The Ducks not only ended their four-game losing streak with a win over the Utah on Saturday, but they also increased their chances of making a bowl game. The Ducks didn’t qualify for a bowl last season for the first time since 2004.
Poor performances started during the Alamo Bowl at the end of the 2015 season when Oregon surrendered a 31-point halftime lead in an overtime loss to TCU.
It only got worse last season as the program further unravelled. The Ducks finished 4-8 and saw their eight-game Civil War win streak snapped. When head coach Willie Taggart arrived, he was tasked with changing the culture of a program that hasn’t experienced losing many games this decade.
“Usually that culture is all negativity and just no energy or excitement,” Taggart said. “One thing we try to do is be positive, energetic and focus on the things to we need to get better, not overall on the losing.”
Rebuilding programs is nothing new for Taggart, who improved the culture and win totals at each of his two head coaching jobs. Western Kentucky was winless before he arrived, and they won seven games in his last season. He inherited a three-win team at South Florida and won 11 games in his final season before heading to Eugene.
“We focus us on the things that are causing us to lose and work really hard on it,” Taggart said. “A lot of times it’s a challenge because it’s not just the players; it’s coaches as well.”  
For the Ducks to qualify for a bowl game, they need to find one win over their last three games. That’s going to be hard to come by as their next two games are against ranked opponents.
Next up is No. 12 Washington, which has one of the best defenses in the nation. Then following a bye week, they face No. 25 Arizona, whose quarterback, Khalil Tate, is electrifying the nation with his long touchdown runs . The regular season ends with Oregon State, the worst team in the Pac-12 this season; however, the Beavers are playing with an interim head coach and a new energy.
Whether or not a Pac-12 team is selected for one of the New Year’s Six bowl games, or the College Football Playoff, it will factor into where the Ducks could play in a bowl game. The likely scenario, if they qualify, is that the Ducks will play in either the Las Vegas Bowl against a Mountain West opponent, or the Motel 6 Cactus Bowl against a Big 12 opponent.  
Getting back to a bowl game allows a rebuilding team additional time to grow, more practices and gives seniors like Arrion Springs a chance to punctuate their career.  
“Bowl games are always fun,” Springs said. “The teammates being around each other and all the comradery is the best part of it. We just go out and do things as a team. Just to play one last game — when everybody knows it’s the last game — it’s just like one big last hurrah.”
Follow Zak Laster on Twitter @zlast3445