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STANFORD – The Ducks have yet to bring their A-game on Saturday. During the second half, University of Oregon President Michael Schill emerged onto the balcony of the third-floor stairwell at Stanford Stadium, holding a towel and an ice cream bar.
Schill leaned on the railing alongside longtime UO ambassador Herb Yamanaka, who stood there in the sun the entire game, binoculars in hand, watching. Yamanaka, who has been with the Ducks for six decades, wore Len Casanova’s Rose Bowl ring from 1958.
Schill said between bites: “Herb has seen it all.”
It turns out not.
Oregon worked hard to lose on Saturday. It was without center Alex Forsyth. Playing the caller Joe Moorhead was sick. The Ducks called passes when they should have rushed and UO had two players ejected for targeting. Oregon also missed a series of assignments, missed a bunch of tackles and mismanaged time.
Stanford beat Oregon 31-24 in overtime.
What is the identity of the Ducks? Somebody knows? We are five games away from the season. I don’t see any. Mainly because players got in and out of the roster due to injuries and suspensions. From week to week we cannot know for sure who will be in the field, in uniform, in good health.
More than seven with two minutes left? The # 3 team in America? All those four and five star players? Oregon lost its head and came away with a 4-1 record as a group of stunned engineering and computer majors from Stanford jumped off the railing and leapt onto the field in front of them.
Put that 2021 Stanford game on top of the pile of a bunch of painful losses against the Cardinal. So far with losses in 2001, 2009, 2012 and 2013. Saturday, in fact, marked the fifth time in 20 years that the Cardinal has beaten a Top 10 ranked Ducks team.
“Quack … quack … quack … quack …Members of the Stanford group mocked and shouted as the stadium emptied. “Duck … duck … goose!
I did not see the scene in the visitors’ locker room after the game. Schill and Yamanaka did it. It was the first time in two seasons that non-team staff were allowed in after a game. But the hope here is that Oregon will emerge with some sort of new identity.
Blame it on the Pac-12 referees?
I can’t go today, folks.
Not while quarterback Anthony Brown Jr. was so shaky with his readings. Not with the defense weakening in the home stretch. Not with so many points left on the ground and so many unanswered questions. Thanks to the Cardinal for the victory, but let’s face it – they’re fine, aren’t they?
Oregon was a terrible, sloppy and uneven mess. With 1:51 to go, ESPN’s “Win Probability Model” gave Stanford a 0.1% chance of beating Oregon. That is, the game has basically exploded to 99.9%.
“We were the first to lose air in the ball,” said Cristobal.
We know.
“We just didn’t execute,” he added.
Yes, we saw it.
“Excuse my language,” Brown said, “but I played like (expletive).”
I appreciate the simplicity of this. If Oregon had won this game one way or another, like it did by escaping against Arizona, Stony Brook and Fresno State, we would all still be sailing, ignoring the obvious shortcomings. The truth is, the Ducks lived off the Ohio State victory and cheated PA voters for weeks.
Saturday’s sobering lesson turns into a challenge for Oregon. He must go find his lost identity. Because the loss didn’t just take the pressure off of being a top-four team in the standings, it exposed them as well.
Hard? Resilient?
Run first? Go first?
The upcoming week off should be all about soul-searching and figuring out how the same unit that played inspired at Ohio State has looked so flat ever since. Cristobal is wonderful in a living room. It’s a magnet for top-notch gamers. There is no better recruiter in the conference and perhaps on the planet. But his mission now is to reorient his team, to train them better and to turn this loss into a wonderful opportunity.
“Our team needs to improve,” Cristobal said afterwards. “Our team needs to make sure that at times like this, we stick together and support each other.”
The overtime sting has the potential to become a pivotal point for Oregon. The Ducks can still win the North Division and win another conference title. They were also not officially eliminated from the playoffs. They were slapped in the face by Stanford and lost a shot to go undefeated.
Now what?
Answer that, Oregon.
Schill was applauding from that third-floor balcony. He became a real sports fan. He had Yamanaka by his side, who was looking at the clock for the last two minutes.
“We just need one more first try,” repeated Yamanaka.
You were probably saying the same thing in your living room.
The Ducks players are going to get sick when they watch the movie and observe all the ways they delivered what easily should have been a road win. What they decide to do about it in the next 13 days is going to tell us a lot about the long-term trajectory of Cristobal’s program.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers went from 7-5 to Super Bowl champions last season. In the opening of the 2009 season, the Chip Kelly Ducks were embarrassed by Boise State but recovered and went to the Rose Bowl. Saturday’s loss was unsettling, but a football season is a journey, isn’t it?
Pack your bags and find out who you are, Oregon.
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