SEATTLE — Oregon should have punched it in. The Ducks should have used the final play of sopping-wet regulation to send a message on Saturday night. Not just to the Washington Huskies and adjunct professor Jimmy Lake, but to all of college football.
Ball on the 1.
A few seconds left.
The gate was wide open and Mario Cristobal’s 18-wheeler of an offense was gassed up and idling.
Oregon beat Washington 26-16. The Ducks lined up, prepared to run that play but didn’t get to add seven style points at the end. Instead, the game officials wound the clock and UO quarterback Anthony Brown looked up, confused as time expired.
Said Cristobal after: “Proud of the way our guys came over and showed their prowess in the inclement weather.”
It was a clever barb. But not quite the kill shot that putting 33 points on Lake’s prized defense would have been. Oregon is 8-1 this season and a strong bet to remain in the top four of the College Football Playoff rankings next week. But don’t let anyone tell you that pile-driving the struggling Huskies wasn’t a big-time victory for Cristobal’s emotionally charged team.
After the game, it rained F-bombs.
Cristobal ripped UW in the Ducks’ locker room and referenced the Huskies’ cancelation of the rivalry game last season. He called Washington “everything wrong with football” and congratulated his team for knocking the Huskies out on the field. We know this because Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux went live on one of his social media accounts and streamed the rant.
The Ducks won’t be happy about that. But it happened, be sure. Thibodeaux broadcasted the event to 80,000 followers. Because Oregon happens to be the only team in the conference that still conducts its post-game news conferences via Zoom, media sitting and waiting in the press box caught it all.
I didn’t mind the glimpse into the UO post-game locker room. It was spectacular theater, authentic and passionate. Cristobal was with his team, punctuating his third straight win over the Huskies and you could tell it meant something to Oregon to win decisively. I’d like to see more of that killer instinct from Oregon on the field during the final three games of this season.
Travis Dye rushed for 211 yards against UW’s prized defense. That’s a distance of two and a half city blocks. Next time you take the dog out, think about that. During the second half, with UW hapless on offense, Oregon just kept feeding Dye.
Brown threw for only 98 yards. He completed just 10 of 20 passes. There’s lots to clean up and you’re welcome to wonder how far Oregon can go without a dangerous down-field passing attack. But it was another win and the Ducks stayed upright in a season littered with programs faceplanting.
No. 2 Alabama squeezed past LSU by only six points. No. 3 Michigan State lost to Purdue. And No. 5 Ohio State beat Nebraska, but by an unimpressive 26-17 score. It was the perfect week for Oregon to send a message to America about belonging in the playoff. It’s why I waited for the Ducks on that final drive to punctuate the win by giving Dye a 29th carry and another yard.
Instead, the clock ran out.
Saturday was a lot of things, wasn’t it? The Ducks got their eighth win. Cristobal got another piece of valuable evidence to present to recruits who considering Washington and/or Oregon. And we all got another week of trying to figure out what is going on in college football that nobody outside of No. 1 Georgia looks great.
A few more quick points:
♦ This UO-UW rivalry is very much alive despite Oregon dominating by winning 17 of the last 21 meetings. Lake’s barb about recruiting and academic prowess early in the week obviously hit home with the Ducks. Players on both sides had to be separated by coaches and were left jawing at each other on the field after the game.
♦ Oregon (5-1 in Pac-12) plays Washington State (4-2) next week. The North Division stakes are sky high and the Cougars are rested, coming off a bye week and feel especially dangerous. The Ducks must win to not only keep pace in the playoff race but to avoid being knocked out of the driver’s seat in their own division.
♦ This could be the beginning of the end of Lake’s tenure as a head coach at UW. His game management was questionable on Saturday. Trailing by eight points with two minutes left Lake opted to punt the ball. The ensuing snap went over his punter’s head and resulted in a safety. Washington is 4-5. Also, Lake was asked in the post-game news conference about a scene on the sideline in the first half. The Huskies’ coach appeared to strike at linebacker Ruperake Fuavai after he was flagged for a personal foul. Lake insisted he was just “separating” the linebacker from an Oregon player. He said, “I did not strike him.” It’s sure to be talked about this week in Seattle.
So yeah, I was looking for that final TD from the Ducks. Oregon looked ready to punch the ball in, kick the PAT and walk off with some style points. Instead, they got a hard-fought win amid high winds and a lot of rain. It counted just fine. But it’s the killer instinct after the fact I focused on.
More of that please.
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