Trying to Find the Wins in a Loss

That forced fumble. . .  That drive to tie the score. . . . After three-and-a-half quarters, FINALLY, we found our Ducks.

Casey Matthews forces fumble.

"Too small" Casey Matthews put on his speed burners and caught the Heisman QB 'god' from behind. He knocked the football free in front of the watchful eyes of Cliff Harris.

Oregon's ball.  And Darron Thomas was ready.


Cliff Harris recovers fumble.

 With three pass completions including a 29-yard catch by D.J. Davis on 4th and five, Thomas brought the Ducks to the four yard line.

After an Auburn penalty and a timeout, Thomas flipped a beautiful inside pitch to LamJ for the touchdown.



LamJ scores off Thomas shovel pass.



Maehl Man delivers 2.

Oregon made no hesitation about going for two. Auburn was ready, or so they thought.  But they never saw it coming, that pass -- a diagonal cross-field heave that your Pop Warner coach told you NEVER to throw -- into the arms of the always reliable Maehl Man.

Good News: Score tied. A new ballgame.

Bad News: Cam Newton had 2:33 left to put his near perfect field goal kicker into good position. I started preparing myself for the odds.

You know the rest of the story. We'll save the "Was he down?" discussion for another time.

I want to tell you about the near-equal drama simultaneously happening in our house.

My grandson, ten year-old Joe, was just as excited as the four grownups in our living room.  When Maehl caught that two-pointer, our collective screaming had no doubt rattled our neighbors' windows.

The body flip and continued run of the Tiger player everyone thought was down, combined with the endlessly long review of the player's knee outside the goal line, had blood pressures soaring all over the nation for sure.

Can you imagine what it was like for a ten year-old who grew up with Duck fans, has been to Autzen more times than many of you lately, rarely has seen a Duck loss in his young life, and has been talking and thinking about this game for over a month?

His voice started getting higher, shrill even. With increasing rapidity, he was shouting, "HE WAS DOWN!  HE WAS DOWN!  HE WAS DOWN!"  Joe was hopping up and down on the couch, his hands slapping the cushions.

I, sitting nearest to him,  became alarmed that I was about to see my young Duck padawan suffer his first stroke at the tender age of ten. I jumped up and went to him and as I did, he broke into tears sobbing, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

I sat down and put my arm around him and said "Joe, it's OK."  We all tried to calm him down, and at the same time cool our own levels of anxiety and excitement.

I very calmly explained the reality of the moment to him. If Auburn makes this field goal, they win. That's it. The game is over.

With my arm still around him, we watched the ball sail between the uprights. And we grown-ups filled the air with nothing more than benign exhales and simple utterances like "That's it." "It's over." And Joe observed as we all got up and started taking dishes into the kitchen.

Oh don't let this charade fool you. We were all crying like colicky babies on the inside. But none of us wanted to be the one to teach Joe how to lose your composure and allow something you love -- something that's supposed to be fun -- tear you apart.  Football is ideally supposed to be an escape FROM the harsh world and not a part of.

As the elder Duck fan in household, I knew more than anyone what the Ducks are capable of doing to their beloved fans. Football, basketball, ultimate Frisbee, you name it . . . . Each soul-filling win has the potential to merely set you up for the next heart-crushing loss.

String 12 wins in a row?  God help us all.

In the minutes that followed, I noticed Joe was following me around the house. The events of the last three hours still swimming in his young mind, he kept uttering things like, "I hate Fairley." "Fairley played unfairly."  "He was down."  "If the Ducks had only . . . . "  "I wish Thomas could have . . . . "

I turned to him and said, "Joe, do you know what you're upset about?" 

He just looked at me.

"You're upset that your Oregon Ducks just lost the National College Football Championship by three points.  And I'm telling you, that's a pretty cool thing to be upset about.  Do you understand?"

His eyes started misting up again as his mother came by. I tried to explain a little more about how most teams never even get to the championship (That would be you, Beavers.).

I could have stretched that thought out in perspective with examples of things to really be upset about like death and war and a shooting in Tucson. But I stuck to the event of the moment.  Hey, he's TEN.

Still, any bit of wisdom you can teach a ten year-old is probably something worth remind ourselves.

You've heard of the game, "Would You Rather"?

WOULD YOU RATHER . . . . .

. . .hate losing the National Championship, or love winning the GoDaddy.com Bowl?

. . .lament a loss to end up 12 - 1, or cheer a victory giving you a winning record of
6 - 5?

If you're a fan of any team that has it's ups and downs, you get enough of these losses into your system until they start acting like a vaccine against despair. 

Disappointment? Sure.  But no need to despair . . . . unless you were one of those Duck fans who spent $10,000 for a ticket.  I truly pity those poor bastards.

THANKS LIL' BROTHER
There we Duck fans were, standing on a cloud. And after the game, who was there to help us down?  Our Little Beaver Brothers were waiting to step us back down to our grounded reality.

 Tuesday morning I woke up to find this email from one of my Beaver friends:
\/
\/
\/
\/

Beautiful. That's great.  No really.  I'm laughing even now. Thank you for welcoming me back down from my high.  National Championships may come and go, but you'll always be there for us, Beavs.

BTW, tell Quizz I said "Hi". . . . . . . . Hey, where'd he go?


So as Mike Brady would ask his Bunch,
what can we learn from this experience? *
*Editor's note: I'd like to take this moment to welcome newest subscriber Connor Fieggen to the readership -- a young teen who probably has NO IDEA what I'm talking about with Mike Brady or Bunch or whatever.

Perhaps we can learn from this loss that which we win by teaching our children and reminding ourselves the character building value of dealing with loss and disappointment.

From this loss we can learn the virtue of graciousness.


From this loss, Coach Kelly reminds us of priorities and perspective.
“I said in my first game [Boise State] when I was the head coach one game doesn’t define you as a person or as a football player,” he said. “And the same thing still holds true. These guys are champions. I love them. We’ll be back.” -- Coach Chip Kelly after the game

In fact if we take a moment, we can discover all of the things we gain -- the "wins, if you will -- in the silver lining of this loss.  We Ducks have WON some immeasureable human qualities from this contest that Auburn fans will never know. 

We say congratulations to Auburn. You have won. But we have NOT lost.

 . . . . . . . . . .

 . . . . . . . 

 . . . . .

 . . . .

 . . 

Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa !

Losing sucks and so does Auburn.

And you Beavers can all GO TO HELL!!!!!

I hope you've learned
a valuable lesson from this.

Just don't tell Joe I said that.

--KB

Toss the Coin Already!

If the Ducks lose, I will sink to the floor and cry like a colicky baby.
If the Ducks win, I will sink to the floor and cry like a colicky baby.

If you're like me, you're ready. You've read all there is to read. Studied plenty of game film. Heard every opinion. Analyzed every chart. Scraped up every shred of clue from even a closed practice.

In Sunday's Oregonian was one final huge pre-game special section with tons of stories -- thanks in part to both teams showing up for a mandatory media day on Saturday.  Finally, the poor reporters who've been camped down there for a week had some new material.

If the Ducks win, I will tattoo the
winged 'O' glove design directly
on to my hands.

I couldn't read any of it. I'm exhausted. I'm just DONE. I realized what I, and probably you, have been looking for through all of the thousands of column inches and scores of broadcast hours.  We've been looking for one distinguished expert to say, "The Ducks will win. And here's why . . ."

But even when someone says that, are you going to believe him or her?  Not when there's someone else saying the same for Auburn.

Look, here's the long and short of it. Oregon can win this game. But both teams are evenly matched for different reasons. Auburn is a little bigger. Oregon is a little faster. But beyond that, it's in the air.

Oregon can beat Auburn if they can contain Cam Newton. And the Trailblazers could've beaten Chicago if they could've contained Michael Jordan.

If Cam Newton has a Heisman kind of day -- the game of his life much like Terrelle Pryor in last year's Rose Bowl -- the Ducks would have to be perfect.

If Oregon's defense messes Newton up, and the special teams are special, then Oregon's offense can steal the show.

Please don't ask me for the data to back that up because like I said, I'm done. Not going to worry about what anybody says anymore.

If Oregon wins, this color
"Yell-n-Scream"Yellow/Green
is going up on my living room walls!

Just toss the coin. Let's get it on. Git 'er done. Lock and load. It's GO time. 

Because . . . . .





BECAUSE . . . . . . . . .











BECAUSE . . . . . . . .



I GOT A FEELING



Shake off the jitters. You know the drill. Crank both of these vids and get yourself amped for something wonderful.

Win The Day

Fast, Hard, Finish

NCAA Football National Championship, Monday, 5:30 Pacific. Lots of pregame and postgame around it. All on ESPN

Oh BTW. Win or lose on Monday, I'm walking tall on Tuesday. Never been prouder.

--KB

The Bigger they are . . . . . .

Oregon's "small" defensive unit gang-returns a fumble
by Stanford, who would go on to win the Orange Bowl
and impress Cam Newton!

Auburn fans and their media have done a good job of buying into a couple of myths. Let me deal with the most glaring one here.

Fact: Auburn's offensive line outweighs Oregon's defensive line by an average of 304 to 259 pounds.

Myth: Auburn is going to win because of it.

The last time I heard such a big deal made of the lines' weight difference was when Oregon faced Colorado in the 2002 Fiesta Bowl. Oregon won easily 38-16 while holding the Buffalos, who had averaged 229 yards rushing, to only 49 yards.

The truth is offensive lines typically outweigh defensive lines.  Laws of physics say that the immovable object has to be significantly bigger than the unstoppable force. The question is, who has the quicker feet? Better skills? More energy? Smarter teamwork?

You think this is the first big offensive line Oregon has faced? USC's starting 10 averaged 297. Washington was 303. Even Portland State had five O-linemen on their roster over 310.

"Well ya, KB, but what about SEC teams?"

Like Tennessee? A whopping 308!  The truth is, I would love for Oregon to play more SEC teams if only to dispel the myth about their dominance.

Ask TCU how impressed they were with Wisconsin's grain-fed meaty boys in the Rose Bowl.

Interestingly, the ones not getting caught up in all this BIG talk are the Auburn coaches.  In this article from the Opelika-Auburn News,
(Pronounced Opel- LEEK-a.  Actually I don't if that's how its really pronounced. I just hope so because I like to say Opel-LEEK-a. . . . . What does an Italian car mechanic say whenever someone brings in an Opel and complains of always having to add oil?)

I forgot what I was talking about. . . . Oh ya. Fortunately for Auburn, their offensive line coach ain't no fool, unlike their fans. . . .

Ducks defense has its fair share of depth
By David Morrison

Published: January 02, 2011
A number of statistics pertaining to the Oregon football team’s defense catch the eye of Auburn offensive line coach Jeff Grimes.

The combined poundage Ducks’ front line isn’t one of them.

Grimes said he doesn’t put much weight behind the fact that Auburn’s offensive front outweighs Oregon’s starting front four by an average of 45 pounds (304 to 259).

“If a lot has been made about that, they’re concentrating on the wrong things,” Grimes said. “Often (size is) one of the things that’s overestimated, because there are a lot of times where a defensive lineman that’s 270 pounds is a lot better player than a guy who’s 310 pounds.”

And that was before he got a chance to watch the Rose Bowl between Wisconsin and TCU.

The Badgers’ offensive linemen had the Horned Frogs’ front outweighed by an average of about 50 pounds, and TCU was able to make enough plays to pull out a 21-19 win.

The stats Grimes would rather focus on are where the Ducks’ defense ranks nationally in sacks (18th), rush yards per game (16th), points per game (12th) and takeaways (third).

“Those guys don’t give up on a play. They make a lot of hustle plays,” Grimes said. “Diving at the quarterback and tripping them at the last second for a sack, jumping and batting the football down. They get a lot of turnovers just because they play so hard.”

It doesn’t hurt that the Ducks have a nearly constant rotating cast of characters to help keep them fresh.

Oregon has 26 players with 10 or more tackles this season, 21 with a tackle for a loss, 11 with a sack and nine with an interception.

“To play so many plays on the defensive side of the ball, they are very good at what they do, especially with the high explosive offense that they have,” Tigers quarterback Cam Newton said. “They probably don’t get on the bench as long because of what the offense possesses. It makes them have so many plays on defense.”

The complexity of Oregon’s scheme complements its defenders’ effort.

Offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn said the Ducks utilize their team speed by bringing pressure from just about everywhere on the field.

“They’re not ever going to be in the same place,” Malzahn said. “They’re never going to be still. They’re going to be moving. They come at you from different angles. They do some very unique things.”

Even though Oregon’s depth chart is set up in a conventional 4-3, Malzahn said the Ducks bring most of their blitzes from odd fronts, so it’s never very certain where the rushers are coming from.

He said Oregon’s defense has “some similarities with Mississippi State,” which had the most success against Auburn’s offense this season, allowing only 348 yards and 17 points in September.

The Ducks also have a hybrid rush end/linebacker in 6-foot-3, 232-pound senior Kenny Rowe (12.5 TFL, 6.0 sacks, four forced fumbles), who does everything from filling run gaps to dropping into zone coverage for Oregon.

Think 6-3, 259-pound Georgia junior Justin Houston, who tallied six tackles and a sack against Auburn in the Tigers’ 49-31 win on Nov. 13.

“The good thing would be that we’ve got 30, 35 days to prepare for the unusual things they do,” Malzahn said. “You never know about the wrinkles a team might have with this may days to prepare. We’ve got to be able to adjust, got to be able to identify to their plan early enough.”

The Ducks’ secondary more than keeps up the whole “speed” motif.

Cornerback Cliff Harris, who has four punt return touchdowns this season, and safety John Boyett have combined for 10 of the Ducks’ 20 interceptions this season.

Harris, Boyett, corner Talmadge Jackson and safety Eddie Pleasant have also combined for 32 pass breakups this season.

“Speed,” wide receivers coach Trooper Taylor said. “Those guys can run and they’re not afraid to play man coverage, and they’ve done it against some really good receivers.”

So how are the Tigers reacting to these challenges Oregon presents? It's right here in yesterday's Oregonian:

BCS National Championship: No curfew for Auburn, but Cam Newton won't give details on his evenings out
Published: Tuesday, January 04, 2011, 6:45 PM

By Lindsay Schnell, The Oregonian

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Chip Kelly has imposed a strict curfew with the Oregon Ducks in the week leading up to the BCS championship game, but on the other side it’s all fun and games with the Auburn Tigers. For now.


After Internet reports surfaced that star quarterback Cam Newton and some of his teammates were out at a club till almost 2 a.m., Newton was asked on Tuesday if any sort of curfew has been put in place for Auburn.

“I think that’s up to coach (Gene) Chizik,” Newton said. “If he said, ‘Lock it down’ I’m pretty sure we don’t have a choice about that … it wasn’t a lockdown last night. Just being around this program has been an excellent, excellent environment, not too much stress. Everybody’s just smiling and having a good time.”

So what did Newton and others do Monday night in their free time?

“I can’t really say that on camera,” Newton said, before laughing. [HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa . . . . . . . We're laughing right along with you Newton. After all, Las Vegas has you winning by 3.  Oops!  Make that 2-1/2. It just went down this week!
Hmmmm. Think fewer bettors are laughing with you because they've been noticing the two teams' different approaches to the game?

Cam
"Just smiling and having
a good time . . . . . "

One thing Newton did for sure was watch the Orange Bowl, where he saw Pac-10 quarterback Andrew Luck complete 18 of 23 passes for 287 yards and four touchdowns, leading the Cardinal to a 40-12 defeat of Virginia Tech. Newton came away impressed.

“Andrew Luck had an excellent game,” said Newton, adding that watching a good quarterback performance “absolutely” gets him amped before a big game. “He raised the bar for quarterbacks to come. He managed the game very well, and I was pleased with him.” [You'll be raising your bar to someone who lost to the Ducks, Cam.  BTW, Luck finished second to you in the Heisman.  If you lose Monday, don't you think you should give him the trophy?]

THIS JUST IN:
OREGON'S POWER BALLAD
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