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Boise State and Oregon, we’re not so different, are we?
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Who can argue that we don’t love to score points in bunches, run plays (OK, try the whole offense) that are like video games in real life, and yes, beating Oklahoma.
Boise has its Technicolor turf; Oregon its gaudy gear.
BSU head coach Chris Petersen could probably tell you as much — he was a Duck assistant for five seasons.
In fact, while it’s true that more than 95 percent of the 58,000 packed into Autzen Stadium Saturday will gladly sacrifice their vocal chords for the weekend just to see another Oregon win, they should also remember that Boise State — whose .809 winning percentage in the last decade leads the nation — has had a lot to do with Oregon’s current high-flying success.
After all, the year after you won the Fiesta Bowl, Oregon brought in its true spread-offense guru, Chip Kelly to keep pace with the national scoring boom. Dan Hawkins might have brought the spread in all its glory to Idaho when most of the current Bronco fans were in middle school, but that Fiesta Bowl season’s success against the big boys — much of Eugene would no doubt like to give you an overdue thank you for that shellacking of Oregon State — turned heads. Those of the Oregon coaching staff included.
What has Duck fans excited about this year’s rendition is the prospect that life can go on after the No. 1 quarterback’s knee can’t. When projected starter Nate Costa tore his anterior cruciate ligament for the second straight season a week before the win against Washington, there were half-serious calls not to jump off the ledge on local sports radio. Then the backup, Justin Roper, suffered a concussion one series into the game. No problem; a junior college transfer and a true freshman were able to break open the game and answer doubters. The team’s ability to plug in the next player with success shows that these Ducks have matured since the team nosedived last season when Dennis Dixon crumpled to the turf with his own ACL tear.
Proving the critics wrong might be the tie that binds both schools the most. For Boise State, it’s those who still downplay their success with a WAC schedule and a new freshman quarterback. And that Ian Johnson, wasn’t he a senior two years ago? For the hometown Ducks, it’s the week-in, week-out criticism about those uniforms that Oregon alum and psychedelic author Ken Kesey would have approved of. We get it, we’re not Penn State.
We didn’t want to blend into our green turf, OK?
But in the end, it’s all about pulling some college football respect out of the southeast and into the northwest. Isn’t that something we can both agree on?
ANDREW GREIF
Oregon Daily Emerald