PULLMAN, WASH. — A lot of speculation goes into a win of this magnitude.
“Is this the one that will turn things around?” or “Is the offense a cohesive unit now that will consistently put the ball in the end zone?”
While the 41 points and the 646 yards of total offense might be impressive and the way Oregon came together in the last quarter to score 27 points is a memorable feat, one has to question the opportunities that were missed.
I’m not trying to be a pessimist jerk because this was one of the best football games I’ve ever seen, and the way Oregon competed and sacked up when it was crunch time was brilliant.
But it never should have gotten to that.
The Ducks were penalized 13 times for 104 yards. That’s far from brilliant.
They lost three fumbles, but the Cougars and quarterback Josh Swogger were generous enough to throw the ball right back to Oregon twice. Oregon could have been dead in the water if Washington State had capitalized on its mistakes.
Special teams issues reared their ugly head as well when the Ducks gave up a punt return for a touchdown. What makes this worse is punter David Dittman punted a ball over 60 yards, but had it called back because of an illegal formation.
Nevertheless, this game should’ve been a cakewalk for the Ducks.
Oregon hoarded the ball for almost two-thirds of the game, out-gained Washington State 646 to 374 on offense, had 18 more first downs and ran 40 more plays.
This should not have been a three-point game.
An 11-play, three-minute and 40-second drive in the second quarter was an example of their inability to execute.
Despite two previous penalties for Oregon, they drove the ball down to the Washington State 9-yard line. On first down, Kellen Clemens found Dante Rosario for a touchdown, but wait … a questionable penalty on Demetrius Williams for pass interference brought the ball back to the Cougar 24-yard line. Two incomplete passes later it was third down and once again the yellow hankie made an appearance for a false start on Tim Day. Now it’s third and goal on the 29-yard line and Clemens gets sacked for a two yard loss making in fourth and goal on the 31.
Kicker Jared Siegel misses a 49-yard field goal attempt and the Ducks come away with nada after making it to the Cougar 9-yard line. Not good.
While Washington State is no pushover, especially at Martin Stadium, Oregon can’t expect to continue to hurt themselves with silly penalties that take them out of scoring position or give the opponent good field position and win against quality opponents.
If the Cougar defense hadn’t turned into a rotating turnstile in the fourth quarter and letting Oregon score at will, we all might be singing a different tune right now.
But this team is getting there. An offensive explosion is promising. A fourth-quarter comeback is
reassuring.
Plus, the team knows it almost blew this one because of its
mistakes.
“If we would have lost we would of been ‘what if-ing’ all over the place this week,” senior linebacker Jerry Matson said. “We had so many opportunities to make it right.”
Oregon now has some momentum and that’s important in the Pacific-10 Conference. With one loss to a tough Arizona State team, Oregon still has a chance to go to — dare I say — the Rose Bowl. With No. 1 Southern California always pulling out the tough wins they need, including a nail-biter against Cal Saturday, USC looks poised to be playing in the national title game.
This leaves a spot for the second place Pac-10 team to go to the Rose Bowl. The aforementioned Sun Devils travel to USC next week, which in all likelihood will result in a loss for Arizona State.
Oregon would probably have to win out to put themselves into position for the Rose Bowl. This would include an upset of California on the road, a very tough task.
But it’s hope, and for the Ducks hope is all they want after the disappointing start this team suffered.
It just needs to make sure the only yellow out there on Saturdays is the O on their helmet (or their spiffy
ultra-bright jerseys) and not the
yellow cloth of an official’s flag
lying on the turf.
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