Pressure causes funny reactions.
Take, for instance, a tire. Too much pressure and it will explode, just like former NFL coach Jim Mora at each and every press conference.
There is immense pressure on Oregon athletes and coaches, especially the ones who play at Autzen Stadium or McArthur Court. If they win, they were supposed to. If they don’t win, they were overrated. So what happened when arguably one of the best quarterbacks to ever play at Oregon was lost for the remainder of one of the most promising football seasons in the program’s history?
Pressure!
This time the pressure was on backup Dennis Dixon, who started his first game behind center Saturday against then-No. 23 California. Dixon probably didn’t live up to
expectations. I’m sure most 20-year-old athletes shoved into the limelight wouldn’t accomplish perfection, but he did keep the Ducks in the game offensively.
And then there was a fired-up defense. There were Ducks swarming from the first series of the game until overtime, when Cal gained only 2 yards on four plays. Take away three breakout runs, 26, 31 and 52 yards, from Cal running back Marshawn Lynch and his 189 rushing yards doesn’t look so great.
What about Brady Leaf? Two weeks ago the third-string quarterback probably couldn’t imagine playing more than third-string minutes the rest of the season, but Saturday he was the quarterback who threw the game-winning touchdown in overtime.
Senior Terrence Whitehead averaged just more than 55 rushing yards per game this season before his 119-yard performance
Saturday. Whitehead looked like a puppy at Christmas, squirting all over Autzen.
Saturday’s monumental victory over the Bears was accomplished by the team. Dixon didn’t have to carry his teammates, they carried themselves. And that is the outcome the Ducks wanted to have going into the final two games of the regular season.
A Bowl Championship Series game isn’t out of the question, although it isn’t really part of an answer either. However, should the Ducks escape a potentially snowy Pullman with a win this Saturday and defeat in-state rival Oregon State at home the following weekend, it would tie a school-record 10-win regular season, and the Ducks would have that shot at the BCS.
Most likely Oregon would be shut out even with two more wins, leaving San Diego the desired spot for a holiday bowl. Which is exactly that, the Holiday Bowl against the third-place team from the Big XII Conference.
Oregon holds its destiny in its hands and winning as a team against a top-25 opponent Saturday proved that no matter how big of a loss hits the depth chart, the Ducks fight as a collective unit bound for another check mark in the win column each weekend.

[email protected]