BCS Championship Game: Power Ranking the Oregon Ducks' 12 Wins
The 2010 Oregon Ducks' 12 wins are the most victories in the team's 117 year history. As with all college football seasons, Oregon's included blowouts, close(ish) games and one where they eked out a win by the skin of their teeth.*
The difference with the 2010 season is that they won them all.
Because of their undefeated season and 12 wins, on January 10th, 2010, the Ducks will have a chance to become immortalized in college football history when they play the Auburn Tigers in the BCS Championship Game.
Here's my ranking of the toughest, most meaningful and important of all 12 Duck victories in the 2010 season, one that will be remembered forever by Duck fans, no matter the outcome in Glendale.
*Just looked it up, there's no teeth of any kind on ducks. Is "skin of their beaks" a thing? Doesn't sound right.
12. Oregon 69, Portland State 0
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A last-minute fill-in for Central Michigan, the Portland State Vikings of the FCS Big Sky Conference were no match for an Oregon team energized by a big road win against Tennessee.
LaMichael James rushed for a career-high 277 yards in his first home game of the season. Even so, he called it "the worst game I've ever played in my life," saying, "I had a lot of yards, yeah, but I didn't really play that well. I take that on myself."
Even so, it was good enough to lead the Ducks to their second shutout of the year. I was there and took photos of the slaughter.
It was really rainy, even by Oregon standards.
11. Oregon 72, New Mexico 0
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Oregon's season opener against New Mexico was important in that it was the first test for a team full of question marks.
How would the Ducks fare after losing their starting quarterback?
How would the backfield look without starter LaMichael James, out for the game on suspension?
What would morale be like after a tumultuous offseason and a loss in the Rose Bowl?
Is Darron Thomas ready to be the starting quarterback?
In a 72-0 rout over the Mountain West's Lobos, the answers were:
1. Just fine.
2. Backup Kenjon Barner rushed for four tochdowns and caught another one.
3. Morale, discipline and confidence were high as the Ducks set the tone for the rest of the season.
4. QB Thomas threw for 228 yards and two touchdowns, including a 60-yarder to Kenjon Barner.
It was a great way to start the season, and a great day to be a Ducks fan, as evidenced here in the photos I took on that perfect day for college football.
10. Oregon 42, Washington State 23
3 of 12The Washington State Cougars, Pac-10 cellar dwellers in recent years, played an extremely physical football game against the Ducks in Pullman, Wash.
Ducks fans, players and coaching staff had their worst fears actualized, with two stars injured in a game that was supposed to be a cupcake matchup.
The biggest scare came when Kenjon Barner was knocked unconscious on a kick return (video above) and had to spend the night in a Pullman hospital.
Quarterback Darron Thomas also injured his arm, but that injury wasn't very serious and gave fans a chance to see backup QB Nate Costa play a nearly flawless game that included both passing and rushing touchdowns.
.jpg?w=256 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
9. Oregon 60, UCLA 13
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It was a Thursday night prime time game on ESPN and represented the first chance much of the nation had to see the fast-paced, high-scoring team from Oregon.
The Ducks did not disappoint, dropping 60 points on the Bruins in an Autzen Stadium "yellow out," with the Ducks and their fans showing up in yellow garb.
It was a nice night for football. I sat with my girlfriend in the UCLA visitor's section where we were able to get good seats (photos) and meet some of the Bruin faithful.
They were really nice people who halfway through the second quarter, when it didn't look so great for their team, leaned over and told us "This doesn't matter, let's just make sure we both beat USC."
Nine days later we kept up our end of the bargain in L.A., though the Bruins fell short in their season finale.
8. Oregon 53, Washington 16
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With Jake Locker out with an injury, Husky backup QB Keith Price had his work cut out for him in the 2010 installment of this traditional Northwest rivalry match.
Lopsided in favor of the Ducks for the last decade, this year's game between the rivals was no different, with the Ducks scoring over 50 points for the sixth time this season.
LaMichael James rushed for three touchdowns, Darron Thomas rushed for two and threw for one.
This victory brought Oregon to a perfect 6-0 in Pac-10 play, 9-0 overall.
7. Oregon 42, Arizona State 31
6 of 12The No. 7 game on this power ranking of Oregon's victories marked the start of Pac-10 play for the Ducks, against a tough Arizona State team in Tempe.
Prior to the game, Coach Chip Kelly had Oregon practicing indoors, with heat pumped into the facility to raise the temperature to over 90 degrees.
In a tough match that saw LaMichael James held to less that 100 yards for the first time in 2010, first-year quarterback Darron Thomas saw his star and stock rise in a come-from-behind performance, passing for two TDs and rushing for another.
This would be the sixth time in a row that Oregon has beaten the Sun Devils.
6. Oregon 48, Arizona 29
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When the 2010 schedule was released, this Black Friday matchup between the Pac-10's No. 1 and No. 2 teams from 2009 looked to be a candidate for game of the year.
The double overtime Oregon win in Tuscon last year was a match for the ages and the catalyst that propelled the Ducks into their Pac-10 Championship and BCS Bowl.
With losses to Oregon State, Stanford and USC, however, this Wildcats team seemed to be as mercurial as their wack-job head coach, Mike Stoops.
Thomas tossed for three touchdowns, James ran for two in a victory that locked the Ducks in for a Rose Bowl berth at the very least, and a shot at the National Championship with one more win.
5. Oregon 48, Tennessee 13
8 of 12The trip to legendary Neyland Stadium in Knoxville was the first real test for Oregon. Having to play in front of over 100,000 SEC fans wasn't going to be anything like the home opener against New Mexico the week before.
After the Volunteers scored twice, lightning in the area cause the game to be stopped for over an hour.
Following an Oregon kick, Tennessee would score one more time in the first minute of the second quarter, but after that, it was all Ducks.
Darron Thomas proved he could handle one of the most hostile crowds in the country, throwing for over 200 yards and two touchdowns.
Oregon looks to go 2-1 against the SEC on January 10th.
4. Oregon 52, USC 32
9 of 12If ever there was a motivated spoiler, it was the 2010 USC Trojans on Saturday, October 30th. Here's why:
1. Absolutely nothing to lose. NCAA sanctions have squashed any post-season dreams for the Men of Troy for this year and the next.
2. Revenge. Last season's dismantling of the No. 5 Trojans by the No. 10 Ducks was not only a signature win for that year's squad, but also an involuntary passing of the Pac-10 supremacy torch.
3. GameDay. ESPN's College GameDay was in L.A. for this match that was televised on network TV in prime time, always a motivator.
4. With no possibility of a bowl game, a home match against then-No. 2 Oregon was their Super Bowl.
Turns out none of that mattered, and the Ducks issued almost as big of a 2010 beatdown as the NCAA. Darron Thomas went nuts and threw for four touchdowns, and LaMichael James ran for three more.
Jeff Maehl caught three TDs, including the miracle catch featured in the video above.
It was Fright Night all over again for Matt Barkley, who completed less than half his passes and was picked twice.
3. Oregon 52, Stanford 31
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Easily the toughest of Oregon's three ranked opponents came to town on October 2nd for a Pac-10 showdown that was the first of three GameDay-covered matches of the Season for Oregon. GameDay chose this battle of Pac-10 heavyweights over both the Red River rivalry and Alabama-Florida that day.
I got to the GameDay rally in Eugene at 3 a.m. with my dad to make sure I captured as much of the spectacle as I could. Those photos are here.
This was to be a match of Heisman hopefuls in Stanford QB Andrew Luck and Oregon star back LaMichael James. Neither would disappoint, and both ended up in New York last week for the ceremony.
After jumping out to crowd-silencing 21-3 lead, it was apparent that the team from Palo Alto was no joke and was worth every bit of its No. 9 ranking in the national polls.
Oregon's head coach, Chip Kelly, was able to what he would later become famous for, make adjustments at halftime that would neuter the opponent's offense and create offensive schemes that would take advantage of what he learned during the first half about the other squad's defense.
Stanford, like many other opponents in 2010, did not score in the second half and were scored on often.
Oregon finished with 626 yards of total offense on the strength of three Thomas touchdown passes and just as many on the ground by LaMichael James.
The Ducks stared down adversity in the Stanford game, and came out victorious against (still) one of the top teams in the country, a team that would not lose again all year and will be playing in the BCS Orange Bowl.
2. Oregon 15, California 13
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Oregon scored less points in the whole game than they usually do in a quarter when they faced the Golden Bears in Berkeley on November 13th.
I took my dad on the trip as a Father's Day present, and we had front-row end-zone seats for a nail-biter that had very little offense, horrible officiating, missed field goals (at the most inopportune times) by both teams, cheating and Oregon facing a truly inspired Cal team playing their last season in Memorial Stadium in its current incarnation.
I think I took some of my best photos of the season that day. Check them out here, if you like. There are cheerleaders :)
The outstanding coaching staff at Auburn will probably watch the tape of the Cal game closely when coming up with different ways to stop Oregon's high-powered offense. What I saw was Cal playing killer defense on every play and a D-line that caused all kinds of trouble for the read-option that night.
The best "play" of the night came in the fourth quarter. Known for their blazing speed on offense, run at a pace that causes other teams to cheat just to keep up, Oregon won this particular game by slowing the game's pace to a crawl and keeping the ball out of Cal's hands, who could have won with a field goal.
The Ducks ate up most of the fourth quarter with an 18-point drive that chewed up the final nine minutes and 20 seconds of the game. You can watch the whole thing if you want, just block out some time.
Was it as good as The Play, one of the most famous single plays in all of sports that also took place on the same field in 1982? No.
What it was—and why it's No. 2 in these power rankings—was a testament to the fact that the 2010 Ducks, like their Auburn opponents in January, just win. They finish. They have more points at the end—however you want to put it.
Oregon was out of its comfort zone in that the game wasn't a blowout and that the nature of the game and the cheating were not conducive to a "speed kill," overwhelm-through-superior-conditioning type of victory.
When Oregon's style wasn't effective, Chip Kelly flipped the script and came out on top. "Eat our dust" became "suck our snail trail," and the Ducks were one game closer to a National Championship.
1. The Civil War: Oregon 37, Oregon State 20
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There has yet to be a bigger game in Oregon Duck football history than the the 2010 Civil War against the Oregon State Beavers on December 4th, 2010 at Reser Stadium in Corvallis, No. 1 on my power ranking of the Ducks' 2010 victories.
Win and you're in the National Championship. Lose, and you go to the Rose Bowl to end a season where doing so would actually be viewed as a major disappointment.
On top of it all, Oregon had to play the Beavers, its in-state rivalry that comes to play every time the two teams meet. The Beavers were coached by the incredible Mike Riley and led on offense by Jacquizz Rodgers. On defense they had the NFL-bound Stephen Paea, who is a nightmare to opposing teams. On special teams they featured Jordan Poyer, who is a star in the making and a graduate of my alma mater, Astoria High School (go Fisherman!).
And again, this match would be the game featured on GameDay with Erin Andrews and the crew visiting the OSU campus. (I caught a shot of her, it's in my gallery of photos from the day.)
The Beavers struck first, and when the Ducks answered, OSU blocked the PAT. It looked as though the home team was ready to play and ride the momentum.
Oregon, however, proceeded to overpower, confuse and outscore the Beavers for the rest of the game, just as they have done with most of their opponents this season.
When all was said and done, Oregon fans flooded the field and stayed there until after I left, over an hour past the final whistle. The Beavers and their fans were gracious in defeat and wonderful hosts, as they allowed their bitter rivals to celebrate as long as they wanted on their home turf. They played back-to-back songs like "We Are the Champions" and "Winner Takes It All" for the duration of the celebrating. In my opinion, that takes a special kind of class.
The victory meant a date with destiny in the BCS National Championship Game, something never before achieved by an Oregon ducks team who awaits a chance to top every game on this list when they take on the powerhouse from the SEC, the Auburn Tigers, on January 10th, 2011.
Barring some miracle, I will be shooting photos of my TV that day. It's a big TV. :)
.jpg?w=480 "Ohio State Team Doctor")
