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When you think about all of the things that have taken place for the Oregon Ducks so far this season, sometimes it’s easy to forget the importance of taking a second to check your surroundings and analyze your path.
On Saturday night, Oregon handled the Washington State Cougars and looked mighty impressive doing so, rushing for over 300 yards for the second-straight game, and largely stifling the Cougars’ prolific offense.
Still, the victory had its ups and downs, which falls in line with how the Ducks’ season has gone as a whole.
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Oregon made a statement early in the season with a win over Ohio State in Columbus. They also came close to throwing all of that hard work away with an inexcusable loss to Stanford. They’ve suffered injuries, bad play, poor officiating, and just about every obstacle in the book. Despite all of that, they sit with a 9-1 record in mid-November, two games away from returning to the Pac-12 Championship Game for the third year in a row, and an increased opportunity to make it into the College Football Playoff for the second time in program history.
There have been a lot of times this season where that didn’t feel like an attainable feat. I’m still not sure that the Ducks are as good as their record suggests, and the fact that we enter game weeks against lowly Pac-12 opponents questioning how good Oregon is going to look says a lot about who they are, and the inconsistency that they sometimes play with. Despite that, this team continues to get the job done, and a lot has to be said for that fact.
My job is easy. I get to watch football games and talk about what happened. I get paid to have an opinion about a sport that I could never play at a high level. Sure, a lot of hard work has been put into my career to get to where I am, but in the grand scheme of things, a lot of other people could do what I do, given the opportunity.
Winning football games, especially late in the season, is not easy. It’s made more difficult when you are among the best teams in the nation, and every opponent is chasing a carrot that will crown them as the team who knocked off a contender. The Ducks are dealing with that fact every week, and it shouldn’t be overlooked.
“Every game is a playoff game. And us having this target on our backs, it makes every team want to play their best,” Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux said after Saturday’s win. “One thing that we had a problem with was playing down to teams, and now I feel like we are in that mode where teams have to play up to us.”
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Oregon’s problem with playing down to opponents was supremely frustrating early on, and while they seem to have quieted the habit, some of the annoying tendencies still remain.
On Saturday night, after building a 14-0 lead and given the opportunity to go up three scores early in the 2nd quarter, familiar practices returned for the Ducks. Travis Dye fumbled on a run up the middle, and Washington State was able to turn that misstep into points. From there, the offensive stagnation continued, and the Ducks were forced to punt on their next possession, which the Cougars once again were able to capitalize on and turn into six.
Coming out of the half, the good Oregon team was back, scoring on four of their next 5 possessions to put the game out of reach. It would have been a perfect 5-for-5, too, if not for a questionable fumble call as Anthony Brown crossed the goal line that wiped six points off the board for the Ducks.
Regardless of the swings in the game, Oregon took Washington State’s best shot and was able to come out on top. A lot has to be said for that fact, especially when talking about a team that had won 4 of their last 5 games and is on the cusp of bowl eligibility.
“What people fail to realize is that every game you play in November, something is on the line,” Brown said after the game. “For example, Washington State is looking to get bowl-eligible — a 5-4 team that’s actually really good. They’re looking to get bowl-eligible and also knock us off. So things are higher stakes, and some people don’t understand that dynamic.”
In the grand scheme of things, this win won’t mean much for Oregon on their final resume. Washington State is a middle-tier school in a bottom-tier conference, and the Ducks did what any respectable team should be able to do: win comfortably.
As the stakes continue to get higher, though, and the cost of a misstep inches closer towards fatal, that simple fact should carry some real weight. Winning comfortably in November is no easy feat.
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