This Oregon bandwagon is a low-rider.
“So people can jump on and off real easily,” as Oregon tight end George Wrighster put it.
The Ducks picked up a win after two losses, did it in convincing fashion, and looked good in the process.
They jumped from 19th to 15th in The Associated Press poll. They clicked on offense. Dominated on defense. Hit hard. Passed long.
So welcome back on the bandwagon. The Ducks missed you, kicked themselves for losing you in the first place, resolved to get you back.
And if the Ducks can keep rolling in Pullman next week, ride that momentum into a game with Washington and prepare for a tight game in Corvallis, well, they could be headed for a respectable bowl game. Something with an actual name attached instead of a Web site.
Here’s what needs to happen (because after a win like that, what else is there to do but look ahead?): The Ducks need to win out, obviously. Then Arizona State has to lose twice, but the Sun Devils have California and USC still on the schedule. Washington State would have to lose one other game if the Ducks beat the Cougars, and WSU has Washington and UCLA on the slate. Then the Ducks would finish second to USC. Or USC could lose twice — the Trojans have Arizona State and UCLA left — and Oregon would finish second to ASU.
Wait, hold on … I’m pretty sure I just saw the funniest thing ever. Jason Fife, in a giant tiger suit, trick-or-treating with Kai Smalley on the “Oregon Football with Mike Bellotti” show on KEZI. Wow. They cut to Bellotti, and he had this classic face — he obviously hadn’t seen the clip before — so he had the “Oh my God, my team is filled with a bunch of dorks but I’m going to try really hard to play it off” face.
So I was going to go into “caution” mode right here, and write that there’s a very good possibility of the Ducks losing on Saturday (and let’s face it, there is) or to Washington or to Oregon State, but how could I possibly even think of doing that now?
I mean, Jason Fife was trick-or-treating in a giant tiger suit with Kai Smalley! Is there another team in the entire nation that would allow its starting quarterback and its starting defensive end to do this? Would any other coach but Mike Bellotti just completely take this in stride?
And how scared would you be if you ran into Kai Smalley — he of the long, bushy goatee and shaved head — on a dark street on Halloween? Seriously.
Forget it. Throw caution out the window, let it fall to its death 30 stories below.
Because while Washington State players brawled in the locker room after last week’s game, Jason Fife took two-straight losses and shoved them up his tiger suit. He and the rest of the Ducks came out fired up and ready to beat Stanford, and they did. They’ll come out fired up and ready to beat Washington State, and they will.
Good things happen to good people. When the Ducks lost two games, they didn’t start in-fighting or back-biting, at least not in public. They went trick-or-treating, kept optimistic, and that optimism and confidence has led Oregon to winning seasons recently.
So even if this bandwagon is a low-rider, it’s filled with players in tiger suits (did I mention Jason Fife was wearing a giant tiger suit?) who will never give up on their own team.
Jason Fife in a giant tiger suit.
Classic.