It may be true that sometimes good things fall apart so that better things can fall together. But after a frustrating, foolish and sloppy performance by the Oregon Ducks on Saturday, it feels like wishful thinking.
So many questions today, but I’ll start with the big one: What did we just look at?
Oregon blew a defensive pass cover, then doubled it with a directed ejection, a bungled kick, and a muffled point back. The offense coughs up the ball. The defense could not get off the field.
The state of Iowa held it well in a 34-17 victory in the Fiesta Bowl.
No respect for the nine-win cyclones, but they mostly plop together like one of those old disciplined Stanford-like outfits, making solid plays while watching with happy eyes how the Ducks help with their sloppiest football of the season.
Three fiddle. One intercepted. Two ducks’ backs shoot in and out of the game without any clear logic. I was surprised that coach Mario Cristobal did not pull his mask over his eyes in the fourth quarter. There was little doubt that Iowa State was the more experienced, more disciplined team, but Oregon only played flat stupid football.
“Of course we did not play to our standard,” said Cristobal. ‘It’s a game of execution, and in critical situations we have not coached well enough or done well enough. But we take losses as a team; we do not point a finger. ”
The Ducks’ final record: 4-3.
They deserved it too.
I can name a long list of excuses for the loss, noting the ongoing pandemic and costly disapproval of the preseason. I can point out that UO was the least experienced team in America this season. But it’s too late in the season for the apology and it’s in 2021 that I’m already focusing on.
Cristobal and his staff had to attract a better, more efficient production on Saturday. If there is no definite correction out of season, the Ducks will enter the next football season and laugh in Week 2 off the field in Ohio State.
There are 245 days until the start of the 2021 season against Fresno State at Autzen Stadium. A Saturday after that, the Ducks go to Columbus to play a Buckeyes team that will play the College Football Playoff this season. I hear a lot of talk about Oregon wanting to create a physical football identity. I see the rankings for recruitment. I like the messages, but on Saturday I did not see anything on the field that reflects that.
That should change this off-season.
Less talk. More action.
The Ducks must also choose a starting quarter. Offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead called Anthony Brown Jr. and Tyler Shough sat off and off the field as if he had pulled two sports jackets out of the nearest and could not decide to put on. I half expected him to just throw them out there at some point. Because the net result was a total loss of offensive rhythm.
I like Shough. But not as he sank back to pass while looking over his shoulder. Same for Brown, who looks as calm and comfortable as a man reading a magazine on a park bench when he’s running. But both backs pushed hard in the second half on Saturday, as if they were in the fall camp to fight for snaps. It was a horrific deception by Oregon staff and caused a terrible distraction.
If you’re like me, you woke up on Saturday wondering if Oregon would make a statement about his place in college football. The Fiesta Bowl was the perfect stage. The Iowa States looked like the team that had the highest rank in the country that Oregon could still beat. It was nicely set up for the Ducks.
Instead of picking up a trophy, they then stumbled upon themselves.
Fumbles happen. Interceptions sometimes do, too. I’m more concerned about the general slapdash feeling of the performance. It was like watching an old friend show up for a coffee party, shave her hair, shave, shave her shirt, spill things on herself. You wonder if it’s going on, and then go in to hear. You know, see if you can help.
The Ducks need to help themselves.
I like Oregon’s talent, but I hate the team’s lack of leadership on the field. It depends on Cristobal and his coaching staff to promote it before next season. The trajectory is there as the Ducks make sure they merge into the kind of team that wants to grab it and do great things. But it will require a huge off-season effort by players and coaches to take part in the big college football contenders.
After the game, Cristobal pointed out that the state of Iowa reminds him of his 2019 Ducks team. That unit, led by quarterback Justin Herbert and an experienced offensive line, won a Rose Bowl title. He’s right. The cyclones were ready and experienced. They played smart and did very little to help the ducks. It was a recognizable advantage.
I believe what Cristobal is building. When he was appointed, I predicted he would make the playoffs in his first five seasons. Next year is no. In the next eight months, Oregon needs to address its football sins and really figure out with itself what it will take to make the leap to battle.
Cristobal arrived from Alabama to Oregon, where they told each other the soccer truth and won big all the time. I watched the divergent performance of the Ducks on Saturday and could not help but think of what Paul “Bear” Bryant told people when they asked how he was building his empire.
‘I told them that my system was based on the’ ant plan, ” Bryant once said, ‘that I got the idea to look at a colony of ants during the war.
A whole bunch of ants working toward a common goal. ‘
That’s why Cristobal’s quote after the game – “we take losses as a team”- held on to me. He is an avid reader, especially with the coaching of biographies and motivational books written by former Navy SEALs. Cristobal is inwardly focused. He will take the loss harder than anyone else, but the UO coach needs to know that there is a lot of off-season work and difficult corrections to make.
The second half of the loss against the state of Oregon was one of the few disappointing lows for Oregon this season. Another thing was the inability to score more than 17 points in the loss against Cal. But Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl flop was a complete mental and physical collapse.
Out of character?
I hope we can say that one day. Oregon is a thing on the field. What I did not like was how scattered and empty-headed the Ducks seemed to be doing it.
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