Oregon Ducks Football Campus Voice: Tackling Adversity and Diversity

Rather than the recent surge of injuries making students feel uneasy about this weekend's match up against UCLA, most around campus are more concerned about the fact that the Ducks haven’t been out of the friendly confines of Autzen Stadium for more than a month.

Students and staff alike have been debating about whether or not the Ducks can continue their winning ways despite a depleted secondary and a backup quarterback slated to start.

Most feel quite comfortable with what we have, and possess little doubt the Ducks will play hard and inspired football against a tough UCLA team at the Rose Bowl.

Where much of the doubt has been coming from this week is that the Ducks may have gotten a little too used to playing at home.

The only other game that the Ducks have played on the road this season was at Boise State, and we all know what happened there (more on that later).

Oregon’s youth and inexperience has grown accustomed to playing at Autzen in front of a frenzied crowd constantly urging them on to play at their best. However, on the road it will be much different—in fact, it will be the exact opposite. 

Many have been stating that if Oregon is to win on Saturday, those young and inexperienced players must grow up and make an impact.

Those on the other end of this discussion believe that the month-long home stand was an absolute necessity. In order to regain a winning attitude and develop some of the younger players who stepped in after the Boise game, the Ducks needed to be home for a few games rather than going back out into a hostile environment.

Either way you wan to see it, this game will show how far this Oregon Ducks team has truly come, because it is the first game back out on the road. 

I would like to now share with you a couple of interesting stories that I have heard around campus this week.

The first has to deal with the new attitude of the Oregon defense.

My roommate happens to have a class with starting LB Spencer Paysinger. Earlier this week, they happened to be sitting next to each other during said class.

Paysinger was said to be dissecting his playbook against the UCLA offense during the class. Stating things like, “they run 30 percent of the time when they are in shotgun formation.”

Not that I condone Paysinger’s lack of attention being paid to the professor, but I think this shows a dedication to the defense—and Paysinger, in particular, hasn’t shown that in the past.

I have had my fair share of classes with football players in the past, but I have never seen any of them studying their playbooks in class, or heard of such things happening.

I would actually prefer it if players would pay more attention to academics because I have heard stories of players getting off easy or receiving special treatment. Though I do not know if such stories are true, this shows commitment to getting better.

Now, onto the second story. This one is very disturbing, and shows a very ugly and dark side that still exists in this country. A person within the Oregon Athletic Department told me a story this week about what took place after the Boise State fiasco.

Apparently, this person was out getting dinner after the game when he overheard a Boise resident saying, “Good thing the Oregon Athletic Department is keeping Blount safe, because if that had happened in the city we would have hung that n*****.”

Obviously this idiotic racist was way, way out of line by saying such a thing, and I myself feel uncomfortable even now typing it.

These kinds of emotions are downright disgusting and not acceptable for our—or any other—society, and I am glad that nothing happened to LeGarrette Blount off the field in Boise.

I hope that I have not made light of the situation, but I am not sure what else to say about such a comment. I am still in shock from hearing about this story and can only hope that one day these types of feelings can come to an end.

It’s a shame that racism still lingers around collegiate athletics. Sports are supposed to bring people together, no matter their background, race, or culture.

Instead of focusing on the negatives, lets turn our attention to the challenge that lies ahead of the Ducks this Saturday.

Will they prove themselves on the road? We shall see…

GO DUCKS!!!!