The anecdote has made its rounds by now, and it never ceases to be funny.
At a team meeting during this bye week, Oregon head coach Chip Kelly congratulated his players on becoming the first-half Pacific-10 Conference champions. He was met with scattered applause from his players.
They then realized that their coach was being sarcastic.
Kelly definitely has a wide-ranging sense of humor, but he never strays far from austerity. Tomorrow’s game is no laughing matter, and Kelly recognizes this.
Do his players?
Oregon has played fast and loose since a self-destructing loss to Boise State in the opening week of the season. It’s worked to the tune of snapping Utah’s 16-game winning streak (then the nation’s longest) and dismantling the No. 6 Cal Golden Bears in a charged game at Autzen Stadium. It’s worked to the tune of 5-1 overall, 3-0 in the Pac-10 and alone in first place in the conference. (Four teams are tied for second in the conference with one loss.)
Kelly’s comment was meant to emphasize another greater sticking point of his: Every game’s a season. Beating the Washington Huskies tomorrow, then, will make the season, and it should make it special. That comment resonates with me, however, because I’m not entirely sure it was the correct approach.
Oregon has not yet obtained bowl eligibility. The Pac-10 conference race is more crowded with quality opponents than a Rick Reilly column is with dental references. This is an
important season.
What would I say to the team? Every game’s a season. Our work is its own reward. Take pride in your work, in your assignments and we will win the day.
I would go out of my way not to mention, or have players mention, USC.
Let’s not fool ourselves. The seventh-ranked team in the Bowl Championship Series rankings is this season’s coveted prize. Oregon has the Trojans right where it wants them, in Autzen Stadium, on East Coast prime time (5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time), with the nation’s eyes on Eugene.
I’ve spoken with a number of students this week about the USC game. The word I’ve heard the most thus far is “crazy,” with its innumerable derivatives. Oh, by the way, the game takes place on Halloween night, and anyone who’s been around a college town on that particular day knows how intense and active the atmosphere will be.
Channel that atmosphere into an adrenaline-charged football setting. Autzen Stadium’s current decibel record (127.2, recorded against Arizona State in 2007) should fall.
Thanks to the influence of head coach Steve Sarkisian and defensive coordinator Nick Holt, Washington has become — in the immortal words of Register-Guard sports reporter Rob Moseley — a satellite campus of USC. Perhaps playing USC-Washington will be excellent practice for the Trojans, and a win will provide that much more confidence, that much more energy.
Imagine the Huskies and the Trojans as two planes, symbolizing benchmarks. The UW plane casts a wide shadow over the Ducks, but the Trojans plane, up above it, extends as far as the eye can see. It is the proverbial glass ceiling. Oregon cannot shatter the glass ceiling, of course, without beating the Huskies.
Every game is a season. Every fan, woman and child is looking forward to next season.
With Jake Locker and Chris Polk, the Huskies offer the most interest challenge of the season to defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti and his stout defense. The health of Jeremiah Masoli’s knee is questionable at best. As for Washington fans? Their Oregon is our USC. They’re out for blood and out to make a statement. The last team looking to make a statement against the Ducks — Boise State — delivered on that goal.
The worst thing that can happen to the Ducks tomorrow is tightening up. This game is the most important season for the first-half Pac-10 champions thus far. No sense looking forward to Halloween. USC will be there regardless.
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