My FishDuck Friends! We have another contribution from 30Duck to get the discussion going today, as it will make you groan, and reflect! Charles Fischer
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What if we here at FishDuck could change one instant, one play, in Duck football history?
“What if?” These words come out after a loss; winners don’t worry about what happened because they’re going home with the “W.” The rest is left for the loser to lament. This is why the pain of losing is so much more excruciating than is the joy of a win, and Duck fans know all too well the agony of defeat.
But, imagine if we could go back in time and set things right, at least as far as we’re concerned.
Do we go back to 1948, when Washington convinced then fellow PCC member Montana to join them in voting for Cal to go to the Rose Bowl instead of Oregon?
Or to 2001, when the BCS left out the “C” and put Nebraska in the championship game against Miami instead of Oregon?
Those offenses were committed off the field. We could also use our historical auto-correct for on-field events.
2007: Any Ducks fan knows what I’m talking about here just from the year. Oregon @ Arizona, 2nd quarter, Dennis Dixon goes back … and crumples to the ground. If he stays up? He goes on to become the first Duck to win the Heisman and lead the Ducks to the BCS national championship, and those aren’t just statements drenched in green and yellow sentiment.
2011: Oregon vs Auburn: “Dyer was down!” Let’s just stay with this play one second longer. Or maybe, Cliff Harris‘s interception, where he clearly has one foot in bounds, is ruled eligible?
What if Vernon Adams had not been injured against Eastern Washington?
2012: Stanford at Oregon: In this game alone we could choose between Alejandro Maldonado making either the 42-yard field goal in the 3rd quarter or the 41-yard attempt to start the first round of OT. But there are two plays earlier in the game that would have rendered that choice immaterial: De’Anthony Thomas and the block that wasn’t or Zack Ertz and the catch that wasn’t, at least before the review said it was!
2015: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The best time was, the Rose Bowl against Jameis and Florida State, you know, “the game that really could have gone either way.” There is one thing we might want to change in this one; Devon Allen injuring his knee on the opening kick off, which leads to the worst of times—the National Championship game against Ohio State. With Pharaoh Brown already out we learn that Darren Carrington is ineligible after a failed drug test. Do we change either of those? Or, how about, either Charles Nelson or Dwayne Stanford hang onto passes?
2015: Vernon Adams. He was only here for a short time, but what an impact he made! Take the first game against EWU: do we use our power to erase the injury to his finger in the 4th quarter? Which injury of course impacted his throwing in the game against Michigan State; case in point, Byron Marshall wide open in the end zone. The touchdown would have put the Ducks up 35-31 with 1:24 left in the game. Or, do we wait until the Alamo Bowl?
2019: Yep, anything we might want to change about the opening game against Auburn? Or, do you want to get rid of a certain, 3rd & 16 against ASU?
This is the list of pivotal Duck football moments I came up with. Is one of these the one you’d most like to change, or is there another moment you would wind the clock back to and set Oregon on a new and better football trail?
30Duck
Portland, Oregon
Top Photo by John Giustina
I’ve been a Ducks fan as long as I can remember. The first game I attended was on Feb 21, 1970 when the Ducks beat the Bruins, 78-65, and Billy Gaskins became my first favorite player. Of course, Ronnie Lee and the Kamikaze Kids were next, and then Bobby Moore and Dan Fouts. Of course there were the Norv Turner years when you went to Autzen to find some solitude and where you could be alone.
Of course, it’s unbelievable to see where Oregon sports are now.