The Dawgfather
AlanAssuming you are still reading, some may have noticed I took a few weeks off from Blawging. As sad as it is to say, the performance against the Ducks really stunned me. For the first time this season, it felt like last season. I felt like I was trapped at a Husky game and couldn’t leave. So after a few weeks off, let’s get back in the saddle.
There are a lot of questions at this point in the season. Why can’t we score in the red zone? Why can’t we close out games, a majority of which were within our grasp? To what do we attribute the questionable play-calling? Why can’t our QB act like a God every week, on every play? But the primary question consuming me with three games left to go in a surprising and schizophrenic season is “what will it take to call this season a success?”
One would think multiple wins, following a season in which there were none, would be a success. But the new coaching staff and its effect on our young and underdeveloped players has been, at times, miraculous (USC). Players are no longer giving up (LSU, Arizona, Notre Dame) and finding ways to stay in games and position themselves for victory (all but Stanford and Oregon).
For this reason, this season hurts even more than last because I believe and I expect. Despite our obvious lack of talent and strength when compared to Top 25 teams, we are close…close enough to win at least 6 games this season TO DATE! Yet we still find ways to lose. I know this will change. At the beginning of the season, I would have been delighted with four wins. But expectations became unrealistic after an improbable start to an absolutely maddening year.
So what will it take? For me, it will take a come-from-behind victory late in a game. It will take an upset win. It will take a punishing touchdown drive in the red zone. And it will take a win on the road. Conceivably this could all happen this week against OSU. And if it did, I would be happy. And then next week, I will tell you that I won’t be happy unless we beat the Cougars. And the week after next, I will tell you that I won’t be happy unless we beat Cal and make it to a bowl game. Perhaps then, I will be happy. Until…
Bleed Purple. Be Gold. GO DAWGS!
Filed under: Jim, Oregon State, Road game
