Ducks have taste of the other side

Never the underdog has its downside, too

It was a loss the University of Oregon football team ... had to have.

Oklahoma State 39, Oregon 31.

Figure out fourth-and-seven from the OSU 43 late in the third quarter and coach Dan Lanning elected to go for the first down, trailing only 27-24. Quarterback Dante Moore got sacked on the play, but the Ducks held the Cowboys to a field goal - aided in part by a missed face mask call on defense. Oregon then rallied to take the lead 31-30 before the home team completely took over the game, and held the visitors to just one first down on their final three drives.

The Ducks simply got beat by a better team, which would have seemed arguably true in the team’s opener against Boise State if they had lost on the scoreboard and not won 31-24 in Eugene.

That fourth-down call seemed to fit a developing genre for the season already - “We can make any play at any time, and the game, no matter the score, will work out for us eventually. Just watch.

“We’re Oregon, and you’re not.”

The Ducks seem to have lost the luster for winning that comes with being an underdog, because they're never the underdog anymore.

So, Oregon is 1-1, heading into a home game on Friday against Portland State.

Oregon has shown off some big-time plays and players, but nothing even close to seeming like they’re a playoff team. Of course, this isn’t playoff time, so if a loss like Saturday’s at Oklahoma State is going to happen, it should happen in the second week of the season.

Now, what the team does with the lessons it should be learning about getting back to the basics that got the program up to No. 2 in the preseason rankings, well, that’s a good challenge for fans to be following.

Those basic lessons have to get up to Lanning, too. Maybe playing the odds on the team’s side are a good thing - just punt on fourth-and-seven, and give let the defense do its thing. The program got to No. 2 building game plans that way.

Portland State should obviously be a huge win, but one without penalties. And, one with some offensive play-calling creativity. Oregon has looked pretty horrible on offense, especially with its basic ability to block for running plays.

And, truly, the season should be back to true basics - PSU is not a guaranteed win, just as Oklahoma State should not have been even after it lost its opener at Tulsa (do they even have a team in Tulsa?).

Oregon travels to USC Sept. 26 in what is likely to be a very well-promoted game on national TV as the Trojans will likely be 4-0, and the game will be at the Memorial Coliseum - a great spot for night games, even though the time has yet to be set.

As much as the loss at Oklahoma State is disappointing, hopefully, it refocuses the coaches and players on what they should and can do to be the team that shows of title potential one play at a time, for all 60 minutes, and doesn’t assume the results of anything. Oregon really is a better program than "We're Oregon, and you're not," but it hasn't played that way so far.

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Ducks

Cliff Pfenning

Cliff is a lifelong resident of Oregon and has four decades of experience as a writer, photographer, videographer, broadcaster and now producer. He's a grad of Benson High in Portland and the University of Oregon. His writing background includes stints at The Oregonian, The Register-Guard, The News-Review in Roseburg, The Portland Tribune, The Portland Observer as well as regular contributions to The Medford Mail-Tribune and Willamette Week. He was set to be a content provider for Action Sports Cable Network if it had began operations in 2000. He also has taught sports broadcasting through the high school program at KBPS in Portland.

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