Oregon: It’s Way Too Early to Quack!

One of the most deceiving scores of last Saturday was Oregon’s 53-28 triumph over UC Davis. Despite the score, alarm bells should be going off in Eugene.

Let’s consider:

Did Oregon’s horrible defense in 2015 improve? Apparently not. Out of the 13 Big Sky teams in 2015, UC Davis ranked 13th in points scored per game. Nor was this year’s UC Davis team supposed to be much better. Out of 13 Big Sky teams, the Aggies were picked to finish, you guessed it, 13th. Davis was so lightly regarded that the Ducks went off as a 48-point favorite in Sin City.

Brady Hoke was brought aboard as the new defensive coordinator but he can only do so much. It would be illegal for Hoke to tackle. Oregon gets another tissue soft opponent this Saturday as Virginia travels across the country under new coach, Bronco Mendenhall. Lower division Richmond tore apart Virginia last Saturday, as evidenced by a whopping 524-302 disparity in total yardage.

Imagine Oregon’s shock on September 17 when they take the field in Lincoln, Nebraska and actually have to play a football team.

College Football Odyssey has a special place in its heart for any lower division team, such as Richmond, that can topple one of the big boys. Just mention of UC Davis brings to mind one of the greatest and unique upsets in the history of college football. In 2005, Davis visited Stanford. This odds were even more lopsided against the Aggies than when a 1-AA team like Richmond takes on a 1-A team. Davis was transitioning from Division 2 to Division 1-AA and had all of 35 scholarship players (Division 1-AA teams generally have 63 available scholarships). When Stanford took a 17-0 lead, nobody thought Davis had a prayer. However, the Aggies fought back to make it a 17-13 game and were driving for the winning score in the waning seconds. Stanford’s Nick Sanchez appeared to make the game-clinching interception for the Cardinal. However, he was ruled out of bounds. Davis scored on the ensuing play with 8 seconds to go. If there had been replay, most felt that Sanchez’ interception would have been upheld. However, the Pac 10 supplied neither a replay staff or related video equipment since Davis was a lower division opponent. So in the memory of the amazing UC Davis upset, 11 years ago, and to Richmond and the other 3 lower division teams that beat the big boys last Saturday, College Football Odyssey bows down and pays homage.