It was a cold Saturday afternoon. A day when I felt alone, standing among 57,112 other people.
It isn’t like me to have nothing to say; my friends were confused with my solace and the puzzled look on my face. I couldn’t really describe what I was seeing.
I could see the rain pouring down in slow motion, and how for every yard that Washington gained, 10 people left the stadium. Nobody stood near me, nobody could understand, and the eight friends that I came to the game with left to go home.
The last seconds ticked by like hours, but I stayed until the end. I turned my head at the sight of having to watch the Huskies celebrate on my home field for more than 10 minutes.
The Ducks have forgotten that the game of football is 60 minutes long, not just 30. In the second half, Washington made Oregon look like a 2A high school football team.
I have yet to become accustomed to seeing Oregon lose, especially at Autzen. A 6-0 start against teams like Portland State, Idaho and Arizona, with the only mediocre test coming from UCLA, which the Ducks squeaked by.
And for the real tests, that’s why Oregon has lost four of its past five.
But now things are simple. No more Associated Press Poll, no more BCS rankings to worry about, and no more Rose Bowl.
Just raw determination and heart that the Ducks will have in a little place 45 miles north of here. And there will be nothing civil about it.
The records are identical. Both schools have lost to the same teams, except for UCLA, which Oregon beat and Oregon State could not, and Washington State, which Oregon State has not played.
So now where does that leave
the Ducks?
Now the team faces another
challenge.
At the beginning of the season, I spoke of Oregon State as nothing more than a workout for the Ducks, but I take that back.
It’s a question of whether Oregon can pick itself up from the dark hole it has dug. Competition from the Big East or Mountain West in late December is not important right now. What’s important is the Beavers, and who wants it the most.
So, you want to know what I think will happen? Oregon will win. Why? Because they have to.
It’s not about the fans, or the critics, or even the rankings. It’s about the Ducks proving to themselves that they can rebound from adversity and stare the orange and black right in the face.
I was told once that “you have to fail in order to find out what you are truly made of.”
A true champion, therefore, isn’t the one who goes undefeated, but the one who gets back on the horse one last time and gives it his or her all for 60 long minutes.
And call me hopeful, but have a little faith in the program that has treated you so well throughout your college career.
And after it’s all over, Oregon stands alone.