Losing Waters

Also, is Bo gonna go?

Cal, 2016. Right before we knowingly drank our first of many losing waters.

I’m not sure if I’ve shared this story here before, but if I have, you’re going to get it again.

In 2016, we roadtripped down to Berkeley only to watch Oregon lose to Cal in double overtime.

The stadium was mostly empty; it was a lot of driving over the course of three short days; and ultimately six touchdown passes was not enough for a young Justin Herbert.

After the game, we trudged down the hill and out of Cal’s Memorial Stadium.

My brother walked beside me, sipping from a water bottle, and then a heckle came down from on high. From a porch or balcony of the student housing above the sidewalk, a voice yelled out:

“Yeah! You drink that water! That’s a losing water!”

It was simple, pointless, and wonderful all at the same time.

Peter and I made eye contact and smiles managed to cut through the pain of defeat that had been all over our faces.

We were in the midst of the worst Duck season of our lives. We had traveled miles and miles to see it up close. But some random Cal student gave us a story we’ll tell for the rest of our lives—one that could define what it means to us to be a Duck fan—and he’ll never know it.

Sometimes, you drink losing waters.

I’m drinking a losing water right now. I’ve been drinking them all week. It tastes like a mixture of Husky piss and all of the egg that’s left on my face as I had confidently declared that: “Washington can only pass really good, and that won’t be enough.”

Turns out, it absolutely was!

They threw all over our secondary, we matched up very poorly from the beginning, and I did not account for a game where we 1) made some coaching mistakes, 2) didn’t score 45 points, and 3) lost our QB1 to a gutting injury.

But I’m a Duck fan, and I drink losing waters on the regular, and I should have known much much better.

Kris Hutson was interviewed this week, in case you missed it.

The Oregonian @Oregonian

Oregon Ducks receiver Kris Hutson explains late game injury against Washington ‘part of the game plan’

oregonlive.comOregon Ducks receiver Kris Hutson explains late game injury against Washington ‘part of the game plan’If not for a first down, Hutson’s convenient cramp would’ve resulted in a 10-second runoff and the game would’ve been over in what was ultimately a 37-34 UO loss.

The first thing he said of note was that his apparent injury with one second left in the game was “part of the game plan” and of course, that comment served as the starting gun to an all-time hand-wringing race from Oregon and Washington fans alike.

In 1962, Husky fans stormed the field and tackled Duck receiver Larry Hill in the end zone when he was wide open for the game-winning touchdown.

Boo hoo, we can spend sixty years whining about that ancient sin all we want, but when you look at the all-time rivalry record, that’s just a win in Washington’s column.

End of story. 

There is currently no recourse or reaction in the sport for deciding if an injury is real or fake, and when Troy Franklin maybe probably did the exact same thing before halftime of the BYU game, we all thought it was savvy and genius.

Would I like Kris to not tell on himself? Yes.

But if he fell down with a “cramp” to stop the clock, and if we somehow scored on the last play and won the game, we’d all suffer a week to a year of crying just to ultimately look back in sixty years and only see a win in our column.

But alas, crampers never prosper, and I’ll have to wait another year for that kind of joy.

And the second thing that Kris said was probably even more crushing and it was something to the effect of: “Yeah Bo is obviously out so it’s next man up.”

Dan Lanning has tried to keep Bo’s status close to the vest this week so that they don’t give Utah a competitive advantage, but between Kris’ comment, rumors about Bo wearing a boot this week, and even the little birds in the drive-thru coffee windows all around Eugene, and I think I’ve reached my conclusion.

I don’t think Bo is playing.

That’s not anything official, I really don’t know more than you do, I’m just trying my best to read the tea leaves, and also deeply scarred from the Clemens and Dixon injuries.

But that would suck. I don’t have to tell you that it would suck, but it would suck.

Which means it’s most likely Ty Thompson time, and we have yet to see Ty either be trusted with the offense or prove himself to be worth trusting with the offense.

Also Bucky Irving has proven he can throw touchdown passes, so maybe the WildDuck can make a heavy appearance?

Either way, I bet we will lean on Bucky and Noah very heavily.

Every week I make predictions, and you’ve never once seen me predict an Oregon loss, but when I saw Bo hang his head after his injury, my gut told me that I’d probably be drinking a few more losing waters before this season is all said and done.

But Canzano just reported that Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said he poured over the tape of Bo’s injury and said that his team is fully preparing for Bo to play, and that he’d be surprised if he didn’t.

With that in mind, I’ll give you a cowardly conditional pick:

If Bo can go, even at 70%: Oregon 35, Utah 24

If it’s Ty Time: Utah 30, Oregon 17

I hope I’m even wrong on the latter pick, but I’ll be there regardless, late into the night, ready to drink my losing waters or my winning waters. 

And I’m not yet sure which of those categories a Mariota Punch falls into.

Go Ducks.