Like Running Through Paper

Hurricane Oregon breaches wall of L.A. Coliseum
This is SO going over my fireplace.

Photos by Thomas Boyd, Oregonian

Beautiful. Like watching a sunrise.

321 yards. Five TD's.
USC's barns were BURNING!

See you on Sundays Marqise Lee.
Give USC credit. Despite record, 2012 Trojans one of
the most amazing passing teams in college football history.

Guess what: He's undecided for president too.

Nine. The number of times Ducks lifted player up to celebrate
TD in endzone at USC. Never been done before by anyone.

Matt Barkley threw for 484 yards on 35 of 54 passing and five touchdowns, and USC racked up 615 yards and hung 51 points on the visiting #2 ranked Oregon Ducks.

And they still lost. In fact, the Trojans never led in the game.

Oregon went up 14 -3 in the first quarter, and then they just held serve -- answering every USC score with one of their own.

We saw the truth Saturday evening. As good as USC can be -- and their offense was very good in this game -- they simply could not keep up with Oregon. Figuratively, literally, any way, every way, USC was always one or two steps behind the Ducks. Now the rest of the world knows what we always believed.

I've been having fun looking at stories from L.A. and elsewhere about this game. Ken Goe's blog page offers some great stories. I've featured a couple below.

One story from ESPN that stands out is this apology from the BCS computers:

An apology for the Oregon Ducks

By Gene Wojciechowski

ESPN.com LOS ANGELES -- Hi. I'm the computer component of the BCS standings and, well, I'd like to apologize to Oregon.

There are six of us -- by us, I mean, six computer formulas used to help determine the BCS standings -- and we haven't exactly been quacking up the Ducks. Truth is, we weren't buying what Oregon was selling.

Two of us have calculated Oregon as the fourth-best team in the country. And we were giving the Ducks the benefit of the doubt.


Three of us have Oregon rated fifth and one of us -- I'm not going to say who (yeah, I will: Jeff Sagarin) -- has the Ducks eighth. That gives them a computer average of No. 5 and an overall No. 4 BCS ranking.

And then they played USC on Saturday night in the Coliseum.

I'm good at numbers, but I don't even know where to start after watching this Ducks-Trojans game. Neither did the press box stat crew. When asked if there were postgame notes, an official said, "They're typing them up right now. There are so many records, it's taking them a long time."

OK, let's start with something simple, such as the score: Oregon 62, USC 51. You read that right: USC scored 51 points at home … and lost.

That's the most points USC has given up. Not just this season, but ever. From coaches Henry Goddard and Frank Suffel in 1888 to Lane Kiffin in 2012.

"Obviously they moved the ball," Kiffin said.

And obviously USC couldn't stop them. The Ducks rushed for 426 yards. They threw for 304 yards. That's 730 total yards, or almost a first down per play. That's also the most yards USC has ever given up in the history of the program. The next closest was 623 yards -- in 1946.

We computers knew the Ducks were good, but not this good. No wonder USC defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin looked like he wanted to go back to the NFL, where it might be easier to stop teams.

No wonder former Oregon star running back LaMichael James, a rookie with the San Francisco 49ers, said outside the Ducks' locker room, "They definitely could score."

He was talking about scoring against NFL teams. And by the way, there were a half dozen pro scouts here Saturday night. Like I said, I pay attention to numbers.

Oregon punted once. It converted both of its fourth-down attempts and 7 of 8 red zone chances.

Meanwhile, this senior running back named Kenjon Barner rushed for 321 yards and five touchdowns. That's also the most yards and TDs USC has ever given up to a player.

"Knowing who you're playing, it puts it in perspective," said USC quarterback Matt Barkley, who threw for 484 yards and five touchdowns himself.

We're a little late to the perspective party. We looked at Oregon's schedule (non-conference wins against Arkansas State, Fresno State, FCS-member Tennessee Tech; Pac-12 wins against struggling Washington State and gruesomely awful Colorado) and thought, "What's the big deal?"

Our bad. Putting up 62 points against the No. 17 team in the country, that's a big deal.

"They don't flinch," Oregon coach Chip Kelly said. "It's a team that can last over the whole course of a season."

"I was impressed," Ducks' defensive end Taylor Hart said.

So are we. And we'll be able to provide a more tangible form of appreciation for Oregon on Sunday night, when the latest BCS standings are released.

We still have a few questions. For instance, what should we think about a team that gives up 51 points?

"I don't really want to sit here and talk about how many points and yards we gave up," Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said.

But to Aliotti's credit, he did.

"Let's face it, their offense played better than our defense," he said. "But our offense played better than their defense. That's the first bad [defensive performance] we've had."

We'll take that into account when we crunch the numbers. And remember, Oregon did force three turnovers and make two stops in the red zone. And it was facing a USC offense that features two of the country's best wide receivers (Marqise Lee and Robert Woods) and one of the best quarterbacks (Barkley).

"Big-time NFL players out there," Oregon linebacker Michael Clay said of the Trojans' talent.

Luckily for us, Oregon doesn't hold a grudge. Reporters tried asking big-picture, BCS-type questions to Kelly, Clay, Barner -- you name it -- but none of the Ducks ripped our algorithms. They also didn't campaign for more votes in the polls.

"I don't really care because we're 9-0," Aliotti said. "Really, that's the best answer, we're 9-0."

They're 9-0 with a star next to their name. We'll move them up; we have to, right?

No. 3 Notre Dame needed triple overtime at home to beat unranked Pittsburgh.

No. 2 Kansas State lost quarterback Collin Klein to an undisclosed injury, but it still beat No. 24 Oklahoma State in Manhattan by two touchdowns.

And No. 1 Alabama needed a touchdown with 51 seconds remaining to beat LSU in Death Valley.

So we've got some thinking to do. And some apology notes to write.

Ours starts, Dear Oregon,

We're sorry

Obviously the computers made good on correcting their error and put Oregon back at #3 over Notre Dame. One comment about the two games, Pitt at Notre Dame and Alabama at LSU. I watched both of them and was stunned how they both had the same kind of ending.

Pitt and LSU had clear control of their respective games until about the 2:00 minute mark. Then they each just rolled over and died. Stupid coaching decisions. Their defenses froze up and began hoping instead of playing for the win. Notre Dame and Alabama were both anemic and inept until it became panic time. And amazingly Pitt and LSU both allowed them to panic their way out.

Had those two managed the upsets, Oregon and Kansas State would've been pretty well locked in.

Oh well.

Another excellent article from George Schroeder, USA TODAY Sports, titled No. 2 Oregon is doing things no team has done before contains the following excerpts:

LaMichael James, who's 49ers were bye this week, went down to L.A. and stood on the sidelines during the game. He had the following analogy about the start of high school games when cheerleaders hold up a big banner as their team charges onto the field:

"You know before high school games when they run through the paper? That's what it looked like out there," James said. "It's probably the most impressive offense I've seen in my life."

And here, Schroeder brings up a key intangible:

But possibly the Ducks' best attribute was on full display at the Coliseum: relentless unconcern. A showdown becomes a shootout? Unfazed. They just don't care. Barkley was at his best. Lee and Redd and Robert Woods and Nelson Agholor kept making plays. For one night, USC put together the kind of offensive performance that had the Trojans near the top of all the preseason polls.

And it didn't seem to matter a whit.

And one more story from the L.A. Times allows me to offer a little sympathy for the old man. A story titled Trojans simply defenseless against high-flying Ducks by Bill Plaschke is representative of a growing tar and feather rally cry for USC Defensive Coordinator Monte Kiffin,  Head Coach Lane Kiffin's dad. He is becoming the least liked father of a public figure since that of Luke Skywalker.

Once again, for a second consecutive week, that work must start with the coaches, with the seats growing warm under a defensive staff led by Kiffin's father, Monte. Remember last week's mess in Arizona? When is the last time the Trojans have allowed 1,318 yards in consecutive games? Try, never?

Darn the luck, Monte. Maybe you should go to a desperate Colorado where you might be more appreciated.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. . . NOT.
Oh joy. Another night game. The TV gods have scheduled the Oregon-Cal game for 7:30 pm next Saturday on ESPN.

One more look: