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I like The Duck as much as anybody else, and I've gotten used to the ever-changing uniforms, but it's time we all look past those bells and whistles and realize that if Oregon had a mascot on a horse and a style of uniform that it had worn for 40 years, they'd be at the very worst, the No. 2 team in the country right now.
And No. 2 on a rocket ship to Glendale, Ariz.
The cutesiness surrounding the Quack Attack, Team Nike, and The Duck's hundreds of pushups might actually be holding back Chip Kelly's team and could cost them a shot at the national championship.
Because when you really look at them and how they run and hit and make plays, it's clear that they have evolved beyond cute. What we're seeing is LaMichael James in the on-field role of Reggie Bush, and Darron Thomas looking a lot like – what, Vince Young? And they're in the same offense! Meanwhile, the defense is posting the kind of second-half stats that guys like Frank Beamer and Jim Tressel can only dream of.
As it is, the mascot and uniforms seem to keep them just a tad under the "take them seriously" radar. Everybody knows that Oregon is good, but put them in cardinal-and-gold or burnt orange or maize-and-blue uniforms, and Alabama fans might be saying things like, "we deserve a shot at those guys in the BCS championship game."
At the moment, nobody can argue seriously that Alabama should not be No. 1. But as we near the first actual BCS rankings of the season (the weekly rankings begin on Oct. 17), "Who's No. 2?" is just as important as "Who's No. 1?"
As we've often seen, upsets happen, teams rise and fall, and we have to wait until the dust settles before it all really matters. But sometimes, the top teams do not lose (or all the contenders lose once) so their comparative rankings are indeed important even before the advent of the BCS rankings.
So we should start bracing ourselves for the howls from Columbus ... and Boise ... and probably elsewhere, too.
Because on Saturday as Alabama again stamped itself as the team beyond reproach this season, Oregon showed itself as the team best suited to challenge the Crimson Tide's superiority. And that not only matters, but it matters NOW.
The positioning of the top teams makes a difference because voters in the polls tend to resist leapfrogging teams back and forth, and so teams that are ranked atop the polls early have an advantage over those that aren't – even though all of them still have much to prove.
Oregon's combination of explosive offense and opportunistic defense doesn't mean I'm counting out Ohio State, Boise State, TCU, and possibly Nebraska, but given what we have seen so far, Oregon is the team most worthy of lining up across from Nick Saban's crew in Glendale on Jan. 10.
What's more, Ohio State's offensive inconsistency and Boise's schedule shortcomings should open the door for the Ducks to move to No. 2 right now as the college football world finally wakes up to the smell of a Pac-10 power not named USC.
Every running back in the country would "want to be like LaMike," these days. The sophomore from Texarkana blew through Stanford for 257 yards and three touchdowns, making him the top ground gainer in college football – except for Michigan's wunderkind of a quarterback, Denard Robinson. James is averaging 178 yards a game, Robinson 181.
Thomas, a sophomore from Houston, has already accounted for 15 touchdowns (13 passing, two running), and had 238 yards passing and 117 rushing against Stanford. At least in this offense, he has to be considered one of the most effective quarterbacks in the country alongside guys like Robinson, Ohio State's Terrelle Pryor, Stanford's Andrew Luck, Boise State's Kellen Moore, and Auburn's Cam Newton.
The Oregon offense leads the nation in yards (569.2 per game) and scoring (56.6 points per game) and the defense has allowed its five opponents a grand total of seven points in the second half this season, including nada in the fourth quarter.
I know, I know, Oregon lost to Boise State in the first game of the 2009 season, and to Ohio State in the last game of the 2009 season. But that was then and this is now. This Ducks team is better than that one on both sides of the ball. Besides, the way they treated a top-10 Stanford team on Saturday was flat-out ridiculous, falling behind early and then rattling off a 42-10 run the rest of the game (including 28-0 in the second half).
It seems that the biggest difference between this Oregon team and last year's team is that last year, it didn't really know how good it could become. Now, it knows.
SABAN'S GLASS HALF EMPTY: Alabama coach Nick Saban had to love the second half of the Tide's 31-6 rout of seventh-ranked Florida. By all accounts, especially his, Alabama did not perform in the second half with the same level of vigor and consistency as it did in the first half. It worked out OK considering that they had built a 24-3 advantage.
But the result is that Saban got something to harp on all week in preparing for another tough game against a ranked team for the third week in a row – this time at South Carolina. The Gamecocks, significantly, had a bye this week.
ONE-MAN SHOW: The thing about Denard Robinson and Michigan is that he's performing as Superman on what is not a very good team, which Michigan State will very likely expose this week.
Week after week, Robinson posts eye-popping statistics and head-turning highlights while carrying the Wolverines. Surely no player means as much to the success of his team as the sophomore from Deerfield Beach, Fla., who ended the 42-35 victory against Indiana the same way he started it: By scoring a touchdown.
Robinson is almost a one-man show, ranking No. 1 in the country in rushing, No. 2 in total offense, No. 4 in passing efficiency, and No. 7 in all-purpose running. He's already got 1,008 yards passing and 905 yards rushing – with eight games remaining (including a bowl game), which means he's on pace for a stupid 2,600 yards passing and 2,300 rushing. Nobody has ever approached that kind of production running and passing in a season. Those stats would rival the all-time most impressive run-pass duo of Barry Sanders-Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State, 1988). And he's just one guy!
To become the first-ever 2,000-2,000 guy, he needs to average "only" 124 yards passing and 137 rushing the rest of the season.
LEARN TO TELL TIME: Shouldn't Les Miles go ahead and invest in another set of headsets and put somebody on his staff who can manage the clock for him?
Miles has long established himself as a terrific program coach (recruiting, building a staff, motivating and preparing a team, etc.) but runs unquestionably the worst clock plan of anybody in the country. The solution: Somebody with a headset that overrides all other voices, and says, "Coach, listen to me: We need to spike the ball now," or "You have to call time out now, Coach, really. Now!"
Saturday's meltdown against Tennessee was yet another embarrassment (that's at least four times the Tigers have mucked up a clock-critical situation in recent years). The fact that LSU won does not get Miles off the hook, simply because Tennessee handled the chaos of the last 10 seconds even more poorly, and had 13 men on the field -- a screw-up that gave LSU an extra play at the goal line, which the Tigers used to score the game-winning touchdown, 16-14.
Tidbits
— The ACC looks a lot like it did the past couple of years when teams just sort of milled around and beat each other until one emerged at the end of the season. But the winner of this week's Miami-Florida State game will find itself as the class of the league. Look out, though, Virginia Tech is not dead yet.
— While last year's shocking upset of USC was a big one for Washington and coach Steve Sarkisian, Saturday's last-second victory (again, Erik Folk kicked a field goal to win it as time expired) was much bigger considering what it can do for the Huskies. Suddenly, their unimpressive 1-2 season morphed into a 1-0 Pac-10 start, they've beaten USC twice in a row, they won their first road game in 14 tries, and the much-maligned Jake Locker finally came through with a game-winning drive. Oh yeah, and Sarkisian is 2-0 against USC (and 1-0 against Lane Kiffin), which might be something he mentions on the recruiting trail.
— OK, so Trey Burton is not Tim Tebow. A week after breaking Tebow's team scoring record with six touchdowns, the Florida multipurpose star tried a Tebow-style jump-pass on fourth down at the goal line early in the game against Alabama – and it was intercepted by Nico Johnson.
— BYU's season, which started impressively with a victory over Washington, has hit rock bottom. Or at least the Cougars hope it's hit rock bottom. They've lost four in a row for their first 1-4 start since 1973, they lost to Utah State (31-16) for the first time in a decade and head coach Bronco Mendenhall fired defensive coordinator Jaime Hill on Saturday. Mendenhall says he'll coach the defense instead.
— Indiana lost to Michigan for the second year in a row by a late touchdown, but we don't expect this Indiana team to melt down like last year following its 3-0 non-conference start. These Hoosiers, led by Ben Chappell, the Big Ten's best passer (480 yards against UM) seem more capable of winning the three Big Ten games they need to qualify for a bowl game. Yes, we're talking about you, Illinois, Minnesota, and Purdue.
A glance ahead
Thursday, Oct. 7
Nebraska at Kansas State -- Cornhuskers jump into Big 12 play against equally unbeaten Wildcats.
Saturday, Oct. 9
Alabama at South Carolina -- Third game in a row for Tide against a ranked team. Can they keep it up?
Indiana at Ohio State -- With Ben Chappell, the Big Ten's best passer, these Hoosiers are no pushovers.
Toledo at Boise State -- Rockets beat Purdue so Broncos can't go to sleep in this one.
LSU at Florida -- Hard to believe that LSU remains unbeaten, but Tigers need their best game to win.
USC at Stanford -- One of these teams will have a two-game losing streak by Saturday night.
Florida State at Miami -- This could be a precursor to the ACC championship game.
Michigan State at Michigan -- Can Spartans corral Robinson? Nobody else has been able to.
Pittsburgh at Notre Dame -- Irish beat Boston College. Can they get on a roll?
