Once Again With Feeling - It’s Oregon vs. Stanford

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Jeffrey Martin, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

Mark Helfrich was asked in August if his Oregon Ducks, whose national title dreams have been dashed by losses to Stanford in each of the last two seasons, had a Cardinal “problem.”

He laughed, turning his response into a punch-line about how “whenever we lose a game, it’s the end of the world.” But he turned serious when explaining the larger issue, something the second-year coach and UO fans alike hope has been fixed with Stanford coming to Autzen on Saturday.

“We lost to a team that methodically out-executed us,” Helfrich said. “… We have to focus on how that happened from our end and get better.”

Once again, there’s a lot at stake.

This is about measuring up to the Pac-12 bully. Beating Michigan State, another physical team, was only part of the equation. If the goal is to completely dispel the notion that the program is all bells and whistles, finesse and speed instead of grit and grind, this is the perfect opportunity.

And for Helfrich, this is about vindication, doing something Chip Kelly, his vaunted predecessor and the guy whom everybody spent the first part of October insisting Helfrich wasn’t worthy to succeed, was unable to do during his final season in Eugene.

For the Ducks as a whole and Helfrich in particular, how can it not be personal?

By contrast, Stanford coach David Shaw can afford to be relaxed, as he was Tuesday during his portion of the Pac-12 coaches’ teleconference call.

He was complimentary of the Ducks, mainly Marcus Mariota, and it was sincere.

“It goes without saying our game plans are completely geared around Marcus,” Shaw said. “We have that much respect-slash-fear of him. It is respect. He is the focal point of what we do, the focal point of what they do. At times, we’ve been able to contain him, been able to harass him, but in every game, there is a streak where you can’t do anything about it - he gets out of the pocket and takes off, he makes a couple of great throws, he moves the team down the field in three plays and scores a touchdown.

“It’s understanding that that’s going to happen at some point during the game. When it does happen, hey, we give respect to a great player and we come back and try to get after him again.”

In essence, Shaw said, the question becomes, ‘How many times can he do it?’

But with these two programs, the recent class of the conference, the more pertinent question is, ‘How many times can Stanford keeping doing this to Oregon?’

When does it end?

Banner Photo via Wikimedia Commons