Oregon’s win over Ohio State in Week 2 — the game that seemed to announce the Ducks as true contenders this season — feels like an awful long time ago. Instead, this season has settled into the same pattern that the Ducks have had pretty much every season under Mario Cristobal. They’ll win games, they’ll contend for the Pac-12 title and they’ll con the media into overhyping them as a Playoff team. But at some point in the season, they’ll shoot themselves in the foot and lose a game they’re not supposed to lose, putting all that good work at risk. Still, they’ll have a shot at the Playoff until they get completely exposed by a pretty good team and we don’t have to think about them anymore.
The stupid loss this year wasn’t what happened Saturday. Oregon just got beat in every way by a better, more physical team that exploited every weakness the Ducks had. The inexplicable game occurred on Oct. 2 when they lost to a Stanford team that is headed to 3-9.
This same pattern happened in 2019 when Oregon had a real shot to the make the Playoff but lost a very close season opener to Auburn and then just blew it against a very beatable Arizona State team.
Cristobal has some very clear strengths as a head coach, and his staff has raised the talent level to a point where Oregon has a better roster than every team it plays in the Pac-12. It’s also true that winning every game is hard. Getting emotionally ready to perform week after week is hard. But that’s what is required if you’re going to make the Playoff, and Oregon just does not rise to that challenge. For as much as Cristobal likes to build his program on toughness and winning the line of scrimmage, you can’t disintegrate like tissue paper in a rainstorm a couple times a year and expect everyone to buy it.
Worth noting that a lot of Oregon fans on the CFB Reddit have turned on Mario, with the general consensus being that he is a great recruiter, maybe even an elite one, but he’s an average game day coach with a lot of flaws.
The stupid loss this year wasn’t what happened Saturday. Oregon just got beat in every way by a better, more physical team that exploited every weakness the Ducks had. The inexplicable game occurred on Oct. 2 when they lost to a Stanford team that is headed to 3-9.
This same pattern happened in 2019 when Oregon had a real shot to the make the Playoff but lost a very close season opener to Auburn and then just blew it against a very beatable Arizona State team.
Cristobal has some very clear strengths as a head coach, and his staff has raised the talent level to a point where Oregon has a better roster than every team it plays in the Pac-12. It’s also true that winning every game is hard. Getting emotionally ready to perform week after week is hard. But that’s what is required if you’re going to make the Playoff, and Oregon just does not rise to that challenge. For as much as Cristobal likes to build his program on toughness and winning the line of scrimmage, you can’t disintegrate like tissue paper in a rainstorm a couple times a year and expect everyone to buy it.
Misery Index notebook: Oregon's season ends in predictable disappointment; Texas has completely cratered
The Misery Index looks at Oregon, which stumbled once again to dash any Playoff hopes; Texas, which is about as bad as it's ever been, and much more.
www.usatoday.com
Worth noting that a lot of Oregon fans on the CFB Reddit have turned on Mario, with the general consensus being that he is a great recruiter, maybe even an elite one, but he’s an average game day coach with a lot of flaws.
