Will The Real Oregon Ducks Please Stand Up?

When you look at where Oregon stands right now it almost makes your brain hurt with the possibilities of how their season could end up at the conclusion of the regular season schedule.   The campaign started out with one of the most embarrassing nights in the modern era of the program.   A pathetically bad performance vs. Boise State that was easily overshadowed by LaGarrette Blount's monumental post-game meltdown was followed by two so-so performances at home vs. Purdue and Utah.   Fast forward to September 26 and it may be remembered as the day "it all came together" as the Ducks blasted California 42-3 and one could argue it wasn't even that close.

So..........now what?

Before the Cal game, you could argue that Oregon was on the verge of just battling to become bowl eligible.    After the Cal game, you have some prognosticators sending the Ducks to the Rose Bowl.   What really will happen?   Losing Thorpe Nominee Walter Thurmond III on the opening kickoff Saturday will definitely be a huge loss for the Ducks.   But there is depth there and the emergence of some young players like free safety John Boyett and RB LaMichael James have Duck fans back on the bandwagon big time both for 2009 and beyond since both are freshman and the Ducks will return 10 starters on offense in 2010 and most of a defense that is getting better every week as well.

Winning this weekend is a complete certainly with Washington State coming to town.   After that though, Oregon gets road trips to UCLA, Washington, and Stanford with a game at home on Halloween vs. USC in between Washington and Stanford.   After Utah I would tell you they would be lucky to win one of them.    Now some will argue that they could and/or should win all of them.    I think the real likelihood is somewhere in between.   

The winner of this year's Pac 10 is going to have two losses in league play for the first time in who knows how long.    The league's lack of game breaking players means that it will be harder than ever to win road games simply because it will take total team efforts to get wins on the road this year.   No team has more than one bonafide offensive superstar on their rosters which makes the matchups fairly even across the board in each game as far as skill players go.    The development of Oregon's offensive line will be a key factor in the Ducks Run for the Roses if there is going to be one.   One of the consistent traits of Chip Kelly's offense at Oregon is that they have improved during the year in each of his two seasons as offensive coordinator and while there was nowhere to go but up after Boise State, the offense has gotten better each week so far which could be bad news for the rest of the league because if they get any better than they were last week they will be running laps around opposing defenses.

The perfect storm is here.   USC's offense is a little rough right now, the defense is good but not as dominating as they have previously been, and USC plays at both California (this weekend) at Oregon.   Right now you could argue that no less than 8 Pac 10 teams are in good shape to go bowling if they can protect their homefield.   Of course, if everyone does that the league champion might even have three losses.   Now that makes your brain hurt..................