Oregon gets shot at Pac-12 title

Published 12:00 am Friday, December 11, 2020

Well, as of this writing at least, Oregon football fans got their wish.

On Monday morning, the Pac-12 Conference announced that Oregon will replace Washington as the championship game opponent for USC, because the Washington Huskies don’t have enough players available due to COVID-19 cases and contact tracing.

So, the Ducks, who haven’t won a game since holding off UCLA (barely) on Nov. 21, will play USC at 5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18, for a Pac-12 championship.

Yes, Ducks fans, your team backed into this opportunity. Washington’s misfortune is Oregon’s good fortune — at least if the Ducks used their week off to fix problems with execution of the offense.

Sure, the Ducks might well have beaten the Huskies last weekend and earned the North crown outright. What might have happened can be debated. What can’t be debated is how big this opportunity is for Oregon — or that the Ducks deserve it.

No, Oregon hasn’t played championship-level football on the field. Inexperience — particularly at quarterback and on the offensive line, but elsewhere, too — meant the Ducks didn’t execute at critical times in their losses to Oregon State and California. Turnovers, as they so often do in football, have prevented a young team with talent from playing to its potential.

Those shortcomings aside, the Ducks at times have looked capable of great things. Even with the rough second half at Cal, Tyler Shough sits third in third in the Pac-12 with 11 TD throws and second in passing yards per game (277.8). Even with a first-year quarterback running a new offense and No. 1 running back CJ Verdell limited in several games, Oregon’s average of 467 yards per game still tops the conference entering this weekend.

The Ducks’ defensive numbers aren’t as impressive. But, opponents are running an average of nine more offensive plays per game than the Ducks — a reflection in part of Oregon’s minus-7 turnover ratio.

One positive: the Ducks should be healthier than they were in losses to Oregon State and Cal.

Results aside, Oregon is getting its shot to repeat as Pac-12 champion because it (at least as of Monday) has won off the field. These Ducks have succeeded at the most important and challenging task of this strange season: They’ve stayed healthy. Whatever protocols they’ve adopted has limited the impact (I repeat, at least so far) of COVID-19 on the Oregon program.

That’s significant. And, in this scenario, was critical to earning — yes, earning — the opportunity that comes Friday.

So the Ducks shouldn’t apologize for playing Friday. And they need to play well enough that they won’t need to apologize for their performance.

Make no mistake: this is a grand opportunity that’s fallen into the Ducks’ lap, and they’d need to seize it. Any chance at a championship, even one with an asterisk, is significant. And, another primetime chance to go toe-to-toe with Southern Cal is terrific exposure for a program that envisions itself consistently competing for national championships..

• I have no crystal ball on the future of Mario Cristobal, whose name was among the first mentioned as a candidate for the opening at Auburn. He has said he is committed to building Oregon into a national title contender. He and his staff are expected to land the highest-ranked recruiting class in Ducks’ history on Wednesday, the first day of the “early” signing period for 2021 recruits, adding to an already impressive young roster. Recruiting success at that level is one reason Cristobal’s name will continue to be near the top of many wish lists — and why it’s vital for the Ducks to keep him.