One game closer to finally having it all be over for a few months. So close to football season being over with. Greatest day of the year.
For you maybe, but from Bowl games .....to recruiting announcements....... to off season workouts..... to the spring game....... to summer workouts..... to fall camp...... to opening day....... it's never really over for the die hard college football fan.
Canzano: Oregon Ducks’ football secret sauce steals the stage at Rose Bowl PASADENA, Calif. — Workers charged with setting up the postgame news conference for the 106th Rose Bowl draped a black linen table cloth over a line of tables at the front of the room. Next came microphones, chairs, and a long beautiful braid of giant red roses placed across the front of the table top. Oregon beat Wisconsin 28-27 on Wednesday. The Ducks are Rose Bowl champions. But the most interesting and unusual thing happened at the postgame news conference — two side doors opened and in walked the Oregon Ducks carrying a pile of life lessons. Ducks coach Mario Cristobal was flanked by his star quarterback, Justin Herbert. The Eugene kid who grew up watching Oregon football had just carried his team to a Rose Bowl victory not with his arm, but with three rushing touchdowns. “Things can have a funny way of working out,” Herbert said. Next to him was Brady Breeze, the defensive player of the game. Another Oregon-born kid. The Medford native who also played at Central Catholic High, transformed in college from a defensive back who couldn’t get on the field to one you’d never want to take off it. For all the talk about Southern California recruiting, it was two Oregonians who ruled the day. Two kids who grew up wearing Ducks jerseys and watching the Rose Bowl put the football program over the top in Pasadena. Said Breeze: “I couldn’t have dreamed or even fathomed playing in a Rose Bowl, let alone winning the Rose Bowl, scoring a touchdown in a Rose Bowl and seeing Justin score three touchdowns, it’s just amazing.” Breeze went on and on. He talked about his teammates. He talked about being a fan who watched Oregon beat Florida State in the 2015 Rose Bowl, even noting where he and his family sat in the stands. And he talked about the clock running out, and teammates crying, and how his mind is officially blown. I loved every word. In fact, Breeze spoke so long on that single answer — more than four giddy minutes in all — that one of the UO media relations staffers finally leaned in and asked if the Rose Bowl might institute an Oscar-ceremony wrap cue. “Is this when they start playing the music?” he said. That wasn’t all that happened. Not even close. Because along with Cristobal in the news conference were his two young sons, Rocco, 8, and Matteo, 9. The younger son climbed up the stairs where the table sat wearing a “Rose Bowl Champions” hat and stood to his father’s side. The older son slid into a folding chair beside dad and was carrying two short-stemmed red roses. Let’s take a small step back here. Oregon had a really nice season. It won 12 games, captured the Pac-12 Conference championship and is now a Rose Bowl champion, too. Two more trophies. A lot of celebrating. For a program that is on its third coach in four seasons this has to be about as good as it gets. Watching Cristobal take over the program has been a study in shifting culture and life lessons. He commands the respect of his players. He keeps his word. He spends more cumulative hours at the office than any coach I’ve covered in 25 seasons. He’s also gifted at limiting and deflecting the influence from outsiders on his program. Cristobal said of that outside noise, “it’s not there with us at 5 a.m. when we’re training, it’s not there late at night when we’re getting extra treatment.” The guy has done a lot right in a short time. Still, football can be a cruel and unforgiving mistress. Ask coach Paul Chryst in the Wisconsin locker room. Four turnovers. A key questionable pass-interference call. More yards, more plays, more time of possession and all of that on Wednesday got him an air sandwich, Pasadena-style. The football gods aren’t always just. That’s the game. They all know when they sign on for it. Cristobal is a rare case of a coach, in year No. 2, who appears to be getting a fair return from his investment. The Oregon program trajectory is positive. He has an Outland Trophy winner on the offensive line. His humility is in check. He even said after the win, “There’s so much more growth here.” I agree — in fact, there’s a College Football Playoff berth calling his name. It’s just unfolding perfectly for UO, isn’t it? Wednesday was a case study in that. Because Oregon wasn’t the better team and it didn’t necessarily have a better plan. But the Ducks deserved to win. They made more big plays, and feasted on a line of unfortunate Wisconsin miscues. Oregon found a way to win, as it has most of this season. And that wonderful scene after the game is what I’ll go home thinking on and talking about. It was charming, authentic and provided a glimpse into the secret sauce of Cristobal. Because on that news conference stage he bristled at the idea that he’s some kind of football czar running a one-man operation. “Never has been. Never will be," he said. "We do things as a family.” When Cristobal said that, he was flanked by his children on one side, and his two players on the other side. Later, as Herbert was answering a question about his legacy, Cristobal leaned down and pulled Rocco close and kissed the kid on the top of his head. And at another point, with Breeze speaking, the coach twisted his body toward his sons and whispered. “I want you guys," Cristobal told them, "to grow up to be like those guys.” He was talking about Herbert and Breeze, a few feet away, still in uniform, still walking on Rose Bowl air. I don’t know if Matteo and Rocco are going to grow up and play major college football. Maybe they’ll play for dad and win a Rose Bowl someday, too. But it hits you at a moment like that, with Breeze and Herbert, fulfilling childhood dreams, that anything is possible. We’re sold that notion as children. Certainly, life hardens us. Bad things happen. Adversity hits. But here, on the postgame stage, was a real-life example of two kids who grew up pretending to score touchdowns for the Oregon Ducks ... actually scoring ALL of the touchdowns for the Ducks in a Rose Bowl. The trek to this moment wasn’t all fun. Remember, Herbert’s team went 4-8 as a freshman. He broke a collarbone. He watched one coach get fired, another leave for Florida State, and now, he’s headed to the NFL as a Rose Bowl champ. And it took the coaches at Oregon a long while to figure out how talented a football player Breeze is. But it’s undeniable that their collective journey has hit an inspiring high point. One that we all got to witness. “You go your entire career hoping to coach guys like this,” Cristobal said, “... it’s — these dudes right here, I want to be like these guys. That’s why I have them around me all the time. They’re not — I’m not going to let them get on the microphone anytime soon, but I want them to be just like these guys. That to me is the greatest compliment you can give a young man.” Cristobal’s two children beamed when he said it. His players smiled, too. And not because they won a Rose Bowl. https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/20...cret-sauce-steals-the-stage-at-rose-bowl.html
Column: Oregon wins Rose Bowl with players who should be on USC or UCLA https://www.latimes.com/sports/stor...owl-with-players-who-should-be-on-usc-or-ucla
Love it. The final message of the night came from Troy Dye, delivered to his Southern California neighbors as he sat in a smoky, dizzying Ducks locker room, a statement that served as Wednesday’s true final score. “I know you grew up watching the Rose Bowl, I know you want to shoot for playing in the Rose Bowl, I know you want to win the Rose Bowl,” Dye said. “If you want to do that, you come to Oregon.”
lol...you can't be serious. If you're whining about the "questionable" PI call toward the end that the college officiating analyst said was the correct call, and the announcers made a point to show again and say it was a correct call, it doesn't bother me one damn bit that some jealous people are using that as an excuse to try and dismiss the Ducks winning their 3rd Rose Bowl in 9 years. knowing who you root for....and obviously against, this is worth repeating: Days since Ducks' last Rose bowl win: Oregon - 1 Huskies - 6,939 Beavers - 28,489
I am questioning your judgement on that call...if it comes out of your ass I guess that explains it and by the way, all Wisconsin would have had to do if the call hadn't been made was kick a 79 yard FG
Meh on the Ducks win...its nice but to me these bowl games dont mean nearly as much now that there is a playoff system in college football, ... playoffs or bust