As I was watching Arizona control the game, I was expecting a window to pop up at the bottom of my screen saying,
"The Oregon offense has unexpectedly quit. The program will close now."
Quick, somebody hit 'Restart'!
The next day when we all gathered around the water cooler to ask "What happened?", our autopsies revealed several things.
THE OFFENSIVE LINE IS IN SHAMBLES.
This was the most glaring of problems. For whatever reason -- injuries, inexperience, betting against the spread -- the offensive line no longer functioned properly. Mariota had been sacked seven times at Pullman, and five times against the Cats. The running game had stalled to average only 3.5 yards per carry.
THE DUCKS OFFENSE HAS BECOME UNRECOGNIZABLE.
The defense was now carrying the load against very prolific teams.
MARIOTA WAS HURT AGAIN.
Where? How bad? No one was saying. He was asked about it on Tuesday and brushed it off as "typical football stuff". "You kind of get banged up through the years and you just have to fight through it," he said. For all we know he could be paraplegic and they wouldn't tell us.
THE COACHES WERE OUTCOACHED.
Mark Helfrich said several elements of the offense, namely the offensive line and receivers, were miscommunicating and not on the same page.
"That's on me," he said. Darn right that's on you, Coach. The worst indictment you can say against any coach in any sport is if his or her team comes out unprepared. Even with a few extra days practice, they looked woefully unprepared for this matchup.
THE DEFENSE WAS QUESTIONABLE AT BEST.
Some have said that Don Pellum doesn't know what he's doing, never mind that he was a genius against Michigan State. Holding Arizona to 31 points is actually pretty good. And they wouldn't have scored that last touchdown had it not been for . . . . .
TONY WASHINGTON, who may only be less of a bonehead than the ref who flagged him.
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| Take a bow, Tony. On second thought, don't. |
If you're upset with him, you need to know he was upset at himself. From Oregon's practice report on Monday:
Oregon’s loss can’t be chalked up to any one play; the team has acknowledged as much, and Washington did so as well. Still, he told his teammates, “what hurts me the most is, I feel like I put myself ahead of the team.” In an interview with media afterward, Washington again took ownership for his mistake. “Celebrate with your teammates, and I didn’t do that,” he said.
But Washington’s message to the team went beyond that. He spoke of not letting the loss to Arizona define Oregon’s season.
The loss was surprising enough. But even more surprising was the Ducks' immediate reaction to it. To a man, they were all like, "We lost. It's a shame. But we got to move on."
Mariota repeatedly said, "We're not in panic mode." That task was left to the fans who called radio shows and demanded Helfrich be fired.
But really it is the best and only reaction. Fans of the Wildcats -- the only original Pac-10 team to have never gone to the Rose Bowl -- are absolutely giddy about this win. They'll be talking about it for months.
But Oregon will forget about this loss as quickly as they forgot about the previous wins. "We lost one. Who did we lose to? Don't remember. Who's next? UCLA."
That's all that matters.
This matchup against the Bruins was slated to be a match between the two top teams in the Pac-12 -- perhaps even a preview of the Pac-12 Championship. But with Oregon's stumble and UCLA's stunning loss to Utah, it is now a fight for survival. Loser gets voted off the island.
FOX Sports announcer Charles Davis was in the booth calling Oregon's game against Michigan State. He'll be in the booth again at UCLA. In this interview with The Oregonian's Andrew Greif, he said that Oregon played like they really had something to prove against Michigan State. That's why they came out in the second half and played like heroes. One must remember they were also far less injured in that game.
When Greif asked Davis his thoughts on the keys to Oregon's and UCLA's offense, he said this:
Do you have an under-the-radar key for the game, offensively on Saturday?
To me it's patience. The word patience, which isn't generally associated with either one of them because they both try to move it pretty quickly, you know, with the no-huddle, it's really weird to see that Oregon doesn't run as many plays in a game as UCLA does. You know they're going to want to go real uptempo and do that. But when I say patience I mean in the running game. They both have to take pressure off their offensive lines to avoid getting their quarterbacks hit. So the first thing for me is it's not just your standard, I turn around and turn the ball off to Royce Freeman or Thomas Tyner. How else do I manufacture offense? Am I doing jet sweeps and things with Byron Marshall? Am I doing that new shovel pass down the line with him? Am I running more quarterback run game with Marcus? Am I doing option stuff, quarterback draw?
I'm trying to figure a way to manufacture offense and keep the running game going and tamp down the pressure coming at him. When I flip it over to UCLA, Brett Hundley has to figure out how to exit the pocket and take the pressure off. I thought he stayed in there against Utah almost like he had to prove something, "I'm a pocket quarterback." They ran him six times, and probably should have thought about running him 26 times. I think when that gut pressure comes at you up the middle if you make the first guy miss like a punt return and go back in the same spot where they came from guess what they've vacated the area haven't they. That's what'll be the thing, is patience to stay with the running games to take the pressure off the quarterbacks. They have to, but it has to be creative pressure, it can't just be turn around and hand it off.
Others have said the same thing. The first team to reestablish it's running game will win.
Davis also said that Oregon's defense will have to steal more turnovers to stop UCLA.
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| Why should Oregon win all their remaining games? Because immediately after this game, Mariota walked over to some sick kids from a children's hospital and signed autographs for them. THAT'S WHY! |
So what about us, the fans?
What are we supposed to do? We've all gone through the four stages of loss: Disbelief, Anger, Grief, and finally Acceptance. That's why it was so hard for some of us to see the players go straight to acceptance right after they showered. But how are we supposed to approach this game?
My plan is to make my Saturday morning as calm as possible. Take a walk. Catch up on some DVR recordings. Plan for a nice lunch with a special beverage. Do NOT think, read or talk about football at all.
Then just before the game comes on, I'll get into my routine of putting on my most potent combo of lucky duck clothes. Sing the fight song before the kickoff. Give my stuffed Puddles mascot the best seat in the house. And then I'll just relax into the game like I'm preparing to sit back and enjoy Citizen Kane.
The Ducks know what they have to do. They know the injuries they have to compensate for. Each player knows how he needs to step up. And the coaches know that they have to do much better than last week.
And it's really simple. Win, and the Ducks are right back in the fight and can still reach all their goals. Lose, it's all over.
That is why I'm forcing myself to be calm when they kick off Saturday 12:30 PT on your local FOX station.
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