.
If all goes well, Oregon will win three more games, and earn a chance to play Clemson, Texas A&M or Baylor in a BCS bowl game. If chaos ensues, they could even make the national championship, but they have a very good chance to play in their fifth straight BCS bowl, something no one has ever done without vacating the appearance later. When that happens, expect to hear more of the same:
Oregon has trouble with physical teams in big games. They beat up on inferior competition, but they don’t have the toughness for elite football.
Okay. Let them say whatever they want. The only answer necessary is 54-8. Or, at that time, 57-8, provided the Ducks take care of business down the stretch.
Nearly all of those physical teams with the dominating lines would give a 330-pound left tackle’s right testicle to have a similar rate of success. The boosters at Nebraska, Michigan, Oklahoma and Florida would pony up three Escalades and a sock full of C-Notes to be in that conversation.
Last Saturday the Most Interesting Man in the Football Universe took in a game at Alabama, and being a charismatic figure who embraces competition, he wore a Nike-emblazoned Alabama sweatshirt for the occasion.
It was a Twitter Troll’s wet dream. The architect of the Oregon dream in Crimson Tide colors two days after a painful loss. It was a moment that crystallized all the nervous envy the football establishment feels about the upstart, innovative team with the fancy uniforms and video game offense. Here was Phil Knight beaming for a photo op in a bastion of old-style, traditional football, his arms around two cohorts before a packed house in Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Phil Knight is in the sports business. He has a private jet with his silhouette on one wing. He loves big events and electrifying atmospheres. His company was built on excellence in competition. It isn’t surprising he would chose to take in a great college football game in a hallowed stadium, or honor a high-profile customer.
Knight’s contributions to Oregon football have fueled its rise from one pathetic Independence Bowl to a multi-million dollar training facility and the cover of Sports Illustrated. The team is ranked in the Top Ten for the fifth straight year. Their quarterback is going to New York, and it didn’t take a billboard in Times Square to get him there.
The fact that the national media was so quick to jump on his visit to Tuscaloosa and trump it up shows how eager and desperate they are to dismiss Oregon and bury the story of their rise to the top levels of football. No, the 2013 Ducks are not ready for Alabama, not yet. They stumbled at Stanford. But the team, the dream, and Knight’s vision for them, is not going anywhere.
One loss and one photo won’t change that.
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