Play like it's your last time together.

Modern Family's Ty Burell is from Oregon and a huge Duck fan. His co-star Eric Stonestreet graduated from Kansas State. Meanwhile there's a third guy in the video. Notice the T-shirt he's wearing. Very funny.



I don't think I'm the only one who has been guilty of focusing on the Chip Kelly/NFL drama at the risk of almost forgetting that Oregon has one more game to play -- a huge game -- what many are calling the biggest bowl game next to the Natty.

Let's all just start off by easing our minds about something: Coach Kelly will be coaching an NFL team next season. The latest has him meeting with the Cleveland Browns on Friday. Maybe it won't happen, but right now it's best for everyone to let go of all the speculation and contemplation and just resolve our mindset to the probability.

But for now, this great Oregon team has one more encore with it's "Win The Day" creator. (Ken Goe got a head start on Kelly's impending collegiate career obituaries in this article about Kelly's "WTD" legacy at Oregon.)

Thursday, with Kelly leaving in the back of their minds, everyone in that locker room needs to make this game special. Play for each other. Play for their coach. Play like it's the end of an era.

The storyline for Oregon's date with Kansas State is interesting. The Ducks will be facing a team coached by a very smart man.  Coach Bill Snyder showed wisdom in deciding he never wanted to play the Ducks. Three years ago, he cancelled a home-and-home series with Oregon. The risk of loss, especially this year at Autzen, didn't fit into his strategy.

And it worked. The Wildcats got a win where they might have had a loss; and for a whole week KS was ranked #1 with Oregon right behind.

But now, irony of ironies, his roll of the dice has turned against him. Had Snyder faced Oregon earlier this season, he would've faced a young redshirt freshman quarterback that had barely cut his teeth on Arkansas State. He would've had the first real shot at unleashing his talented defense on a young Mariota who had yet to win any days against league opponents including at L.A. Coliseum.

Had he played Oregon as originally scheduled, he would've faced a young team that had yet to get it's mouth bloodied by a Rose Bowl bound Stanford -- a team with a defense far better than his. The Cardinal gave Oregon some valuable experience in how to face a big D that's tough on the run.

Hey Snyder, do you have Alanis Morissette's
"Ironic" on your Ipod? Because THAT would be ironic!

Certainly the same can be said for Kansas State. They're no doubt better than they were four months ago. But their experience is more troubling. Their one loss was a slaughter against the one opponent (with a losing record, mind you) that played Oregon style football.

Baylor pasted the Wildcats with a running back who had easy success on them, Lache Seastrunk. Sound familiar? Yes, that Lache Seastrunk who was fifth on Oregon's depth chart a year earlier. 

The Portland Tribune wrote about it. Here's an excerpt from Tuesday's article.

• Coach Chip Kelly, whose Ducks have the same 11-1 record as K-State going into their bowl meeting at Glendale, Ariz., had these observations of the Wildcats' loss to Baylor:


"On the defensive side, they just missed some tackles. Schematically, it wasn't that (Baylor) exploited something from K-State where you were like, 'Wow, we can add that to our arsenal as we prepare for this game.' ... When you look at that game, then you look at the totality of the season, there's not one thing that (K-State) did drastically different in that game. I think Baylor has a lot of speed, speed in space. They made kids miss tackles. When they missed tackles, they hit some long runs. Didn't happen the rest of the year."

By the way, Oregon has speed in space as well.

  It's like this, Snyder. If you didn't think you could beat Oregon before, what makes you think you can beat a more experienced Oregon team now? An Oregon team that could crush the Baylor that crushed you. An Oregon team that will only be better for playing a Stanford that could also beat you. 

Snyder, you left an Oregon team and it's coaches very disappointed when you weasled out of your contract to play them. So what might you think of Oregon's desire now to . . . . uhh . . . make the most of this opportunity?

Thursday evening will be the time when the Ducks demonstrate a simple statement -- a statement that I sincerely hope a Duck fan in the stands of the Fiesta Bowl will have the wisdom to write on poster board along with the usual letters "ESPN". A statement when, at the appropriate moment in the game, a cameraman will turn to it to summarize for the world what will already be clear:

"This is why Snyder didn't want to play the Ducks."

Excuse me? Did he say prima donnas?

Go for it, Hubert. Oh and tell your tough defense they'd better get a good night's sleep tonight.



Fiesta Bowl Thursday, Jan. 3rd. 5:30 on ESPN.