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Do Ducks have shot at the
national title?
The Advocate
A single game can often make or break a season for a football team. The Oregon Ducks, filled with hope for earning a Rose Bowl berth for the first time since 1995, are facing just such a game this weekend.
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The number 10 ranked Ducks in the BCS polls — the Quack Attack, the Green Machine — will take on the number five University of Southern California Trojans on Halloween night. This game is more than just another game. This game decides where the Ducks can ultimately finish in the Bowl Championship Series at the end of the year.
At the very least, this game will determine which team gets the honor of playing in the Rose Bowl. But more important, it may give the winner a shot at competing in the BCS national title game.
Granted, the Ducks are taking on the Trojans, who have finished in the top five the past five seasons and who showed up in the national title game in two of three years during the Reggie Bush-Matt Leinart era. This USC team always has a solid defense and has weapons on offense ranging from backs that run a 4.1 40-yard dash to wideouts who make more catches than the whole WAC conference did in 2008. But this USC team is missing something you can’t teach in a player — and that is heart.
The Ducks, meanwhile, have lost six defensive starters to injury, including captain Walter Thurmond III, and are just getting back T.J. Ward as a safety.
Nevertheless, they have stayed resilient, minus the Boise State season opener that they lost embarrassingly. This Duck defense has been able to hold off opponents since that big-time loss to the Broncos and they are even scoring points to help an already-potent offense led by quarterback Jeremiah Masoli.
After his poor performance as the Ducks barely slipped by Purdue and finally realizing he is not untouchable, Masoli actually remembered how to have fun playing the game. He has taken this spread option offense, with talent scattered in every position from tight end Ed Dickson to the duel threat at tailback of
Kenyan Barber and LeMichael James, and made it fun to watch.
With such a potent offense, and with USC fielding a fairly new defense, I say the Ducks Saturday will show why they have a perfect conference record of 4-0 and ultimately will once again be at the top of the Pac-10.
But after the game, what comes next for the Ducks? In some weird way, they could make a push to the title game.
With a victory over the Trojans coupled with a loss from Cincinnati, TCU or Iowa, I can see the Ducks jumping into the top five. But then more importantly down the road, a late loss from Florida and Alabama could push the Ducks into a title shot due to strength of schedule. The Ducks can jump ahead of the Boise State because the Broncos have no real opposition challenging them in the WAC conference; because LSU is good but not good enough; and because Texas is having issues. There is a wonderful shot of the Ducks making a run to be in the national title game.
So the real question is this: Are the Ducks ready to become national title contenders this Saturday? Hopefully, the answer is yes.
The Advocate reserves the right to not publish comments based on their appropriateness.