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I kept convincing myself we were gonna steal that one.
With a minute and change left, I was almost sure that the Ducks had found just enough to squeeze by. With a really strong second half on both sides of the ball, I thought we could survive an insane number of injuries, countless mistakes, clock mismanagement, and more.
Surviving within an inch of our lives; living to regroup over the thirteen day bye week.
But we didn’t. And now that regrouping takes on a whole new meaning.
These Ducks have already lived a million lives this season. One week, they were on top of the college football world. Talks of playoff—and true program ascension—danced in their heads. And now the injury/availability/incompleteness bug has bitten the Ducks so damn hard that it’s almost crazy.
So, does this Stanford game mark the start of the epic DVD recap of the 2021 season? Or does it mark the auspicious beginning of the Ty Thompson-era in Eugene?
Most of you are probably hoping that it’s the latter, and I don’t blame you anymore.
I have never been disingenuous in my defense of Anthony Brown, I friggen love the guy he was in Columbus, and I love the guy I still hope he could be.
But we have somehow arrived at a pivotal bye week in which the focus cannot simply be “1-0”—it has to be about about the program.
Mario Cristobal knows that, too. He’s the master recruiter after all. He understands the value of The Future Play more than almost any other coach in the conference.
And now he has thirteen days.
But it isn’t just Mario who has to reassess their plan of attack. The whole team has to make up their minds:
Assuming CJ is hurt as badly as he looked to be, is a young running back going to grow up quick and become the next LaMichael James Story? Travis can’t be expected to do it all, and the o-line we saw in the second half could make holes for anyone willing to run through them.
And what does KT decide to do with his season? Does he come out for the second half of the Cal game and decide to go scorched Earth? Or does he pack it in and choose to stay healthy for the Draft? I wouldn’t blame him one bit.
What do Verone, Noah, Mykael, and Dorlus do as they look around that defense to see so many of their fellow starters missing? Do they rally the troops? Or do they simply tread water the rest of the way?
I don’t think there is any “giving up” going on in that locker room, but one can only hope that this Stanford game can light a fire—not extinguish one.
Maybe those decisions aren’t made completely over the course of the bye week—but the QB “decision”? Yeah, that has to be made now.
And I truly mean QB decision. Not QB move.
If Anthony Brown is the starter against Cal, then that’s the decision. He’s the guy, and we have to go all in on making him the best he can be—and demanding much more than what he produced in that first half and overtime. And I think he could absolutely still win this cluster of a Pac-12 (assuming his offensive coordinator is well enough to help him get there).
If Ty Thompson is the starter against Cal, that’ll be the decision, too. Can’t platoon ‘em. Can’t go back to the AB well after that. Mario has to make that call and mean it. The locker room deserves at least that much.
And a move to Ty also means that the road ahead—with all these injuries—has been made that much more daunting with a true freshman at the helm.
We’d have to take the growing pains with the upside, and we basically make it clear that—while we’d sure love to make a run for the conference this year—we’re really just playing with the 2022 Georgia game in mind.
I can’t blame anyone for wanting more out of the quarterback.
If you asked me? I still think AB gives us the stability that we are oh-so-deeply lacking. I want to think that JoMo and a devotion to the run game would allow him to pull us back out of this. You’re 4-1 heading into the meat of Pac-12 play, you can’t seriously tell me this season a wash in October.
But if Ty trots out there, everything immediately becomes fresh again. Lower expectations, more freedom, and maybe even less stress.
Who am I really kidding with the “less stress” thing, though?
Maybe that’s what we all need. Fresh.
TL;DR: The Ducks get thirteen days exactly when they desperately needed ‘em.
What they do with these next few days will define the season.
Go Ducks.
Impeccable reference (I think) to the 2001 Championship Season DVD.
None of us can actually watch this abysmal offense and think Brown is the answer, yes against theOhio State he was because their D coord allowed us to be one dimensional and never I mean never took advantage of it. Brown simply cannot throw the ball vertically and I am not talking just down field I mean I am talking 8 yards and his vision downfield is horrible, he has open dudes running all over the place. It is time to move on to Ty and if we don't we should all be worried about our leader as he simply would be too stubborn to make the change. I will visit clock management at another time because I am to frustrated over the subject to write coherent thoughts.
ABEL