November is Oregon’s month.
In Mike Bellotti’s eight-plus seasons leading the Ducks, quacker backers have seen a 19-7 record produced.
The luck of November may help Oregon’s bowl berth — when Oregon travels to UCLA this weekend, the Ducks face a team they haven’t lost to in November since 1992. And that’s only because the two teams have faced each other once in November since then — in the 2001 season.
Oregon also hosts the Beavers in the classic season-ending rivalry match.
Considering that Oregon State is just a half-game ahead of Oregon in the standings — and a half-game behind the Bruins — this weekend may be a good indicator for Oregon of just how the season will play out.
Then again, we are talking about the Pacific-10 Conference here. This is the conference that every week takes between four and eight teams, puts them in a big jar and shakes them up until the teams figure out a way to escape and not be left sitting at the bottom.
Sorry Arizona schools. You just got the “luck” of the draw this season.
Back on the topic of luck; if Oregon is lucky enough to win out the season — and Washington State and USC play their cards just right — the Ducks feasibly could end up in San Diego, Calif., at the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl.
Oh boy! The Ducks haven’t made that trip since … 2000. Hey seniors and redshirt juniors, want to go back to San Diego?
The next spot down the Pac-10 bowl chart would put Oregon at the Wells Fargo Sun Bowl. Even better — only the redshirt seniors will remember that trip to El Paso, Texas, in 1999.
If the Ducks were to earn the fourth conference bowl spot — let’s leave out the complications of a Bowl Championship Series arrangement for fellow conference teams — they would make a brand new trip. Phoenix, Ariz., for the Dec. 26 Insight Bowl anyone?
Who wants to spend Christmas Day in Phoenix when they could be enjoying the beach in San Diego or the … well, anyway, who wants to spend Christmas Day in Phoenix?
A more likely, and possibly more enjoyable, bowl scenario would be a party in the Las Vegas Bowl. Maybe a few reporters could find Duck defender Keith Lewis somewhere on the strip a couple days before the game. That would be a fun opportunity for some good quotes.
The only people who would remember the last Las Vegas Bowl are coaches and the like who were around in 1997.
The final bowl option is another new-to-Oregon scenario. A Dec. 30 Silicon Valley Football Classic in San Jose, Calif., would be a new trip for the Ducks. It also wouldn’t interfere with any of the holidays that happen during bowl season.
I suppose I’m getting ahead of myself here. The Ducks still have two games left in their season, and although a bowl is likely, it’s certainly not guaranteed. The Ducks will have to rely on playing the game they were recruited to play and maybe a touch of that November magic.
Oregon’s seven November losses have come at the hands of four teams. Three losses were Civil War matches. Two are the recent back-to-back losses to Washington. The Ducks also have dropped a game to Arizona State and Washington State previously in November.
So the Ducks will need to win this weekend, or the next, to really earn a bowl spot. A non-televised game at the Rose Bowl — one bowl game the Ducks have no shot at this season — and a grudge match between in-state rivals.
Sounds exactly like the action-packed end-of-season scenarios that the Pac-10 creates every year. Got to love that shaker jar.