BCS Championship Path:10 Steps That Earned the Oregon Ducks 12 Wins
Waiting is the hardest thing to do. Ask anyone on the Oregon Ducks or Auburn Tigers. The long layoff between the final week of the season and the National Title game is over a month away and will feel like a year. The one good thing that comes from the wait is the opportunity to take a look back.
Back in February and March, it appeared that the Ducks football team was falling apart and would not be a contender as previously thought. Jeremiah Masoli was eventually kicked off the team and the Ducks found themselves without a quarterback and feeling like they lost their identity.
This championship run began all the way back in May at the Oregon spring game and was cemented with late season wins. Here is a look at the ten moments that defined the Ducks season.
Jeremiah Masoli Being Excused From The Team
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Arguably the most important thing that happened to the Ducks this year was immediately viewed as the worst thing possible. When Jeremiah Masoli ran into legal troubles, the strength that Oregon has at quarterback was now brought into question.
If Masoli avoided trouble and remained on the team, the Ducks would still have Darron Thomas on the sideline waiting his turn. The key difference between the two is that Thomas has forced defenses to respect the Ducks passing game, which was a part of Masoli's game that was inconsistent at best.
The Quarterback Selection
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Once the dust had settled from the offseason issues, the focus quickly shifted to who would take over as the Ducks quarterback. All spring and summer Darron Thomas and Nate Costa battled it out until the week before the season began. With seven days remaining before Oregon kicked off the 2010 season, Chip Kelly named Darron Thomas his starter, who hasn't looked back since.
The Opening Drive of The Year
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With the question of how Darron Thomas would do fresh in peoples minds, the Ducks had the first drive of the game against New Mexico and had no problem moving the ball. Deep in New Mexico territory, Thomas dropped back and threw an interception that he saw go back into Duck territory.
This could have been a moment that Thomas immediately started to doubt himself and wonder if we was ready for the starting job. Instead, Thomas came right back out and lead the offense to a 72-0 win, throwing for over 200 yards and 2 touchdowns. This was one of the many moments you could see Thomas grow as a quarterback and leader.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
Down 13-3 at Tennessee
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Just in the second game of the year, the Ducks were faced with adversity. They were on the road, in a hostile environment, trailing by 10 points and looking sluggish.
The Ducks defense held strong as the offense found its legs. Before the half came to an end, Darron Thomas found David Paulson for a touchdown to tie the game. The Ducks would run away with the game with big plays in the second half, outscoring Tennessee 35-0 in the third and fourth quarter.
Trailing 21-3 at Home Against Stanford
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After a 4-0 start, the Ducks hosted Stanford in a game that was viewed as an early season elimination game in the Pac-10 conference. The crowd was excited, the stage was set, College Gameday had been there live in the morning, and the Ducks came out flat.
After falling behind 21-3 and looking like they would be blown out of their own stadium, the Ducks stormed back and won the game 52-31. The win would get the nations attention and put them on top of the Pac-10 for good.
Kenjon Barner Goes Down
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The Ducks were at 5-0 and rolling through opponents and lighting up the scoreboard. After beating Stanford, Oregon took on Washington State and their season took an emotional turn.
Early on, Kenjon Barner returned a kick but was hit head on and knocked out. After nine agonizing minutes of waiting for some movement out of Barner, he finally sat up and was helped off the field and taken to the hospital.
This injury hit the Ducks hard but it also was a moment that brought this team together. Barner would eventually return and appears to be back to his old self.
Ducks Take Down Trojans and Become No. 1
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Again, College Gameday was on sight for an Oregon game but this time it was at the USC Colosseum. The Ducks were 7-0 and now were No. 2 in the nation. The game had been built as a passing of the torch game in the Pac-10 and the Ducks reached out and grabbed it, beating the Trojans 53-32.
The Battle With Cal
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Now No. 1 in the country and 9-0, the Ducks headed to Berkley to take on Cal. Leading up to this game, nobody had been able to even slow down the Ducks top ranked offense.
The Ducks and Golden Bears battled for sixty minutes but the most crucial were the last nine. The Ducks offense struggled all game long to get on track but in the final nine minutes, Oregon went on a 18 play drive that ate up the rest of the clock and moved the Ducks to 10-0.
A Not So Civil War
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After beating Arizona, the Ducks found themselves at 11-0 and had wrapped up their second straight Pac-10 title. As if Oregon needed any more motivation to beat the Beavers in the Civil War, a trip to the national championship was on the line.
The Ducks were tight and distracted early but as they had done all season long, Oregon pulled away in the second half and won the game 37-20. This finished the schools first 12-0 season in their history and allowed them to shift their focus to the Auburn Tigers.
The Final Rankings
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24 hours after beating Oregon State, things became official for the Oregon Ducks. The last BCS rankings were released and the Ducks found themselves at No. 2 and were officially matched up with Auburn to play in the national championship.
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
