Do you remember San Diego?
Can you recall the Ducks beating up on Texas in the Holiday Bowl to cap a near-perfect season?
Do you remember Corvallis? Those haunting images of Joey Harrington throwing interception after interception?
Reach back into your memory for last year’s Rose Bowl. Do you remember Washington? Can you see, in your mind’s eye, the Huskies getting all the credit for the Pacific-10 Conference’s resurgence? Can you remember Tempe, and the Beavers getting even more credit (and bad press for being bad boys) for beating up on Notre Dame?
Do you know why it won’t happen again this year?
Autzen Stadium, that’s why. Twenty straight home wins, that’s why.
Do you remember Autzen with flowers in her hair? Can you see the Willamette flowing by, and the Autzen decibel level flowing higher? Do you recall Washington wilting under that pressure? Can you see UCLA and Arizona and lowly California also wilting?
Most teams would have been disappointed about losing a trip to a major bowl in the regular season’s final game. Most teams would have gone home with tails between legs.
Oregon licked its chops.
Starting Sept. 1, the Ducks will get another crack at the national scene. And thanks to last year’s Oregon State loss, Oregon will once again be the underdogs. Once again, the Ducks will enter the season with an underrated defense, a looked-over receiving corps and a “weak” offensive line.
And, once again, Oregon will use that position to prove all the doubters wrong.
This season, Oregon has an ace up its sleeve. This time, the Ducks have the upper hand.
The Ducks have every major test, except UCLA, at home. Wisconsin, Utah, Southern California, Stanford, Arizona State and especially Oregon State must earn victories in the hostile confines of Autzen Stadium. Oregon’s road games include Utah State, Arizona, California and Washington State.
But how about that UCLA game? If the Ducks are 9-0 heading into that game, or even 8-1, the Bruins will represent a major roadblock to a successful season. If Oregon can get over that hump, Oregon State could represent the most important game in Oregon football history.
The Ducks will have another strong cosmic force in their favor as they begin their 2001 campaign: preseason ranking. Although many of the experts will laugh, Oregon should be ranked high in preseason polls, which could facilitate a quick rise to the top of the college football world. The Ducks ended last season at seventh in The Associated Press poll and should be in the top 10 at the start of this season.
Do you know the ultimate goal for Oregon? That goal that you can think, but dare not say?
Go ahead, you can say it. Rose Bowl. National Championship. Why not throw in a little Florida State to make the picture complete, or a dash of Oklahoma?
Oregon coach Mike Bellotti isn’t afraid to say that the Rose Bowl is the Ducks’ goal this season. Could this be Oregon’s year? Could it finally win the Pac-10, the Rose Bowl and Harrington the Heisman for good measure?
Don’t you wish you could answer those questions right now … ?