26-7.
Normally when you hold such a record, there’s no reason to worry about anything, nor should you be receiving any criticism for what you’re doing. It’s like a chef who cooks a mean steak and everyone at Outback loves it.
The problem is, he takes a job at a fine steakhouse and the expectations become a little different.
62-20.
I promise, this isn’t all about numbers. That’s the score by which Oregon lost at home … to Utah … this past weekend. The shock in that number is amazing. Oregon basically looks like an FCS team that Utah paid $1 million to show up and take a whipping.
Only Oregon isn’t FCS and Utah didn’t pay the Ducks, nor did it even happen on Utah’s turf.
Is coach Mark Helfrich really in some kind of very early, exploratory trouble?
The rub is this: Oregon has entered into the temple of expectation, where just winning 9-10 games per season used to satisfy folks, but those days are long gone. Oregon expects to compete for championships. Helfrich, who has cut his coaching teeth as the offensive guru behind the Ducks’ fast-paced offense since 2009, right or wrong, is viewed as successful simply because he was attached to assumed genius Chip Kelly (now with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles).
It’s rather ridiculous to think that a coach who had his team within a game of winning a title last season would be taking heavy criticism, but sports and coaching are no longer games of patience. That, and 62-20 is hideous. You simply can’t lose like that.
To continue reading this article by Bart Doan at Bloguin, click here.
