PASADENA, Calif. — Duck fans, and the entire Pac-12 Conference, breathed a sigh of relief when Oregon held on to a 28-27 win over Wisconsin. For a conference mired in mediocrity over the past few seasons, a Rose Bowl victory for the resurgent Pac-12 Conference was extra sweet.
It’s no secret that the Pac-12 has lost relevance in the national discussion this season. Oregon was under increased pressure after Pac-12 South champion Utah was demolished by a five-loss Texas team, 38-10, on New Year’s Eve in the Alamo Bowl.
To make matters worse, USC, the only other ranked team from the Pac-12 heading into bowl season, was outclassed by Iowa 49-24 just 120 miles south of its campus in the Holiday Bowl. If Oregon had lost on Wednesday, it would be a brutal ending for a brutal couple of seasons for the Pac-12.
That seemed to be the reality for Oregon midway through the third quarter. The Ducks had only one possession in the entire quarter — an uninspiring three and out. In fact, Oregon’s offense struggled all game and every score was a fight to put the ball in the end zone. Wisconsin’s six-point lead felt as though it would be enough to see the Badgers to a Rose Bowl victory, but Oregon didn’t back down.
“When good things happen, you want to be calm,” wide receiver Juwan Johnson said. “When bad things happen, you want to be calm. You don’t want your personality to waver.”
The Ducks didn’t waver, and they were rewarded for it. Defensive MVP Brady Breeze forced a fumble on the Badgers’ Danny Davis, setting up the Ducks with excellent field position. Offensive MVP Justin Herbert’s powerful 30-yard touchdown run on the next play radically changed the momentum of the game. Somehow, Oregon came out on top.
If Breeze didn’t force that fumble and Herbert didn’t run for his third touchdown of the game, the Pac-12 would have been in a horrendous position. There would have been conversations about Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott and his leadership of the conference. It would have been likely that not a single Pac-12 team would have finished in the top 10 of the AP Poll. And, for a certainty, the most significant win the Pac-12 would have pointed to would’ve been Washington’s drubbing of No. 19 Boise State in the low-stakes Las Vegas Bowl.
But that didn’t happen. Oregon’s defense once again stood tall when it mattered most in the fourth quarter. The Ducks forced punts on Wisconsin’s final two drives, cementing the group’s status as one of Oregon’s most dominant defenses in recent memory.
“A lot more to come from this group,” linebacker Bryson Young said. “The legacy we left, it’s going to stay.”
Oregon didn’t buckle under the pressure of the national spotlight.
“The outside noise never really becomes part of our process,” head coach Mario Cristobal said. “It’s not there with us at 5:00 in the morning when we’re training. It’s not there late at night when we’re getting extra treatment. We know we have a good football team.”
Oregon will return an elite group to Eugene next season, augmented with a high-profile recruiting class. And with an early nonconference game against Ohio State at Autzen Stadium in Week 2, the Ducks will have another chance to prove themselves against one of the country’s elite programs. But one thing is for sure, Oregon is hungry for more.
“We want all of it. The national championship, the Pac-12, all of it,” offensive lineman Penei Sewell said. “Every single game is going to be a championship game.”
