Not long after the Oregon football team put the clamps on Northwest rival Washington Saturday afternoon, several Ducks were already voicing their dissatisfaction with their victory.
Come again?
Beating the No. 6 team in the nation? Jumping up to No. 9 nationally in the Associated Press polls? Redemption from last season’s loss in Seattle? Getting the last word over a bitter opponent for two years to come?
And Oregon is dissatisfied?
For those who didn’t watch the game, the notion that any football team could be any less than elated about such a win is ludicrous. By knocking off the Huskies, only Southern California is a legitimate roadblock standing between the Ducks and Pasadena. A win such as yesterday’s should be regarded as a beautiful thing.
But beautiful it wasn’t.
The Oregon offense couldn’t operate in the red zone. Easy passes were dropped. Quarterback Joey Harrington, whose only loss as a starter was at the hands of Wisconsin earlier this season, had another sub-par performance and connected just nine of 22 passes.
“Every time we beat Washington it’s a great feeling, especially for a native Oregonian,” Harrington said after the game. “But there is a sense of dissatisfaction because we feel like we missed a lot of opportunities.”
Those missed opportunities turned a should-have-been route into a nail-biting fourth quarter, with Husky quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Marques Tuiasosopo leading his team within one score of tying the game. The obvious scapegoat for the score’s closeness would be Josh Frankel, who missed three field goals and an extra point.
However, Frankel is not the only Duck to blame. Looking at the play-by-play, the Oregon offense failed to score on drives starting at their own 43, 46, 48, and Washington’s 41 and 17.
“The score just disgusts me; the score should not have been so close,” defensive end Jason Nikolao said. “The offense has got to put points on the board.”
Harsh words from Nikolao, considering that Oregon is now in the driver’s seat in the race for the Rose Bowl, but he has every right to be upset. After all, it was the Ducks’ magnificent defense, not the offense, that is largely responsible for the team’s first two conference victories.
But the defense could use some improvements of its own. Opponents have tormented Oregon with big plays this season, starting with long runs by Wisconsin’s Michael Bennett and most recently, by an airborne fourth-quarter assault from Tuiasosopo.
“It feels great when the defense does the job,” linebacker Matt Smith said. “We gave up a couple of touchdowns in the second half, so we probably won’t be too happy when we watch film.”
The line that “defense wins championships” is more than a cliché in the world of sports — it is a sacred truth, a mantra and a solid foundation on which to build success.
So far, the Ducks are living, running, hard-hitting evidence that the popular motto is true.
But defense is just a foundation, and Maurice Morris can only carry the ball so far before opponents begin to catch on that the passing game is struggling. What then?
Harrington hasn’t regained his last-season form, and his receivers aren’t catching the ball consistently. The one game in which Harrington and his receivers did click was against Idaho, and Oregon lit up the Vandals for 35 first-half points.
And in clutch situations, Frankel has to put the ball through the uprights, at least in the easy attempts. One of his missed field goals was from a mere 28 yards out, and scoring the extra point is critical — his missed extra point allowed Washington a chance to win.
Fortunately for the Ducks, the defense muscled them past another tough opponent. Unfortunately, no matter how good a defense is, a game can’t be won if the score is 0-0.
But Oregon fans shouldn’t worry. Harrington is a seasoned veteran. He accomplished a major feat last season, taking control of the Ducks midway through the season and leading them to victory in the Sun Bowl.
Soon, Harrington will be forced to step it up a notch. Opponents will begin focusing their defenses on stopping Morris’ runs. When that happens — when there is less pressure on the quarterback and the pass routes — expect Harrington to make opponents pay dearly for it.
With only the running game intact and the rest of the offense sputtering, the Ducks remain the top contender for the Rose Bowl. If the rest of the offense would fall into place, they’d be a sure-fire bet.
These Ducks clicking on all cylinders? The Pacific-10 should be scared.