The Day, and Season, is Won.



That's just great stop action photog right there. Obviously a fast shutter.
You can tell by the clenching of his jaw muscles that Kelly is already
starting to feel it.

Is it OK now, Coach?  Will you really let us come out and say it?
The Ducks have won. Pac-10 Champs--Back-to-Back. They are going to the Natty (National Championship).   I needed a couple of days after the Civil War to let it sink in.

Radio announcer Jerry Allen could've used a couple of days as well. In the following video of the closing seconds, he gets very sentimental and emotional, but fortunately it cuts off as he begins to go over the top to the point of being Glen Beckish:

   I remember my very first Civil War. I was a sophomore when they played at Autzen. It was 1983.  Final score: 0 to 0.  The Toilet Bowl.
   A short 27 years later, Oregon and Oregon State are battling in a CW for the third consecutive time where the Rose Bowl is a factor.  In 2008, it was the Beavers who had the shot. 2009, it was both teams. This year, a loss by the Ducks would've given them the Rose Bowl as a consolation prize. That Toilet Bowl is most definitely a game from the previous century.

Yet this year, while the Beavers were wearing their throw-up (sorry) throw-back uniforms to connect to a team that had a pretty good (sorry again) very good year back in 1967 (*Beavs, see my advice for you at the bottom.), today's Ducks are a team that is completely unrecognizable and incomparable, not only in the history of the school, but, as more people are saying, in the history of college football.

We've got five weeks until the National Championship matchup against Auburn. And in that time we have lots to talk about. As holidays and all that stuff allow, I hope to discuss several things.

1)  The perspective and relevance of the 2010 Oregon Ducks. This isn't just another football team. We might be witnessing history and change to the way the game is played forever.

2) Auburn and the SEC. What do they think about Oregon? What do they think of themselves.  I hope to join in on some of their comment boards and blogs and share the fun with you.

3) But for today, the Civil War.  People (Duck people, anyway) are calling this the biggest CW ever. My mantra is that every CW is the biggest ever until the next one. One thing is for sure. In terms of competition and drama, this CW did not disappoint.

   Below is a link and/or text to a couple of good stories on the game. Beneath that I put together a photographic commentary with pics from the Oregonian.

Oregonian columnist John Canzano wrote a most excellent perspective of Oregon here.

R-G columnist George Schroeder also wrote a good one below:

George Schroeder: Irreverent, swaggering Ducks do it their way
By George Schroeder
Register-Guard columnist
Published: Sunday, Dec 5, 2010 11:43AM

CORVALLIS — He’d just batted away the football, turned a sure touchdown into a field goal, and when he got to the sideline, Brandon Bair made his way directly to the head coach.
   “If you’d thrown the ball more to me during special-teams drills,” the defensive tackle told Chip Kelly, “I’d have caught that.”
   Right there in the heat of battle, everything on the line, coach and player hugged and shared a laugh. And if you’re looking for a reason Oregon will play for a national championship, start with that carefree moment.
   “We were just joking around with each other,” Bair said. “It was a great stop.”
   It was great stuff.
   Just like Oregon 37, Oregon State 20.
   The Ducks completed a perfect regular season. They’re headed to Arizona, matched against Auburn in the BCS title game. And they’re more than good enough to win it all.
   Start, because we have to, with Oregon’s flashy offense. It is “tremendous, explosive, outstanding, great, unbelievable,” according to defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti.
   “But we’ve played good defense,” he added.
   He’s right, and it’s past time we recognized it. Put it all together, and this team is deep, fast and talented.
   Complete.
   And also irreverent.
   That’s what I like most about these Ducks. Their attitude. The confidence — swagger, really — that underlies everything they do, and breeds a casual disregard for convention.
   They’ll do this their own way, and who cares what anyone else thinks?
   A fake punt from their own 28, with the game in doubt. Who does that? [Oregon does, obviously.  And I have more to say about that amongst the pics below.]
   Irreverence is the trait that immunizes the Ducks from pressure. No matter the moment, they never seem to feel it.
    None of them. Ever.
   “Pressure,” said Bair, parroting something he’s heard from Kelly, “is what you feel when you don’t know what you’re doing. [Wow. He just summed up my whole life.]
   “We know what we’re doing.”
    And where they’re going. After the game, you figured Kelly would finally drop the shield and let loose. Hey coach, where does this rank on your list of accomplishments?
   “It’s right up there,” Kelly said, without expression. “It’s as big as the Arizona win.”
   See? Irreverent.
   It’s the biggest win in the history of the program, given what it sets up. But that’s also why, as the celebration swirled around him, Kelly stayed relentlessly on-message.
   Mostly, so did his team, and more on that in a bit. But first, back to the moment with Bair.
   Because afterward, as Kelly deflected questions like it was Week Six, rather than the completion of a historic regular season, I kept thinking about Bair’s deflecting Ryan Katz’s third-down pass for a wide-open Quizz Rodgers.
   About Bair needling the head coach. And then both of them yukking it up on the sidelines during a tense situation.
   “He has just as much fun as we do,” said Bair of Kelly.
   It’s OK to admit it. There were moments Saturday when you were a tad worried, because never mind the final score, this was not a dominant performance. Oregon struggled against a very motivated rival.
   In the third quarter, the Beavers seized momentum with two consecutive drives deep into Oregon territory. But after forcing field goals, the Ducks weren’t concerned. Or relieved.
   No, they were bouncing over to the head coach, dropping one-liners.
   So what if Kelly barely cracked a smile with reporters afterward, if he wouldn’t let go and admit it was a big deal, winning Saturday. Not everybody was quite as restrained.
   Afterward, occasionally sipping light beer from a bottle, Aliotti was “happy as a dog in space.” [Could someone please explain what that means? It's obviously way too deep for me. I'm trying to picture my teacup Yorkie in space. And I'm telling you, he ain't at all happy.]
   “We’re the University of Oregon. We’re 12-0,” he said. “We’re back-to-back Pac-10 champs — and we’re going to The Natty.”
   Again, irreverent. And fantastic.
And give him the moment, Aliotti deserves to revel. Don’t worry, the Ducks are still on-message.
   Afterward, Kelly (and several players) made the point that their next task is final exams, and then they’ll start practicing. And Auburn? Yeah, they’ve heard a rumor that’s the opponent.
   “I think we’re all pretty excited,” Bair said. “It just feels like we’re where we’re supposed to be. It’s not, ‘Holy cow, look where we ended up.’
   “We expected this.”
   They expect more, too. You have to like the attitude — and because of it, their chances, 36 days from now, of being ready for the moment.
   And winning that day.

First play of the game, after Casey Matthews came in to
personally wish Beaver QB Ryan Katz good luck, . . . . .

. . . Katz lay on the ground for several minutes without even the strength
to click his ruby red heels together, say "There's no place like home.",
and teleport himself back to Kansas.



Meanwhile, the Ducks uni's -- shown off here by LaMJ as he
scores a TD -- are unusually NOT green OR yellow.
I maintain the combination of colors (or lack thereof) was meant
to represent the look of Waterford Crystal.
Who says the Ducks weren't looking ahead?



Terrill Turner rises above crowd to give Katz his first of four picks.

Linebacker Michael Clay, a running back in High School,
 rumbles a fake punt easily for 68 yards.

This fake punt is the play that separates the Ducks from the Beavs. It best illustrates why the Ducks are the "big brother"; why they're going to the National Championship and the Beavers are going nowhere.

It's no secret that Chip Kelly hates wasting a perfectly good 4th down on a punt. He expects to seize the momentum in the second half.  What's more, Oregon was depending on its young backup punter as Rice was ill.

Put this all together, and the surprise of this play was actually that Oregon State fell so hard for it. They absolutley were not expecting it. Completely fooled.

Said Riley afterward, "It was well done by them, but I'm really kicking myself for that."

Added OSU cornerback James Dockery, "That's just their personality, they're trying to kill you."

Well "Duh". You were expecting a niiiiiiice Civil War?



Thomas. 14 - 24, 145 yards, 2 TD's, No Int's.
He's just a stud. That's all there is to it.

Oh, it's an "O"!  That's the gang signal these kids have been flashing.
I just saw online these Nike gloves can be a great stocking stuffer for just $45.



Let the celebration begin . . .



. . . and continue . . .



. . . and anyone in the Pac-10 knows you can't have a rivalry
post-game celebration without trombone players.





Sorry Bubba. Guess you'll have to throw your toy duckie
back in the drawer for another year and re-tie the rope
around your pickup's passenger door so the wife don't
fall out whenever you turn left.
DANG!



Oh cheer up, Beavers. As if you really thought you would win.
Look at the bright side. You knocked the Ducks out of the Rose Bowl!
Put that on a T-shirt and wear it proud.

Now take a look at these next three pictures. The above pic was taken last Saturday . . .





These two pics are from the Civil War in Corvallis, 2008. Striking similarities, to say the least.
You've heard of the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem where Orthodox Jews pray?  I give you the "Failing Wall" in Reser Stadium where prostrate Beavers cry out to the football gods.

* Hey Beavs, can I give you some advice?

Do yourselves a big favor. Shoot a text or email to OSU's AD and tell him to bury the Giant Killers 1967 team once and for all and let them rest in peace.  Ask him to never bring them up ever, ever again.

   Ask yourselves this question: How many 18-20 year olds do you inspire when you drone on about a game played so far back in the previous century, it's closer in time to World War II than present day?  It was before most households had color TV or automatic dishwashers. 
   And what do kids today know of O.J. Simpson?  How many recruits are going to sign on Oregon State's dotted line when they get an overload of orange pantsed old farts waxing poetic about their victory over that great kidnapper, armed robber and wife murderer by a stupid score of 3-0? 
 
"Well ya," you might say, "but they also beat a #1 Purdue team led by the great Bob Griese and . . . "

   TEENAGERS DON'T CARE.  I was a huge Dolphin fan back in Griese's day and I don't even find that the least bit interesting!


   Year after year, Oregon State used to break out the Giant Killers' Legendary Tales  because for the longest time, that's all they had. They were so terrible, a 3-0 win over OJ Simpson's USC team was all they had to talk about.

   I'm a long time Duck fan, so I know. I remember those days. We were down there in the cellar with you. Who was that sydnicated sports columnist who wrote "The Bottom Ten" every week, talking about the worst teams in the nation? Remember that? It seemed like the Ducks and Beavers were ALWAYS there.


   But what has happened to the Beavs since then? How many times have you beaten USC since then? More times than you can count! How many bowls since then? A respectable number.
  The Beavs were in the Rose Bowl hunt until their final game in 2008 and 2009 -- two years in a row. How many coaches in the Pac-10 or Big-10 would kill to be able to walk into a recuit's home and say that?


   So I ask you, why on earth did Oregon State drag up that dusty old cobwebbed Vietnam-era team again this year?  Sure, there was a time when Giant Killers 1967 were a big deal. But why now?  

   It's up to today's Beavers to say, "Give it a rest. Stop talking about it.  It's not a big deal anymore. We've done more since then, and expect to do much more in the future."

   You don't like being called the "little brother"?  Well do yourself a favor and stop acting like one. Worse than that, stop acting like an 80-year old little brother with your walker and your soaked Depends, yelling "Giant Killers!" in the cafeteria line at the senior center. That's what you looked like the other night. And don't even let me get started on your ruby red slippers.

  As a Duck, I am the bigger brother. And, you might have noticed, we Ducks have bigger and better things to do than stop and give advice to YOU.  But I feel I have to because . . . well, . . . you're kind of embarrassing us. 

 

   So here's my advice: Get up. Stand up straight. Wipe those artificial turf rubber granules off your face. Head up, chin out.  Burn those stupid throw-backs and put on something modern. You hate Oregon's style?  FINE!  But just get some anyway -- modern style, I mean.

   Talk only about the future. Interrupt anyone who brings up the past. Be rude if you have to and tell them you don't care.
   Giant Killers are dead. Grow to hate them, because everytime someone brings them up, it means they would rather think about them than what's happening now. Work to create teams worthy of new and better nicknames. Set goals that go way beyond whatever happened in '67. Make everyone forget about them.


   Now blow the blood out of your noses and stop your sniveling. Stupid little brothers. What would we do without you? Come here. You look like you could use a good wedgie. . . . . .Hey, where are you going? GET BACK HERE!

--KB