Good Luck Ducks, New Year's Day: Rose Bowl

This is a storybook team, but I'm not sure that I could write about it. At the end of a frustrating Week 1 game with a team that eventually ended up going undefeated, the star running back punched an opposing player after being taunted and eventually turned his rage towards teammates, security and opposing fans. They picked up the pieces and were led by a redshirt freshman running back and junior college transfer quarterback to put themselves in quite possibly the most respected position the program has ever held.

To be honest with you, this team is probably not even the third or fourth best Ducks football team of all-time. It could be much lower. But one thing has held true so far in Chip Kelly's young tenure at UO, first as an offensive coordinator and then this season in his first season as head coach. I never get the feeling that this team can be stopped. The only thing that truly stops Oregon's offense is themselves, and that's probably the only thing any Duck or Duck admirer needs to concern themselves with heading into today's contest with Ohio State.

It was 15 long years ago that Oregon was last in the Rose Bowl with many of the players that I've mentioned in this blog over the past two seasons (mostly last season) and I feel that this time the Ducks go in as a favorite and a confident team. If the Ducks are on their game, it should be a perfect crown to this season and a huge momentum builder towards next season where Jeremiah Masoli will be a senior and most likely a serious Heisman candidate. The Ducks top two returning backs will be grizzled sophomores and they should have a pretty nice core group of players on both sides of the ball that will blend in with the new recruits that show up year after year.

For now, though, it's Rose Bowl time. Kickoff is at 2:10 PM PST (coverage starts at 1:30) on ABC. If you aren't planning to watch, you probably don't really like college football and I feel a little bit sorry for you.