Oregon Duck fans have a complicated history with Cam Newton. Going all the way back to 2010, a Newton-led Auburn Tigers team was seemingly on a collision course with the Ducks.
Auburn went 13-0 with a win in the SEC Championship. Oregon went 12-0 and was by far the best team in the Pac-10. Both earned spots in the BCS National Championship Game. Both had dynamic players who were among the nations’ best — Newton won the Heisman Trophy, while Oregon’s LaMichael James finished 3rd.
The meeting between the two is where the complicated feelings begin. For starters, it was questioned whether or not Newton would be eligible to play in the BCS title game after some off-field controversy. Nevertheless, he played and played well. While the Tigers got a helpful call or two from officials late in the game (Michael Dyer was down), Auburn went on to kick a game-winning field goal and win the championship. The rest is history.
What if that history had been different, though? What if Newton never went to Auburn, and wasn’t there to lead them on the historic run? In a recent episode of Omaha Productions’ “Eli’s Places,” Newton sat down and talked about his college decision and college football uniforms in particular. It shouldn’t come as a shock to hear that Newton was a big fan of Oregon’s uniforms and desperately wanted to be a Duck before his college years.
“I considered a school just because of a uniform,” Newton said. “I was hoping to get recruited by Oregon, but it never happened.”
Cam Newton as a Duck? That seems hard to fathom for Oregon fans, mostly because of the understandable sports resentment that they have for No. 1. However, having Newton — the future No. 1 overall draft pick in 2011 — would have undoubtedly made Oregon better, and likely brought at least one championship to Eugene.
It’s an interesting story that never came to fruition, but one that is fun to think about.
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