Jay, here.

Have you ever wanted to write, rant, or rave about the Ducks, but you didn’t have a soap box to stand on?

Well, life-long Duck fan Sabin Brabb seems to think we have Lava soap logos on our backs, because that’s where he’s standing after dropping a tome in our inbox.

And we’re cool with that.

This week, Sabin Rabb is our guest writer, blogger, contributor…(his credentials are listed at the bottom of his piece).

By Sabin Brabb
DSN Guest Contributor

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
-Opening line of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Dickens couldn’t have written a more appropriate opening line if he were writing about Oregon football in 2008 rather than France in the late 1700’s.

The state of Oregon football, from a fan’s perspective, seems to range from ‘these are the golden days of Oregon football, enjoy them like a fine wine’ to ‘this program is all flash and no substance and will be crashing back to the basement where we belong’.

So which is it?

Has Mike Bellotti built a nationally relevant program that is on the door step of regular BCS games, PAC-10 and National title runs, and Heisman trophy candidates? Or are we destined to mediocrity, living in a state that produces only a handful of PAC-10 capable recruits with few historical accolades to hang our duck-billed hats on? Let’s look at the facts…as I see them…which ceases to make them facts some would say.

Most Duck fans accept that the modern era of Oregon football began with the glorious Rose Bowl year of 1994 which was built on the foundation of names like Musgrave, Miller, Van Brocklin, Ogburn, Moore and Fouts. Since that year the Ducks have won two PAC-10 titles outright and shared one. That’s three titles in fourteen seasons. During that time SC has won outright or shared seven PAC-10 titles. No one else has won more than two.

The Ducks have played in the Rose Bowl once, although it should’ve been twice, which I refer to as the first time we were BCS’d in 2001. We all know the story. The Ducks are ranked 2nd after an improbable series of losses in the top ten but are passed over for the fading Nebraska Cornhuskers who couldn’t even win their own conference. We went on to take our frustration out on Colorado completely ignoring the national pundits insistence that the Buffaloes would run all over us. We were BCS’d again in 2005 when 9-2 Notre Dame and 9-2 Ohio State both were invited to the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl ahead of a 10-1 Oregon (whose only loss was to the consensus #1 team in the country, USC). Then there’s last year…sigh…8-1 with highly winnable games against Arizona, UCLA and OSU even after enduring a horrible string of injuries to key players. Dixon is leading the Heisman race and we’re being penciled into the Allstate BCS National Championship Bowl when the unthinkable happens.

How easily we could have had a National Championship, Heisman trophy, three BCS bowls in six years, three PAC-10 titles in seven years and a lot fewer fans that seem to be ready to jump off a bridge at the first sign of play action from our opponents.

If wishes were fishes, we could cast a net and bring them all in. If my aunt had a…well you get the idea…

So what does it all mean? With all that good there are a few years of late season fade. There are the posh facilities, constant costume…er…uniform changes, the seemingly constant train of Brinks trucks that run from Phil Knight’s wallet right up to the Mo center. There’s losing to USC…no I mean getting absolutely, pick your switch and get hammered behind the woodshed, beat. Where is all this going?

Progress is not a constant straight line up and to the right. All progress is marked by steps back (Andy Ludwig) and hiccups (2004) and trip-ups (Dennis Dixon) and wrong turns (Rich Stubler). All of that notwithstanding the march from ‘96-’01 when the Ducks progressively won one additional game than the season before…that was pretty cool. But the point is you have to look at an overall body of work and the trending to really get a feel for where the program is at not just one game or one season.

So what I see is a program that is on the verge of regularly competing for the PAC-10 title and competing for a national title every few years. All of that is barring perfect storms of catastrophic injuries…like last year. Oregon is recruiting nationally at a high level; not USC high, but high. The Duck were one knee injury away from playing in the national championship last year. The talent, facilities and fan support are there and by and large the coaching is there as well. Here’s where it gets sticky…the elephant in the room…the defensive philosophy.

The solution I keep hearing on message boards and at the water cooler is fire Aliotti…or fire Bellotti because he won’t fire Aliotti. Is that the answer? Easy to say from our seats in the stands, but there’s a lot more to it. Aliotti is a great man, a fantastic recruiter and the players love him. I regularly see recruits comment on his recruitment of them and on the stability of the coaching staff in general. We shouldn’t underestimate that. Of course the proof is in the pudding as they say, and though our defenses have been decent from time to time, they are nothing like Gang Green or Desert Swarm or anything that is deserving of a title, a reputation, or sleepless nights by offensive coordinators. Could there be a better defensive coordinator for Oregon out there? Can Nick Aliotti change his stripes? Maybe…maybe not. I guess we’ll see on the latter as the year progresses and as to the former I will leave that decision in the very capable hands of Pat Kilkenny and Bellotti because I can guarantee those men want to see Oregon win as much if not more than anyone.

I don’t know if all of this is perspective or just the ramblings of a long time fan, but it is what it is. Rant your rants on message boards and blog pages and send your letters to Bellotti and the Register Guard. It’s our right as fans to gripe and whine and boast and capitulate, and it’s the coaches’ and athletic directors’ right to listen to as much or as little of it as they want. Someone once said that as soon as a coach starts listening to the fans in the bleachers he’ll soon be joining them.

Rant away…

DSN: Sabin, what are your credentials as a Duck fan?
Sabin: I’m a third generation Duck fan. I’ve been going to Duck football games since 1977. My earliest memories are sitting with my dad in what seemed like a half empty Autzen Stadium in the rain (back then it seemed like it always rained in Autzen Stadium) watching my beloved Ducks get completely destroyed by (fill in the blank). Unlike the 300,000 people that were apparently at the 1994 Oregon vs. Washington game I watched ‘the Pick’ from home on TV and it forever altered my Duck football paradigm. I’ve been a season ticket holder since 2001. When Bellotti said his goal was to win a National Championship back in 1995 I didn’t believe it was possible. Starting in 2001 I believed and 2007 renewed that belief. I guess the only other important piece to add is that I absolutely cannot stand the Huskies. If they go 0-12 from now till I die that would be just fine with me.

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