Cheer Up Oregon

I couldn't resist this photo, courtesy of Idaho Statesman photographer Shawn Raecke, which depicts:

Ben Holland ... and Duckboy... who wouldn't give his real name... not enjoying the game as the Ducks lose to the Broncos 19-8 on Thursday night at Bronco Stadium.

The game was marred by general sloppiness of play by both teams, and extreme offensive frustration by Oregon at the hands of dominating BSU D, which, you probably know, culminated in LaGarrette Blount's show-stopping sore-loser-sucker-punch.

Sore feelings aside (what sore feelings? we won!), I hope for the sake of both Boise State and Oregon, that the ducks can put it back together again.

BSU will need Oregon to be a better team this weekend than they were last, and so on for the rest of the season (a win against USC and/or Pac 10 title would be ideal) if they are to realize grand hopes of a BCS bowl. Because, in order to over take BYU's gift of a win over Oklahoma, they're going to need this to look like a 'quality win,' and right now it (rightly or wrongly, TBD) doesn't quite have that luster.

I think you could say the same for BYU's win over OU, lacking luster that is, or at least being too soon to tell. The Sooners clear star and difference-maker, Sam Bradford, goes down and BYU squeaks out the 1 point win over a then lame and disabled team.

Somehow this is seen as a better win than BSU dominating a full-strength Oregon squad and now we're looking at BYU as our token 'non-AQS' team in the BCS this year. Why exactly? I don't think we have enough information to make that determination, but then BYU jumps like 11 spots in the polls and BSU is playing catch-up.

And once again it frustrates because Boise State might do everything right (should they go undefeated, again) and yet be reminded that they aren't the masters of their own destiny in this modern college football era of NCAA and BCS bureaucracy.

So screw the Cougs, and the Sooners (what jerks seem to choke when it matters most, 1-5 in last 6 bowl games) and Go Ducks Go!