Oregon Smells Roses: Ducks Defeat Oregon State, Head To Rose Bowl

If the Rose Bowl is half as good as the Pac-10 qualifier was, then we're in for a treat when Ohio State and Oregon get it on in early January of 2010.

It's strange, because Oregon State fans will probably be feeling a little annoyed about losing the game. The Beavers had three opportunities inside the Ducks' 20 to score, and three times they blew it, only scoring nine points out of a possible 21. Ouch.

Oregon State will also be annoyed at their team's lack of ability to deal with the deafening crowd noise in Autzen Stadium. We lost count of false start penalties. Hadn't some of these guys played in the 2007 Civil War?

But before we completely deride Oregon State, let's give the Ducks some love. We all know about their lovely cheerleaders (in our view woefully ignored by the ESPN cameras on Thursday night), but the football's not bad either.

LaMichael James is one of the Pac-10's better running backs. Jeremiah Masoli—who probably didn't have the best game of his life—wasn't fantastic, but with the running backs on offer, he didn't have to be.

The game was also about redemption. After LeGarrette Blount's infamous antics at the start of the year, it was nice to see him come back for a few drives and punish the Beavers "D" on the inside. He scored a touchdown. He blocked (pretty) well. And he could be a pain in the butt against the Buckeyes.

But the redemption was also for the Ducks themselves, who were so awful against Boise—and then against Stanford later in the year—that we were maybe asking ourselves if this schizophrenic team could get its act together in a game that really counted.

But Masoli & Co. answered. Now Buckeyes fans will be hoping that they don't get it together for a second game in a row.