Oregon hasn’t taken care of business lately. It sounds basic, but it is the bottom line and the biggest reason why the football team has struggled.
The horrific memories of the past three weeks haven’t left. Oregon has been outscored by a total of 88 points in its last three games. Most recently, Oregon’s secondary has received all the criticism, and for good reason.
ABC had way too good of a time showing off Andrew Walter’s statistics. Now no one will ever forget that Walter has scorched Oregon for 882 passing yards in the past two games against the Ducks.
Go back to the Utah game when quarterback Alex Smith passed for a career best 340 yards in Oregon’s second loss. Then there is the Washington State game, and, well, 55 Cougar points and seven Oregon interceptions later, you’ve got the start of the Duck drought.
Fast forward three weeks and you have an emotionally drained Oregon team. The questions still remain and the answers still can’t be found. But the good news is that the Ducks are hungry.
They have been hungry for three weeks. Most don’t see it, but they don’t have to, because it’s there. For the Ducks, it comes down to a lack of execution. And a lack of taking care of business.
During the past two months, Oregon has been a business that has struggled to keep up with its losses, including player after player going down to injury and an 114-30 margin of defeat in the past two Pac-10 games.
But when it all comes down to it, despite the loss of national fame and fortune, the team is still hungry to win. In a glance from the past, Oregon didn’t have much more than desire and hunger prior to the 2001 season. Before the national recognition and multi-million dollar facilities, Oregon was just a team that found a way to win more often than not.
The constant pursuit to win that lies in the heart of every athlete who has ever played in any sport was apparent Monday evening at football practice. The fire and desire to succeed has been dampened. Nobody would deny that, but that happened after three losses in a row.
But the fire still burns. It burns in the players’ voices as they speak of their recent downfalls. It burns in their eyes as they know they’re still the same team that defeated then-No. 3 Michigan in front of 59,000-plus at Autzen Stadium. It burns in the way they hit, the way they run, the way they bite and claw for the first down.
Saturday may be the last straw for the Ducks. A chance to get down to business and get back to the basics to defeat a Stanford team that is 0-3 in the conference thus far. If that fire and hunger is still there Saturday, Oregon will win and get back on the right track.