The Oregon Duck Argument

Leave a comment

October 30, 2012 by ryanoudoak

This is part 2 out of a 5 part submission examining the BCS race this week. Check back throughout the week and click on the links below for past submissions.

Monday’s Submission:

The Set-Up

Tuesday’s Submission:

The Oregon Duck Argument

Oregon started the season as the #5 team in the nation, according to the Coaches Poll while Kansas St. and Notre Dame both started ranked in the bottom five of the Coaches top-25 rankings. Oregon came in ranked high because they are a proven commodity. They have been ranked in the top-13 since late in the 2009 season. They finished the 2009 and 2010 seasons by losing in the Rose Bowl to Ohio St. and the BCS Championship to Auburn, but were competitive in both games. The beginning of the 2011 season saw them lose a neutral field contest to LSU but, again, the game was closely competitive. Aside from these 3 losses, Oregon is 10-2 against top-25 teams since the beginning of 2009, including 2-0 this season. Despite not having a long history of success as a program, they have proven themselves as a consistent threat on a National level under 4^th year Coach Brian Kelly (42-6). The only loss suffered under Coach Kelly to an unranked team came to Andrew Luck’s Stanford team on the road by 9 points. Bottom line, Oregon has proven that they will show up week after week and their offense and defense are clicking this year. They have scored an average of more than 53 points per game through 8 games this year and have won by an average of 34 points per contest. They have not been threated this year, with their closest contest coming to Fresno St. in Week 2 when they only won 42-25.

All that said, Oregon’s greatest challenges are in the weeks to come starting on Saturday with a trip to Los Angeles to take on Southern Cal. Their next four weeks will also include trips to Cal, Oregon St., and a home game against Stanford. Cal is the one breather in the coming weeks and that is still a Conference game on the road. Additionally, Oregon is likely to face Southern Cal in a Conference Championship as a reward for running through that gauntlet. Needless to say, they will have earned their way to the National Championship game if they make it there and they have proven through recent history that they will compete well if given that opportunity.

Wednesday’s Submission:

The Kansas St. Wildcat Argument

Thursday’s Submission:

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish Argument

Friday’s Submission:

Who Will Play Alabama?