A Season of Adversity

Adversity is defined as a state of continued difficulty.  To run the table and have an undefeated season, teams face challenges from the expected and the unexpected, from other teams and its own players.  Alabama survived the Tennessee game with a blocked field goal last season.  Boise State could not overcome the adversity they faced in Reno this weekend.  Auburn came back from a 24 point deficit in Tuscaloosa. 

Here’s a look back on the season and the adversity the Ducks faced every week, including what they did to compensate for the difficulty.

Oregon vs. New Mexico (W 72-0)

Adversity: Ok, nobody expected us to lose or even struggle in this game, but the Ducks had to overcome two obstacles: (1) LMJ suspension and (2) Darron Thomas’ first start.

Counter: Kenjon Barner ran wild for the first half.  Darron Thomas, minus the opening drive interception, played well and quelled many fans’ fears.  The defense played lights out.  Cliff Harris dominated the Lobo’s punt return coverage.

Oregon vs. Tennessee (W 48-13)

Adversity: Darron Thomas’ first road start in a hostile environment with 100k fans.  How would Oregon possibly keep up with the SEC speed?  Tennessee outplaying the Ducks for the first half.

Counter: LMJ had arguably the greatest rushing touchdown I’ve ever seen and that opened the floodgates.  Cliff Harris returned an interception for a touchdown and Barner returned a punt causing Derek Dooley to do his best Mike Stoops impression.

Oregon vs. Portland State (W 69-0)

Adversity: The Ducks had to overcome what LMJ called “the worst game I’ve ever played in my life.”

Counter: Even LMJ’s worst game ever yielded over 200 yards and DT threw for 4 TDs.

Oregon vs. Arizona State (W 42-31)

Adversity: Playing in weather with hell-like temperatures, the ASU offense almost reaching 600 yards and Vontaze Burfict putting forth an Oscar winning performance, the Ducks had a lot to overcome.

Counter: LMJ could not get anything going on the ground, so DT stepped up and put to rest any fans’ doubts about Kelly’s choice at the QB spot.  The defense, maligned for giving up about 600 yards, forced 7 turnovers and scored 14 points themselves.

Oregon vs. Stanford (W 52-31)

Adversity: Falling behind 21-3 in the first quarter, the Ducks looked outmatched against presumptive #1 pick Andrew Luck and Jim Harbaugh’s 2,000 pound offensive line.

Counter: DT and LMJ destroyed the Cardinal defense.  LMJ ran for 257 and 3 TDs, DT outplayed Luck, in my opinion, scoring 4 TDs and showing his dual-threat ability with over 200 yards passing and 100 yards rushing.  New Aliotti emerged from the closet and the defense shut out Luck and the Cardinal in the second half. 

Oregon vs. Washington State (W 43-23)

Adversity: On paper, this game was supposed to be easy.  But the team had to deal with Barner running into a brick wall and a scene that led many of us fans to think the worst: Barner could be paralyzed.  The injury bug continued when DT landed awkwardly on his arm (and any time our QB goes down, Ducks hearts stop working).

Counter: Nate Costa came in and ran the offense beautifully.  LMJ and Jeff Maehl pitched in and got things done.  The defense didn’t have a great performance, but after the 14 point performance in the first quarter, the D held WSU to just 9 points over the next three quarters.

Oregon vs. UCLA (W 60-13)

Adversity: Slick Rick in town always makes the game a must win.  There wasn’t much adversity in this game – though the first Bruins drive had everyone thinking about the Bruins team that beat up on Texas and Houston, not the one that got shut out by the Cardinal.  Then Boyett picked off a deep ball on that first Bruins drive and the party was on in Autzen.

Counter: LMJ had a solid game, but DT really shined with over 300 yards passing and 3 TDs.  The defense put on a stellar performance, but gave up a rare 4th quarter TD when the mercy rule was well into affect.

Oregon vs. USC (W 53-32)

Adversity: Even though we shellacked USC last year, it was still USC.  USC’s only two losses were on last minute field goals.  Pretty boy Matt Barkley was on fire.  USC was coming off a bye week and the USC defense was doing extra conditioning to keep up with the Ducks.  Gameday tried to curse the Ducks by coming out to the Coliseum.

Counter: USC stayed with the Ducks in the first half and the early part of the third quarter, but as was often the case with the USC teams of old, Oregon had too much depth, too much conditioning and too much speed.  The Ducks scored 24 unanswered points to end the game and LMJ put up another spectacular performance against the best teams with 240 yards and 3 TDs.

Oregon vs. Washington (W 53-16)

Adversity: For most of my college football watching life, UW has been Oregon’s punching bag.  But I still recognize the rivalry and abhor all things Washington.  For the first time, the Mighty Ducks offense was held scoreless in the first quarter. 

Counter: After sleeping through the first quarter, the Oregon offense came alive with a balanced attack from the two-headed monster of DT and LMJ.  The defense put on a great showing, only yielding 263 yards to the hated Fuskies.

Oregon vs. California (W 15-13)

Adversity: WTF.  Pretty much what I said through this entire game.  Oregon’s offense was completely stymied and only scored 1 TD; worse, DT gifted Cal a TD in his own endzone.  LMJ had his worst performance with 91 yards.  Rob Beard “Brotzmaned it” by missing two field goals.  Cal's defensive line dominated the Ducks O-line and also put on a Josh Harnett acting performance.

Counter: Cliff Harris returned a punt for a TD.  Chip “I have balls of steel” Kelly went for the 2 point conversion sans Nate Costa.  Those 2 points were the difference in the game (yes, I know we could have kicked a field goal at the end – but Beard had already missed two).  The defense put forth its best performance yet, holding Brock “porn star” Mansion led Bears to less than 200 total yards.

Oregon vs. Arizona (W 48-29)

Adversity: Senior day.  Sophomore Cliff Harris, who came to Oregon to “lock s*** down,” apparently gave Nick Foles the key to unlock Cliff’s D.  Harris had a horrendous performance.  He gave Criner an 85 yard TD, where Criner walked the last 20 yards.  He miss timed a few jumps leading to some catches for the Wildcats receivers.  He gave up a 32 yard TD to David Roberts, another wide open TD.  He also tried to do a ballet pirouette move to catch a punt, which he promptly fumbled (thankfully recovered by the Ducks).

Counter: One young man plays poorly, another steps up in a big way.  America, let me introduce you to Josh Huff.  I’ve been very impressed with Huff all year, but this was a break out game for him.  He had over 100 yards rushing with an 85 yard TD run that gave the Ducks the lead for good.  He came up with some timely catches and continues to get the Ducks good field position on kick returns.  The Ducks D gave up a lot of yards, but played well enough to get the job done when it mattered. 

The Ducks will continue to face adversity in Corvallis next week and in either the Rose Bowl or hopefully Glendale.  Let’s hope they will continue to find a way to counter this adversity.