Good Luck Ducks: Las Vegas Bowl

Oregon's improvement is rewarded with a Las Vegas Bowl appearance (and a head coach desertion).

After a disastrous 2016 season that saw the Ducks go 4-8, continuing an ugly slide that began the season before, the athletic department chose to go with an outside hire. He was an up-and-comer, someone who had seen his programs through significant improvement at every level. That outside hire, of course, is an opportunistic prick who bolted at the first chance he could, considering a 7-5 season as a job well done, I guess. That outside hire was given free range to hire his own coaching staff, as is usually the case with these things. Many players with significant talent were successfully recruited. And while that outside hire is somewhere else now, the Ducks are left to pick up the pieces.

Oregon moves on with, for now, most of their assistant coaches in tact. Mario Cristobal was given the title of interim head coach for the upcoming bowl game, and later made the permanent hire. Most of the players sound happy. Most of the recruits seem happy. The rest of the coaches are here, for today, at least. Personally, I really would rather watch the Ducks play football and not hear about recruits at all, but that might just be me.

The Ducks have a football game today, in December, and still have coaches that are familiar with the players and the plays. That's a good thing. There was actually a lot to like about this season if you memory wipe that period of time when Justin Herbert wasn't the starting quarterback because the sporting life is cruel or whatever.

Oregon has a date with Boise State this afternoon, which of all of the lower tier bowl outcomes, this is honestly a pretty good one. No matter the season, I expect that Boise State is going to give you an exciting game. There's also some bad blood between the fanbases sparked in part by some sort of on field incident, for whatever that's worth. The all-Northwest match should be fun, if nothing else. The Broncos come in at 10-3, ranked, as winners of the Mountain West title. Oregon, meanwhile, benefited from two Pac-12 teams making it to New Year's Six games, allowing them to move up a notch to a more important game. The smart money would be on Boise State winning, but the Ducks have been an offensive juggernaut with Justin Herbert healthy and on the field, which he will be today. (To be fair, Oregon is actually favored by a touchdown.)

Vegas Links:

• Justin Herbert is a 2018 Heisman candidate, assuming the Ducks can win enough games to stay in the conversation.
• More good news after Oregon dealt with the bad news? Jalen Jelks, one of the bright spots on defense this season with NFL draft potential, is planning to return for his senior year.
• Two key members of the Broncos offense could be back on the field, which may spell trouble for Jim Leavitt's revamped defense. (Please don't be Jim LEAVE-itt.)
• Where Are They Now? Byron Hout is now an assistant coach at Montana State. Hopefully none of his players have punched him.
• Jim Leavitt Status Alert: Drinking Pepsi and hopefully not returning any calls from America's Wang
• Know Your Opponent: Bronco Nation apparently thinks Justin Herbert is a wizard. That's fine with me.
• The Unis!: Green with chrome helmets. Flashy, but not too flashy?

This will be the 31st bowl game in Oregon Ducks history. The 2015 Rose Bowl was the sweetest plum.

Game time is 12:30 PM PST. Broadcast channel is ABC. Your scheduled broadcasters are Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit and Molly McGrath. Go Ducks!