I keep trying to remind myself, “Don’t believe the hype. They’ll only disappoint you.” It’s happened before in the past. I’ve seen this team with a full head of steam, a seemingly unstoppable offense and an opportunistic defense that will take away the ball just as the opponent is about to score.
But that’s the Ducks for you. They won’t ever really break your heart, you’ll just shake your head in disgust in what appears to be wasted potential.
That was last year’s theme anyway. And the 2005 Holiday Bowl. Teams that always carry enough talent to win but crumble when they gain too much national recognition.
Now I’m being cautiously optimistic about Oregon’s chances this year. While I thought the Ducks would lose last week’s game against Michigan, they quickly showed that they, thus far, have wiped away last year’s losing ways and can handle a burden of expectations.
But still, it’s two games into the season and the real tests still await. No one should be thinking too far into the future while Cal, UCLA and USC are games still remaining to be played.
“I believe the test is still out there,” Mike Bellotti said. “That was the second game of the season. We could stop right there and say, ‘Oh yeah, that’s great. That’s awesome.’ But you don’t – you can’t.
“The burden of proof is still there. I think this team understands that.”
They should, considering what happened to them last year. After gaining national headlines for taking out Oklahoma (albeit with some help), and trouncing Arizona State in the following game, the Ducks fell flat against Cal and that’s when the season began to unravel.
Just as they reached their peak, the Oregon players quickly spiraled down and showed no signs of life in the losses to USC, Arizona and BYU.
I’m always waiting for that sort of meltdown, one tough loss and the Ducks will send their season in the tank.
But the optimistic part of me believes that with a team stocked full of upperclassmen who are tired of not living up to their potential, Oregon will reach the upper-tier of the Pacific-10 Conference once again.
Like the team senior quarterback Kellen Clemens led, the offense should always be able to put up enough points to win every game. It’s just a matter of the defense stopping scoring drives every once in a while. While the defense gave up over 300 yards to Michigan in the first half, only allowing seven points is still outstanding.
Just don’t expect it to happen with every Pac-10 team, though.
“It only gets tougher from here on out,” Bellotti said. “We made a statement about the type of team we believe we can be, we want to be and we want to earn national respect. Well, that happens every day and every single week.”
Bellotti’s sending the right tone to this team making sure they don’t become complacent like they have in the past. Don’t let hype make them believe can show up and win every game.
“It’s my job to make them understand that those pats on the back can turn into kicks in the butt,” Bellotti said.
“We’re guarding against becoming self-satisfied.”
As am I.