No one feels good about how the season ended. It’s especially hard to digest given the 2.0 nature of it.
No one can also dispute the incredible strides OBD have taken since the infamous “Toilet Bowl.”, to name just one moment in time in Duck football lore. As a fan since 1975, I can provide a few others. We all can. Our Mr. FishDuck took a pause from his study at Winna Review to expound his multiple moments of frustration as a devoted Duck fan.
Getting to the mountain top is hard. Winning is hard. A lot of “Dyer was down/not down” moments must go your way. For those who are here with the “Lanning can’t win the big ones.” and all variations of that, a little perspective might be in order.
When a team, like Indiana, has the season they have had, and congratulations to them, for sure–it is easy to assume it was always a fait accompli. Let’s take a closer look.
As a transplanted Hawkeye, I could subject you to how agonizingly close Iowa was to an undefeated season, and how that would have impacted how things might have unfolded. But let’s look at three other “Dyer was down/not down” moments, and how it could have created a very different ending to the entire CFB season.
Indiana squeaks out a fortuitous win at Iowa. (Photo Courtesy of Indiana Athletics)
September 13, Texas A&M vs. Notre Dame in South Bend: ND scores with 2:55 remaining and goes up 40-34, but there is a bad snap, and the Irish miss the PAT. The Aggies score with 13 seconds remaining, and do not miss the PAT. We will never know if ND would have prevailed in OT had they not missed the PAT. For sake of this discussion, let’s say they do.
September 27th, Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, vs. Indiana: Iowa QB Mark Gronowski gets injured, and is unable to play in the 4th quarter which limits Iowa’s offensive capability significantly. With 1:28 to go in the game, Fernando Mendoza connects with Elijah Sarratt for a 49-yard TD when the Iowa safety slips, and falls down. Indiana wins a game that was there for the taking for the Hawkeyes. Really. If you get a chance, watch the last five minutes of that game.
November 8th, Happy Valley, Penn State vs. Indiana: We all know this play; Mendoza releases the ball just as he is being hit with seconds left in the game, trailing by four and Omar Cooper not only makes that amazing catch, but he also couldn’t have come any closer to being out of bounds and yet, was still, somehow, inbounds. The “Dyer” moment went to the Hoosiers.
Flip those three scenarios and I would suggest the Notre Dame, not Indiana, is in the playoffs.
The miracle play in Happy Valley. (Photo by Pete DiPrimio of IUHoosiers.com and Courtesy of Indiana Athletics)
Now, I think it is also true that better teams get more “Dyer” moments. Still, sometimes the ball is fumbled, and bounces right back up to the player and sometimes it doesn’t. The deflected pass off the player’s helmet goes for a pick-six. We all know the scenarios.
Is it frustrating that Indiana gets to the pinnacle of college football with just a two-season turn-around after OBD have been striving for nearly two plus decades? Yup. Doesn’t seem fair, does it?
Coach Cignetti pulled it off, thus props to him and all of Hoosier Land. It’s a great story, but I believe Coach Dan et al still have a story or two to write with some conquered “Dyer” moments that will put the festering Duck fan frustration to rest. Permanently.
Don Marsh
Eugene, Oregon
Top Photo by Evan Bernstein
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I am a transplanted Hawkeye who loves the Ducks because they realize there is more to football than just defense. Owner of Emerald Bridge Club with wife Sherri, and is a past State Champion in Horseshoes.