Mariota Christmas to All

Before I look back at this year's Heisman trophy winner, it is only right that I take a moment to talk about the first and only other Heisman winner from the state of Oregon, OSU's Terry Baker.

Why? Because Oregon State did something really classy. They took out this half page ad in the Oregonian to reach across the valley and pay classy respect to their chief rival.

So in kind, I will take this time to honor their winner, Terry Baker.

Terry Baker won the Heisman Trophy in 1962 after an incredible year of not only throwing 2,476 yards and 23 touchdowns, but rushing for an additional 1503 yards and 15 TD's.

The first player to win the award west of Texas, Baker is also still the only player to win the Heisman in football AND play in the Final Four in basketball.

One of his more memorable--

OK that's enough.

DOES CHARACTER COUNT? (Mariota's, not mine.)
This time it most certainly does. In fact all three Heisman candidates were considered people of outstanding character.

ESPN opened this story with the following line:
 You can exhale now, America. This Heisman Trophy winner you can bring home to Mom.

Humble. Selfless. Genuine. Incredible.
Fans from Hawaii to Oregon can feel
nothing but pride for identifying with
Marcus Mariota.

Through the middle of the season, Mariota was given the stupid label of being "Too nice." Reporters and bloggers across the country repeated the simplistic phrase with no substance. I don't know what they were looking for.

But I do know that when Mariota lost his only game this year at home to the Wildcats, he didn't throw his towel over his head and run to the locker room. He certainly did not flip off the opposing bench.

He walked halfway across the field, found some kids, kneeled down and started signing autographs.

Then he came out next week and every week after that and absolutely annihilated every foe that stood in his way, including those same Wildcats.

Too nice? Whatever.

It's just refreshing to see when honor, respect and decency come with winning AND losing. It's nice to see when athletic dominance doesn't have to go hand-in-hand with a-holeness.

I don't know exactly when the Heisman became just a trophy for the best stats and most wins. The selection process became boring when you could just add up the number of ESPN highlights for each candidate and pick the winner. Perhaps it was always that way.


Badger and Tide fans, you too should feel nothing but
envy that you didn't have Marcus Mariota.

Make no mistake, Mariota had all of those skill and highlight boxes checked for his own self. But unlike three of the last four . . . uh, "winners" in Cam Newton, Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston, nobody felt like they needed to take a hot soapy shower after voting for him.

WE THE STATE OF FLORIDA,
FIND JAMEIS WINSTON "AWESOME"!
The Florida State Judge (which, to me, still suggests a judge that went to Florida State) determined that he could not find Jameis Winston in violation of the FSU Conduct Code that strongly discourages the raping of women because he felt the accuser's testimony was no more convincing than the accused.

Could that be because the victim's burden to prove that she was raped was made more difficult because Winston did not have to answer any questions? And further, Winston's two buddies who were also in the apartment, including the one that allegedly filmed this mutually consented tender moment of love making, did not have to testify. They didn't even have to show up.

The accuser and her attorneys were permitted to ask Winston questions in written format. And he was permitted to not answer a single one.

Here are two excerpts from this ESPN article:
Under FSU's student conduct rules, Winston wasn't required to answer any or all questions during the Dec. 2-3 hearing. Instead, Winston read from a prepared five-page statement as his opening statement, and then referred to it again when questioned by Harding on the second day. Winston then cited the rule that permitted him not to answer questions: "From the Rule 6C2R-3.004(6)(d) of the Florida State Student Code of Conduct I'm not going to answer."
Harding then asked him: "And so you're not going to answer any additional questions?"
"Yes, Your Honor," Winston responded

Sunday, after Harding cleared Winston, the accuser's attorneys, Kerr and John Clune, issued a statement, saying: "Of the four people in that apartment only one, our client, testified, and she answered any and all questions about what happened. The three football players, Jameis Winston, Chris Casher, and Ronald Darby, all refused to testify and answer questions and somehow Jameis Winston still wins."

Well of course he wins. The woman failed to prove that Winston was lying when he didn't say anything. Oh sure, he had a 5-page prepared written statement; but it was certainly washed, spun, and rinsed by his lawyers.

But still, the people of the State of Florida are satisfied that justice was served. Jameis Winston gets to play football.

Stay classy, FSU.



Yes Virginia, there IS an
Oregon Heisman Trophy winner.

Wishing all of you the happiest of holidays, the Merriest Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza; and for those who celebrate Festavus, you were always a disappointment to our family.

--KB

Special For Many Reasons

OK check the office pool. Which of us had Oregon winning by 38? A valuable asset for any team is peaking at the right time. And Oregon is playing it's best football right now in December, going into the playoffs.

Going into the Pac-12 Championship, we were all recalling what Arizona had done the past two times these teams have met. But Friday night, Mariota and Co. worked their magic and erased all those memories. Marcus was the true Superman that Oregon needed. One Arizona fan on social media commented that he couldn't believe this was the same team that beat Oregon in October. The truth was, Arizona was the same team.

It was Oregon who was different.

No Scooby Sacks this time.

Back in October, Arizona sacked Mariota five times and forced two fumbles. This time, nothing and notta. Mariota floated around the pocket like a bubble boy. Whenever Scooby and the gang barely got within arms reach of him, he just rolled away and kept looking down field. His pocket awareness was near perfect.

The second this guy fell on his butt,
he was prey. Mariota saw him and raced
to the corner of the endzone for his second
rushing TD on the night.

 Ball control was incredible too. Mariota was 25 for 38, 303 yards, 2 pass TD's, ran in three more, and no interceptions. In his previous three games against the Wildcats, he had never scored a rushing TD on them.  Freshman Royce Freeman handled the running duties like a boss, carrying 21 times for 114 yards.  

Rolls Royce

The defense stepped up and quieted all of Don Pellum's critics. Arizona's two dangerous weapons, QB Anu Solomon and RB Nick Wilson were both neutered.

Everyone said Oregon HAD TO shut down Arizona's run to have a chance. They held Wilson to 26 yards on 13 carries. Their best rusher was actually their third string QB, Jerrard Randall. He kept the ball 11 times for 74 yards, but couldn't muster a single pass completion in his only 5 attempts.

Solomon going down.

Arizona Coach Rich Rodriguez tried three different quarterbacks. After zero points and repeated three-and-outs in the first half, he put in his second and third string and we saw Solomon on the sidelines in a walking boot.  

Isn't it Rich?

Rich Rod was sulky and short in the post game interview, but he said all the right things. He had plenty of praise for the Ducks, and before he spoke of his team's failures, he said he was out-coached. This was a big statement because I think he was the one coach who consistently had Coach Helfrich's number.

And what of Scooby Wright? I can't find the stats on him, but it's possible he had recorded fewer tackles for losses than losses of lunches. I mean dude was blowing groceries. So was AZ's center as seen in the video below. Did a puke bug drive the team bus?

Wildcat horkin' up a hairball on the field. Oh poor kitty.

All this great win did was solidify good things for the future. Mariota is going to win the Heisman. And Oregon finished #2 in the final national standings and will meet Florida State in the Rose Bowl for the playoff semifinal.

I'll focus on that in the days to come. But let me say how beautifully this is all setting up to be a storied season for the Ducks.

In the regular season, Oregon demolished one of their significant nemesis of previous seasons, Stanford. In the Pac-12 Championship, the Ducks got that rare opportunity in football -- a do-over, a rubber match. They got to face Arizona --the one team that had beaten them this year -- and vanquish them on a big stage.

Now they are facing Florida State, the reigning National Champion with last year's Heisman Trophy winner. Get past them, and the next opponent only becomes more legendary.

They'll face either Ohio State, a previous foe they had lost to the first time Chip Kelly took the Ducks to a BCS Bowl. Or they'll face the perennial National Champion and current SEC Champion Alabama -- the team coached by Nick Saban, the one who said the hurry-up no-huddle was bad for football. Oregon-Alabama is the matchup everyone has wanted to see for years.

But let's not count our ducklings yet. For now. Let's just enjoy these moments.

The Oregon Ducks: Current 11-time winner over Washington. 7-time winner over Oregon State. 8-time winner over Washington State. Current victor over Stanford and Arizona. Such a routine victor over USC and UCLA that it's not even worth counting.

Pac-12 Champions. #2 in the nation. National Champion Playoff Contender.

And there was one more thing. What was it? . . . . . . . . . Oh ya.
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80th Annual Heisman Trophy Presentation. Saturday, Dec. 13th. 5pm Pacific on ESPN.

--KB