Great Win... What Now?

by vaughtdj on Nov 1, 2009 10:32 PM PST Comment 20 comments

I'm very proud of this team and their demolishing of USC. I've been a lifelong fan of Oregon and knew about Chip Kelly from his coaching days at New Hampshire (my alum, James Madison University, played very intense games against UNH); so it's great to see this team succeed, finally, to its full potential.

But perhaps I'm being a party pooper in asking "What now?" Obviously we have to take one game at a time and prepare for a dangerous Stanford game. But we also should not get our hopes up too high. This championship-caliber team will probably have to settle for less. Probably a Rose Bowl.

There's simply an unusual amount of undefeated teams this year. In 2007 at this time, there were only 3 undefeateds. In 2008, there were 4. This year, we have 7. Florida, Bama, Texas, Iowa, Cincy, TCU and perhaps BSU will all have to lose before Oregon will get consideration for a championship game. And the unfortunate truth is that this is very unlikely. In fact, its a lot more likely that much more than 2 teams will go undefeated and they will be left out of the championship game too.

Now don't get me wrong: the Rose Bowl and the PAC 10 title is an incredible achievement. In most years I would kill for that kinda result. But this year, with this team, its dramatic struggles and its comeback story- its "alchemy-" it is less than we will deserve.

At the I-AA level, in which Coach Kelly honed his craft at UNH and I watched him often beat my JMU team, we had playoffs to settle the champion. There was never any doubt or drama about who the ultimate best team was because it was settled on the field and not through voters. It's too bad that the current BCS system wont allow Oregon to do so as well.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or the Addicted To Quack Moderators. FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable Oregon fans.

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I'd take a Rose Bowl in a heart beat

Its the best game besides the NC and you know what the way this season started that’s amazing.

"Good evening Blazer fans, wherever you may be!"-Bill Schonely

by skywaker9 on Nov 1, 2009 10:55 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

It's the most prestigious bowl...

but not the best as long as the Pac-10 rep is stuck playing Big-10 teams. If my teams not in it, I’m hard pressed to watch the Big-10 get beat down every year.

I’m tired of the bowl tie-ins, they need to seed the games every year so that we don’t get Illinois vs. USC or (what looks to be) Iowa vs. UO.

by B Money on Nov 2, 2009 11:52 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

It’s hard to disparage a team that’s 9 – 0, but does anyone have any doubt that UO would absolutely truck Iowa at this point? I don’t mean to be overconfident (Oregon still has plenty of flaws), but it’s more that absolutely no one in the Big 10 impresses me.

Now that Tressel has loosened the reigns on Pryor a bit, tOSU might be the scariest team in the conference. And they’re about as scary as a whicker basket full of puppies.

Defending maligned chants since 2009

by Gorbachav5 on Nov 2, 2009 1:55 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I’m allergic to wicker baskets.

It's spelled "S-H-U-F-E-L-T-U-N-S-U-R-E-O-F-H-I-M-S-E-L-FF"

by JShufelt on Nov 2, 2009 2:19 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I'm allergic to puppies...

and bees…if you said a wicker basket full of bees I’d wet my pants.

by B Money on Nov 2, 2009 6:24 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

If we were meant to play for the national championship game, we wouldn’t have stunk it up in Boise. Let’s win this week’s National Championship against Stanfurd on Saturday.

It's spelled "T-A-K-O-T-U-E-S-D-A-Y-S-!-!-!."

I support inroywetrust in his support of The VD Special in his support of me supporting Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.

by Takimoto on Nov 1, 2009 11:25 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

i completly disagree here

and its the reason I hate the BCS. If you define “championship teams” as those that schedule softies in the begining of the season, and then miraculusly make it through the rest of the schedule with only one less or less, than maybe. But honestly, all teams have bad games, especially in the FIRST game of the year, and those bad games do not define the team. My alum, JMU, lost 2 games in 2004. But when it went to the playoffs, it proved itself against 4 of the best teams in i-AA and won the championship. That playoff run was no fluke. And for Oregon, Boise State was the fluke.

by vaughtdj on Nov 2, 2009 4:32 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

But in this system, flawed as it may be, teams aren’t allowed to have flukes.

It's spelled "T-A-K-O-T-U-E-S-D-A-Y-S-!-!-!."

I support inroywetrust in his support of The VD Special in his support of me supporting Roger Kieschnick in his quest to becoming the best Kieschnick ever to play professional baseball.

by Takimoto on Nov 2, 2009 1:16 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

It’s the whole “Every week is a playoff game” ideal that the NCAA has been pushing in order to hold off the hounds who want a playoff.

Defending maligned chants since 2009

by Gorbachav5 on Nov 2, 2009 1:57 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

“What now?” Simple — Stanford. Nothing else matters.

At the end of the season, we may or may not be invited to a NC game. We probably won’t. But we could endanger even getting invited to the Rose Bowl if we underestimate ’Furd, ASU, ’Zona, or the Beavs.

Stanford is next. The polls and the BCS rankings are an extracurricular distraction, and nothing more.

To paraphrase Jon Stewart: "The amount by which we beat USC would have crushed USC."

by ProbablyMonty on Nov 2, 2009 1:27 AM PST reply actions 1 recs

Exactly.

Kelly seems very good at preventing his team from overlooking opponents

"They gained seven or eight yards a carry on their bad plays." -Pete Carroll

by CaDuck on Nov 2, 2009 6:46 AM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Rec'd for responsible.

I’m a tree hugger but not this week. It’s time to make some paper!

by DONALDUCK on Nov 2, 2009 11:22 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

We are really great this year,

But really, next year we’re gonna be even better. The only bad thing is we have most of our tough opponents away. But still, we’re only losing Dickson(Paulson has looked very capable of being a starter), Tukuafu, Ferras, Ward(Boyett’s looked great), and WT3.

47-20, 42-3, 65-38...So many scores to choose from!
"Nobody east of the Rockies talks about Oregon football, and that's just not right".

by Dixonforlife07 on Nov 2, 2009 7:33 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Dangerous? Did you mean Stanford?

by ochocokid on Nov 3, 2009 6:45 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

So I was thinkin' about it

let’s say LSU really beats up Bama this weekend. Not outside the realm of possibility — Bama hasn’t been playing that well and LSU has found their stride the last two or three weeks. Then Alabama turns around and beats Florida in the SEC Championship game. Iowa loses on the road to Ohio State. And the Ducks and USC win out convincingly.

Admittedly, there are a lot of moving parts there…but I could see all of those events coalescing. Can’t you make a pretty compelling argument that the Ducks belong in the NC against Texas?

"I just sort of know that around the water cooler they talk of reality tv stars, and I strictly drink coffee." -- EvilKaramazov

by BlazersOrBust on Nov 3, 2009 9:53 AM PST reply actions 0 recs

The only problem? You’re going to need LSU to lose again for Alabama to get to the SEC championship game. This is the last legitimately loseable game for both those teams. The winner is going to take the SEC West.

As much as we’d like it otherwise, the SEC champion, unless something improbable happens, is going to the NC game. If LSU wins out, they’ll go over a 1-loss Oregon team. Even if Florida loses to S. Carolina, they’ll go over Oregon if they wind up winning the SEC championship. It’s hard to argue against that since the SEC has won the last 3 championships.

Defending maligned chants since 2009

by Gorbachav5 on Nov 3, 2009 12:47 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Dang, the fatal flaw

Didn’t even consider LSU’s schedule the rest of the way. I’ll content myself with dreams of roses then…can’t see either Ohio State or Iowa staying within single digits of us on a neutral field.

"I just sort of know that around the water cooler they talk of reality tv stars, and I strictly drink coffee." -- EvilKaramazov

by BlazersOrBust on Nov 3, 2009 1:06 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I think I’m going to put a fanpost up about this a little later today, but the way things have gone this year are very strange. We have 7 unbeaten teams, and yet none look nearly as good as undefeated or one loss teams the past few years.

The bottom line is that Oregon doesn’t control its own destiny in terms of the NC game, so all they can do is win out and go for the Rose Bowl. That’s just fine with me.

I think tOSU might give us a pretty good game; they’re looking a lot better lately. But I think we would smoke Iowa.

Defending maligned chants since 2009

by Gorbachav5 on Nov 3, 2009 1:49 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

That’s more than what Cal can say!

It's spelled "S-H-U-F-E-L-T-U-N-S-U-R-E-O-F-H-I-M-S-E-L-F"

by JShufelt on Nov 3, 2009 2:06 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed about the Buckeyes

Except that I think Tressel would be so overwhelmed by Kelly that it wouldn’t be close. I don’t think Tressel is a particularly good coach — especially not in big games, and especially not in big bowl games where his opponents have had lots of time to prepare.

"I just sort of know that around the water cooler they talk of reality tv stars, and I strictly drink coffee." -- EvilKaramazov

by BlazersOrBust on Nov 3, 2009 3:58 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs