Hopefully, when you first gazed upon the featured photo above of the Indiana Hoosiers partying it up at Autzen Stadium, it has fueled something within your soul.
Oregon’s loss to Indiana last Saturday better dang well be fueling the Oregon football team. It sure has our Mr. FishDuck taking a moment from his gaming fun with Crusino Casino no deposit bonus codes to reflect upon the setback. But the new world of college football gives the Ducks a chance at redemption.
But, I digress.
If Oregon had lost this game to Indiana two years ago, this would not be the case. The thought of winning the national championship would already be thrown out the window. A one-loss Pac-12 champion (assuming Oregon ran the table) would almost certainly not get into the Final Four.
Remember, in the 2023 Pac-12 Championship Game, had the Ducks won, they would not have gotten in. A second SEC team (Georgia, 13-1) would have taken precedence. And, with the Ducks running the regular season table last season, we did not to consider such a hypothetical.
Now we can.
I remember telling myself after the “Pasting in Pasadena” last January that perhaps the Ducks would have been better off dropping a game. Yes, I get how that would have altered the seedings and they would not have played Ohio State so early in the playoff. But, beyond that tangible aspect, I believe it might have been good for the Ducks to get KO’d and have to get up off the canvas and fight their way back into championship form.
Time for a Rocky montage!
The Ducks have a lot to prove moving forward. Not just from losing, but their once-great win against Penn State has morphed into, “It took you chumps two overtimes to beat that crappy team?”
(Though, I do not discredit the Penn State victory so harshly. I have read that the Oregon loss “broke” Penn State, and that the version the Ducks got of them was a very good football team.)
This new, forgiving version of college football, with its expanded playoff, affords teams a mulligan or two along the way. Much like Ohio State last year, the Ducks need to take advantage of this and grow stronger from their face plant.
Oregon got pushed around by a stronger, hungrier alley cat who was crop-dusting his spray (see top photo) all over the neighborhood. But, fear not, Oregon faithful; the Ducks have time to mold themselves into championship form. They can become so razor sharp that they neuter the new kid on the block and become the pride of the B1G.
Eye of the tiger, baby, eye of the tiger!
Darren Perkins
Spokane, WA
Top photo credit: Eric Becker
Natalie Liebhaber, the FishDuck.com Volunteer Editor for this article, works in financial technology in SLC, Utah.
Share your thoughts about this team in the only free, “polite and respectful” Oregon Sports message board, the Our Beloved Ducks forum!
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Darren Perkins is a sales professional and 1997 Oregon graduate. After finishing school, he escaped the rain and moved to sunny Southern California where he studied screenwriting for two years at UCLA. Darren grew up in Eugene and in 1980, at the tender age of five, he attended his first Oregon football game. His lasting memory from that experience was an enthusiastic Don Essig announcing to the crowd: “Reggie Ogburn, completes a pass to… Reggie Ogburn.” Captivated by such a thrilling play, Darren’s been hooked on Oregon football ever since. Currently living in Spokane, Darren enjoys flaunting his yellow and green superiority complex over friends and family in Cougar country.