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.

Cal Throws Caution to the Wind, Gets Blown Away.

Photos from Oregonian, San Jose Mercury News, and Getty.

A busy night for Marcus Mariota.

Cal holds Kenjon Barner to only 65 yards rushing? Fine . . .

Oregon rushed for 426 yards two weeks ago against USC. Last Saturday, Cal worked to shut that down.

They successfully stopped Oregon's powerful running game, limiting the Ducks to 180 yards -- barely half their average.  No one loaded up the box and shut down Barner this year better than the Bears. But they only dulled one edge of Oregon's sword. And suddenly, the downfield was Marcus Mariota's paradise.

. . . So Oregon will Huff . . .

. . . and Huff . . .

. . . and Huff.

Mariota threw, completing 27 of 34 for 377 yards, six TD's and no interceptions. Nine receivers caught at least one pass. DeAnthony Thomas and Josh Huff both received for over 100 yards. Seven of Oregon's eight TD's were pass receptions. Huff had three.

"Cal just filled the box and gave us an opportunity to throw," Mariota said. "I had a lot of fun throwing it around."

One announcer noted that any Stanford players watching the game must have felt pretty giddy about their chances when they saw Cal's early success against the run. But then no future opponent of Oregon's must have felt too good when they saw Mariota light it up like a southpaw brawler suddenly landing right-handed haymakers.

"After what they did last week to USC, I thought we did a good job (defensively) in the running game," [Cal Coach Jeff ]Tedford said. "But you've got to pick your poison against these guys."

The real drama was with Oregon's defensive line -- not a starter among them. Injuries and perhaps other things kept them all either on the sideline or back home in Eugene.

Cal frightened the beegeesus out of Duck fans as they looked like they were going to have as much success moving the football as USC did last week.

From the Oregonian article: Freshmen Arik Armstead, DeForest Buckner and Alex Balducci shore up Oregon's D-line . . .

Oregon's D-line has been hit hard by injuries recently. Dion Jordan (shoulder), Isaac Remington (ankle), Ricky Heimuli (knee) all suited up, but did not play. Wade Keliikipi (injury unknown) was not in uniform, leaving the Ducks without four regulars on the D-line. Taylor Hart left Saturday's game with an unspecified leg injury, though Oregon coach Chip Kelly said after the game that he was doing fine.

Alex Balducci had to shed his red shirt. Buckner and Armstead looked a little lost out there at first but started putting more pressure on Cal's QB in the second half.

And then manchild Arik Armstead will blow your house down.

So how good are these Ducks when Cal shuts down their bread and butter, so they simply switch to cake and cream cheese? And to add insult, the Bears could only ring up 17 points at home against a defense half patched together with second and third stringers. Don't forget, Oregon lost another safety too. Avery Patterson will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL.

WELL I'LL BE DAMNED, ALABAM!!!
Look what happened to you! With your stunning loss to Johnny Football and the A&M Inbreds, things just got much more difficult for Nick Saban.

You may recall that Saban was on a mission to protect America's children from the harm that might befall them should this wicked and ungodly no-huddle/spread-option movement catch on and spread from Oregon -- the most unchurched state in the Union!

"People might get hurt," he said. Now who is going to stop them if not you, Saint Nick?


HELLO KANSAS STATE, YOU NEVER RETURNED OUR CALLS, BUT THAT'S OK. WE'LL JUST FIND YOU . . .
KSU's longtime coach Bill Snyder, who nixed the contract to play a home-and-home against Oregon this year and last, is now facing the real possibility of facing those same Ducks on the biggest stage . . . . just like he planned it, I'm sure.

In the BCS, KSU is first, Oregon second, and undefeated Notre Dame is third. The next two weeks buzzes with a thick plot line.

Notre Dame's coach, Brian Kelly (or as Oregon fans refer to him: Imitation Coach Kelly) made his case at a news conference that the Irish deserve to be in the Natty because his team has the lowest scoring defense in the country.

Doesn't he know that when you pitch your case for a particular bowl game in front of a microphone, it looks pathetic and merely demonstrates that you definitely do not belong in that bowl? Aside from that, he makes a compelling case.

Not since 1987 do I recall the #1 offense meeting the #1 defense for the championship when Penn State played Miami in what was billed as the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.

Oregon and Notre Dame? I'd love to see it, never mind that Penn State's immovable defense won that day, 14-10.  

BY THE NUMBERS
The AP and Coaches polls love the Ducks, #1 in both, with the majority of first place votes. Sentient beings with anatomical eyes attached to organic intuitive intelligence centers clearly see the Ducks are the best team in the nation.

It's the silicon based entities that still have trouble recognizing Oregon. The stingy BCS computers just want to know two things. Who have you played? Who have you beaten?

Simply put, despite skipping Oregon this season, Kansas State has played more ranked teams. So has Notre Dame. But that is about to change.

With two weeks of the regular season left, the schedules of these three teams go like this:

Kansas State plays unranked Baylor, then finishes against 15th ranked Texas.

Notre Dame plays unranked Wake Forest, then travels to L.A. to play 18th ranked USC. By the way, that means N.D. and Oregon will have both played Stanford and USC this year. Everyone will be eager to see how both teams fared against these common opponents.

After these two weeks, both K. State and N.D. are done, having just played one ranked team each.

Oregon, meanwhile, starts off against the highest of all the ranked opponents in #13 Stanford. Then they play the Civil War against #16 Oregon State. OSU may be ranked even higher by then assuming they get past Cal this Saturday -- which brings up a little message I have for them.

Hey Beavs, is it too much to ask that you try not to suck so much this Saturday?  I mean, what do I have to say?  You know how you usually are? Try not to be that way against Cal. OK? Have your QB's tape up their ankles, rub some dirt on it and get back out there. Take a PRIDE pill, Beavs. Take two. They're small.

But here comes the kicker. After those two games, the Ducks will have the Pac-12 Championship against one more likely ranked team. Right now it's looking like UCLA or USC, currently ranked 17th and 18th respectively.

Even #4 Alabama's remaining schedule is weak. Next week they host the Western Carolina Catamounts. Regardless of the score, they should drop in rank just on the general principle of scheduling such a patsy so late in the season. The following week they play the surprisingly very very unranked Auburn Tigers. The SEC Championship follows; but will it be too late by then?

The bottom line is this. Oregon will play three likely ranked teams while the other Natty hopefuls will face one at best. So the question I have should Oregon win out: What would keep them from not only playing in the Natty, but also passing Kansas State to #1 by December 1st?

IS THE TRUTH LEACHING OUT IN PULLMAN?
What is going on at WSU? From the Oregonian story:
Marquess Wilson, Washington State's career-leading receiver suspended by the football program last week, issued a letter Saturday afternoon saying he's done at the school and alleging "physical, emotional and verbal abuse" by Mike Leach's first-year coaching staff.


WSU hired Mike Leach about two years after he was fired from Texas Tech. A Huffington Post article explains the back story . . .
Leach was fired from Texas Tech after the 2009 season for an incident in which he was alleged to have ordered a player with a concussion to sit in a storage shed during practice. Leach disputed the allegation and it was not proven. Leach has sued Texas Tech, contending he was fired so the school could avoid a large payment due him at the end of the year.

Washington State hired Leach late last year to revive a moribund program, paying him more than $2 million a year. The hire energized the fan base, but it has been a tough initial season, as the Cougars are 2-8 with two games left.

Leach has raised eyebrows with his comments lambasting his team after some games. He has said some of the seniors display an "empty corpse quality," said the team's performance in a loss at Utah resembled a zombie convention, and said the play of his offensive and defensive lines in that game "bordered on cowardice."

Leach appears to be the kind of person who runs on the theory that sometimes a coach has to be a prick to be effective. But what if your team is 2-8, sliding on a six-game losing streak? Apparently he's not being effective. So what does that leave? He's just a prick.

More about next foe Stanford later.

--KB