In January 2016, the Ducks entered halftime of the Alamo Bowl with a 31-0 lead and ultimately lost the game to TCU 47-41 in three overtimes. The following day I wrote a piece I called The Sun Also Rises: A Football Edition. I am reminded of that today as I reflect back on a game that could have turned out much differently.
When I first thought about that article last night, I thought to myself that this time is different. This time we did not have the starting QB go out of the game; and we did not have the backup center throwing wild pitches to the backup QB. But was it really different?
Bo Nix is still not where he was before the ankle injury against Washington and Alex Forsyth still had some lingering shoulder issues which appeared to throw off the timing of some of the snaps. In football, the harsh reality is that injuries happen to many teams and sometimes even the greatest teams cannot overcome injuries.
Nix and Forsyth showed valiance in their effort to get Oregon to its fourth consecutive Pac-12 Championship Game. That they fell short should not really be an indictment of their effort and I have not seen anyone make such an assertion.
This morning yet another day is upon us. No cataclysmic refusal of a sun to rise, no ridicule followed the performance of young men in a game to my own personal nightmares. I am reminded that we are fans. Nothing more and nothing less. Losing for fans can be painful, our pain, though, is temporary. There is another season to come. A season that will begin with the same hope as all seasons.
For some of those players, however, this might be the last game they remember, and that pain will always sit somewhere in the back of their minds. When I was playing at Eastern Oregon back in the late 80s, we played Linfield at home. The Wildcats were ranked #1 in the nation, and we played exceptional defense most of the day. We kicked a 52-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead; we scored a touchdown and two-point conversion to get an 11-3 lead. But in the second half, there were three fourth-down stops on which our defense was penalized (one for a late hit, two for pass interference away from the intended receiver) and the Wildcats scored the next play on all three occasions.
They went on to win 31-11 – but I will never forget that game. We were not supposed to win and for a brief moment in our 0-9 season, we led the number one team in the nation, and we had hope.
TIES THAT BIND?
Yesterday afternoon, a young man with no ties to this state or its rivalry games played through his pain to try and get that team to the Pac-12 title game; Chase Cota had a fantastic game in his only appearance as a Duck against the Beavers. There were 11 full-time coaches, 85 scholarship players, and multiple other staff on site who had a lot more invested in that game and there will always be that thought in the back of their minds about what might have been.
It is normal for fans to be upset; a lot of passion (and sometimes money) is invested, and the expectations have been raised to a level that might not always be realistic and achievable.
At the beginning of this season, I thought Oregon would lose three of four games. So from a pure record standpoint, they met that expectation. Somewhere along the way, those expectations got skewed by a winning streak and the return of fun to Autzen Stadium. Maybe if Nix doesn’t get hurt we are looking at an 11-1 team. But he did and we are not.
This team gave hope that Oregon could be dynamic on offense, fun to watch and compete for something higher than a lower-tier bowl. I don’t think that goes away due to one really bad late-game meltdown.
BOOSTERS UNREST: THEY HAVE NO ONE TO BLAME BUT THEMSELVES
I read John Canzano’s column today about boosters wanting to pin the blame on Mullens for what we saw over the last three weeks. Would those be the same boosters lauding him before the Washington game for the brilliance of hiring a dynamic young staff? Yes, this is what I was told they were saying from the moment Oregon beat UCLA at home until the Washington game.
Boosters can be fickle. Just like fans. One booster in the article mentioned handing the keys of a $200,000 Bentley to a first-time driver – you don’t blame the driver for the dings, you blame the guy that gave him the keys.
There is a small problem with this analogy: was Lanning given the keys to a shiny new Bentley? Or was it a Bentley that spent three years in the Northeast getting rust on the undercarriage that fell through when we first stepped into the car?
In 2016, following the firing of Mark Helfrich, I can use the same saying for every head coach that has been hired. Insiders in the athletic department said virtually the same thing about every new head coach “the staff loves him. Brings such great energy. Talks to everyone and is just really genuine.” Willie Taggart bought cake for everyone in the athletic department. Mario Cristobal was engaged with all sports and was invested in the community. Their praises were sung until they left and the flaws were exposed.
I don’t think Lanning was given a brand-new, shiny Bentley. There were multiple players who said that it was great to be having fun playing football again. Last year was a grind that took a lot of joy from a lot of young men. The team that lost two games to Utah by a combined 76-10 is not the team we saw down the stretch this season and I think there is a difference there. I did not see any sign that players were checked out, or that there was distrust on this team.
Everyone knew Kenny Dillingham was leaving before this game. It had been talked about and the offense really was trying to send him out on top.
No. The boosters don’t get to blame this on Mullens. It was they who spent the last six years fawning over every new hire without a true evaluation. It was they who refused to see the flaws when they were becoming obvious. It was they who were blinded by the run to the 2020 Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin.
Did Mullens get the Lanning hire right? I don’t think a 9-3 season in his first year is evidence that he got it wrong; just because two of the three losses were to rivals does not change the record. Would they have been happier with a blowout loss to Utah and then USC?
VALUES
In my Duck Sports Authority piece today, I mentioned Dan Lanning’s concept of being an aggressive team. I talked about that being a core value for the program. It is okay to have that as a core value as long as it is well defined so that the value of aggressiveness does not become recklessness because you don’t know the difference.
I think that the same thing has to apply to how boosters evaluate Lanning. Losing close games is difficult – especially games that the team led. But I think from a values perspective, those are things that show the team is closer than people think to being elite.
Did anyone feel at the end of 2021 that the Ducks would be in contention for a playoff spot nine games into the season? Did anyone think that a fluke ankle injury in the fourth quarter against Washington would be the only thing that derailed a potential 11-1 season?
So where should our values lay, that 9-3 is okay as long as you don’t lose to OSU and UW?
We all knew what we were getting into when Oregon hired a 35-year-old who had never been a head coach before. You cannot go into the hire saying we expect growing pains and then complain when those growing pains occur.
CRITICAL MOMENTS AHEAD
But this is the most critical time for Lanning. He did a fantastic job putting together a staff last year and now he is going to have to replace the dynamic offensive coordinator with someone who can do two things: keep Dante Moore in the flock and keep the fans energized with a dynamic offense that makes being at Autzen fun for fans.
Before Mike Bellotti brought in Chip Kelly, he went through multiple offensive coordinators that went on to be head coaches they were exceptional hires, but they also set the tone that Oregon would continue to be dynamic offensively and fun to watch.
Lanning does not have that history – yet. But if he gets this hire right and is able to piece together some better defensive performances next season and continue to put Oregon in a spot to contend for a conference title, then he will be setting that tone.
One more great offensive hire should at least ensure that the brand identity of the dynamic offense remains intact. What does he do about the defense? That is a bigger question. Defense is his calling card and that needs more than just touch-up paint right now.
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