Yeah, So What?

My Ducks lost Saturday, a disheartening reality.  But what is most bothersome is the way in which they lost--a close game that boiled down in the cool night to a handful of poor decisions by Oregon's coaching staff.

Even at that, however, one may understand why those decisions took precedence.  Chip Kelly only had his and his team's body of work over the season to fall back on when he eschewed a field goal in the first quarter and came away empty-handed after a sensational long run by Marcus Mariota.

Clearly he believed in his team's ability to score many more points and that "going for it" at that juncture was a sound choice.

That sort of belief is not a bad thing, even if it was misguided on this night.

In hindsight, which is always too easily conjured, the decision was disastrous.

Oregon made mental errors left and right following that understandable decision  While Stanford played exceedingly well, the Ducks' bone-headed mistakes and questionable play-calling (following the spurned field goal) count for something in this bitter loss.

While Stanford matched Oregon's talent, this loss is on the Oregon coaching staff for not making adjustments in the second-half and stubbornly sticking with the run, run, run game plan built around Kenjon Barner's speed.  An array of things could have been tried to counter Stanford's surprising speed on defense, though they are too numerous and technical to get into here.

I would be more accepting of my team's loss had Stanford slammed the Ducks by three TDs and clearly demonstrated dominance.

That didn't happen.  Oregon blew this one.

But Stanford is a great team.  Looking ahead, so is OSU, which has had its own coaching issues in a couple of games this season.

The Civil War will be a doozy.

What irks me more than anything, however, is that Notre Dame is likely headed for the BCSCG thanks to this royal fuckup by my Ducks.

Notre Dame is not that good, I swear to the ghost of Knute Rockne.


TS