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Less Worse
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Colorado defeated Oregon State, 36-33, when Buff quarterback Steven Montez hit wide receiver Bryce Bobo for the go-ahead score with 1:34 remaining, with Beaver kicker Jordan Choukair missing wide right on a 52-yard attempt with ten seconds left.
The Buffs won, but that doesn’t mean they were the better team on the day.
They were just less worse than the Beavers, who hadn’t finished within four touchdowns of an FBS opponent all season.
Still, I refuse to allow the near miss loss to deter my satisfaction taken from the Buffs’ win.
I owe it to a little bit of added perspective I gained in the days and hours leading up to the fateful final moments at Reser Stadium.
Perspective lesson No. 1 … It’s only a game – Part I
We flew out to Portland on Thursday, heading out a day early so that I could take my seven-year old grandson to his first football game. Liam is the oldest of our five grandsons living in the Portland area (our son has three boys; our daughter, two). Liam’s parents are not interested in team sports, so it falls upon Grandpa Stuart to educate him in the glory that is football.
I took Liam to the local high school football game, with the stadium just a short walk from his parents’ new home in Camas, Washington (really a suburb of Portland, but across the Columbia river in the Evergreen State).
Our exchanges while at the game were not all that I expected:
“Who is that?”, said Liam, pointing towards the near side of the field.
“The player wearing the black uniform is called the wide receiver,” said an excited grandfather. “The player opposite, wearing the white uniform, is called the cornerback …”.
“No,” said Liam. “That man”, pointing again down to the field.
“The man wearing the black-and-white striped shirt?”, I replied. “Well, he is the Side Judge, and he … “.
“No,” said Liam. “The man with the umbrella”.
The umbrella?
“Oh, said grandpa Stuart. “That’s a photographer … “.
Later, Liam spotted the two bright orange down markers on the far sideline. When he asked what they were, I didn’t figure that an explanation about down markers was going to sink in, so I asked Liam what he thought they were.
“They look like carrot sticks,” said Liam.
Well, if Liam says that down markers are carrot sticks … I’m goin’ with carrot sticks.
Perspective Lesson No. 2 … It’s only a game – Part II
I traveled down to the game with my son-in-law, Mac, who is an Oregon alumnus (his boys, I fear, will grow up Duck fans). We went down early to avoid traffic, and had time to hit a farmers’ market to kill some time before going to the stadium.
There were a few orange-clad Oregon State fans in the crowd, but not all that many. The reason wasn’t an antipathy to the home team, I realized, but true indifference.
At a farmers’ market in Corvallis … or Boulder for that matter … you will likely find that over half the people there won’t even know that there is a game that afternoon.
And a full 90% won’t care about the outcome.
Perspective Lesson No. 3 … At the stadium
I have been to most of the opposing stadia in the Pac-12. Road games are fun, but also a little intimidating. It’s tough wearing the black-and-gold in a sea of orange (or red, or green). You bond with everyone wearing your colors, which gives you a strange sense of family.
Watching the Beaver fans head into the stadium, I was curious as to their state of mind. Just five days earlier, Gary Andersen, who had been successful at Utah State and Wisconsin before coming to Oregon State to lead the Beavers back to respectability … had kicked them in the groin.
Not only did Andersen quit mid-season, he very much implied that it was impossible for him – for anyone – to win in Corvallis. Andersen said, in essence, I would rather walk away from $12 million than to deal with the dead end job at Oregon State for another week.
How do you react to that, if you are a Beaver fan? Sure, you understand intellectually that Oregon State has been, is, and forever will be, a second-class citizen in the Pac-12.
But you don’t stop trying.
And you sure as hell don’t expect your multi-millionaire head coach to quit trying.
Oregon State fans would have been forgiven for staying home for the Colorado game, but, there they were, in full black-and-orange regalia. A crowd of 33,785 showed up on a beautiful fall afternoon, and, for most of the day, the Beaver fans were rewarded.
They got to see their 101st-ranked rushing offense (128.8 ypg.) go for 280 against Colorado. The Beavers were 116th in the nation in total offense (321.2 ypg.), and 114th in scoring offense (19.3 ppg.), but went for 569 yards and 33 points against the Buffs.
There was plenty for Beaver fans to enjoy … right up until the final two minutes, when the clock struck twelve, and Oregon State put another loss into the history books.
But they did give me a reminder about sticking with your team no matter what.
Which leads me to …
Perspective Lesson No. 4 … The Pac-12 is wide open
Okay, who had the trifecta of Cal mauling Washington State, Arizona State beating Washington, and Arizona posting more points against UCLA than it did against Colorado?
Sure you did.
Cal, which was supposed to be lousy this year, took down undefeated and eighth-ranked Washington State, 37-3.
Arizona State, which was supposed to be in negotiations with Chip Kelly by now, as the replacement for Todd Graham, shut down undefeated and fifth-ranked Washington, 13-7.
Arizona, which was also supposed to be looking for a new head coach to replace Rich Rodriguez, is 4-2, 2-1, after a 47-30 thumping of UCLA.
If there is one lesson to be taken from the Pac-12 results this weekend – other than the fact that the Pac-12 will likely play its way out of a spot in the College Football Playoffs – is that pretty much any Pac-12 team can beat pretty much every other Pac-12 team.
“It gives us confidence because we were able to finish a game,” head coach Mike MacIntyre said after the Buffs held on to defeat the Beavers. “We did it a lot last year, but we haven’t been able to do it the last two weeks. … We made a drive and we made a stop when we had to.”
The Buffs have five games remaining on their 2017 regular season schedule. The home game against Cal now looks a little bit more difficult, as does the road game against Arizona State. Conversely, the road games against Washington State and Utah now look a tad more manageable.
The last three weeks, the Buffs played three conference games in which the outcome was decided in the final minutes. With the parity which has taken over the Pac-12, there is a strong likelihood that the Buffs will face several more games which will be decided late.
Can the Buffs rise to the occasion? Can the Buffs find a way to at least two more wins, and secure a bowl bid and a chance at a winning season.
If the Pac-12 games, including CU’s narrow 36-33 win over Oregon State, prove anything, is that the Buffs don’t necessarily have the best stats coming into the game.
They don’t have to dominate. They don’t to even be the best team on the field.
They just, for that game, be less worse.
–
—–
Stuart
Continue reading...
Less Worse
—
Colorado defeated Oregon State, 36-33, when Buff quarterback Steven Montez hit wide receiver Bryce Bobo for the go-ahead score with 1:34 remaining, with Beaver kicker Jordan Choukair missing wide right on a 52-yard attempt with ten seconds left.
The Buffs won, but that doesn’t mean they were the better team on the day.
They were just less worse than the Beavers, who hadn’t finished within four touchdowns of an FBS opponent all season.
Still, I refuse to allow the near miss loss to deter my satisfaction taken from the Buffs’ win.
I owe it to a little bit of added perspective I gained in the days and hours leading up to the fateful final moments at Reser Stadium.
Perspective lesson No. 1 … It’s only a game – Part I
We flew out to Portland on Thursday, heading out a day early so that I could take my seven-year old grandson to his first football game. Liam is the oldest of our five grandsons living in the Portland area (our son has three boys; our daughter, two). Liam’s parents are not interested in team sports, so it falls upon Grandpa Stuart to educate him in the glory that is football.
I took Liam to the local high school football game, with the stadium just a short walk from his parents’ new home in Camas, Washington (really a suburb of Portland, but across the Columbia river in the Evergreen State).
Our exchanges while at the game were not all that I expected:
“Who is that?”, said Liam, pointing towards the near side of the field.
“The player wearing the black uniform is called the wide receiver,” said an excited grandfather. “The player opposite, wearing the white uniform, is called the cornerback …”.
“No,” said Liam. “That man”, pointing again down to the field.
“The man wearing the black-and-white striped shirt?”, I replied. “Well, he is the Side Judge, and he … “.
“No,” said Liam. “The man with the umbrella”.
The umbrella?
“Oh, said grandpa Stuart. “That’s a photographer … “.
Later, Liam spotted the two bright orange down markers on the far sideline. When he asked what they were, I didn’t figure that an explanation about down markers was going to sink in, so I asked Liam what he thought they were.
“They look like carrot sticks,” said Liam.
Well, if Liam says that down markers are carrot sticks … I’m goin’ with carrot sticks.
Perspective Lesson No. 2 … It’s only a game – Part II
I traveled down to the game with my son-in-law, Mac, who is an Oregon alumnus (his boys, I fear, will grow up Duck fans). We went down early to avoid traffic, and had time to hit a farmers’ market to kill some time before going to the stadium.
There were a few orange-clad Oregon State fans in the crowd, but not all that many. The reason wasn’t an antipathy to the home team, I realized, but true indifference.
At a farmers’ market in Corvallis … or Boulder for that matter … you will likely find that over half the people there won’t even know that there is a game that afternoon.
And a full 90% won’t care about the outcome.
Perspective Lesson No. 3 … At the stadium
I have been to most of the opposing stadia in the Pac-12. Road games are fun, but also a little intimidating. It’s tough wearing the black-and-gold in a sea of orange (or red, or green). You bond with everyone wearing your colors, which gives you a strange sense of family.
Watching the Beaver fans head into the stadium, I was curious as to their state of mind. Just five days earlier, Gary Andersen, who had been successful at Utah State and Wisconsin before coming to Oregon State to lead the Beavers back to respectability … had kicked them in the groin.
Not only did Andersen quit mid-season, he very much implied that it was impossible for him – for anyone – to win in Corvallis. Andersen said, in essence, I would rather walk away from $12 million than to deal with the dead end job at Oregon State for another week.
How do you react to that, if you are a Beaver fan? Sure, you understand intellectually that Oregon State has been, is, and forever will be, a second-class citizen in the Pac-12.
But you don’t stop trying.
And you sure as hell don’t expect your multi-millionaire head coach to quit trying.
Oregon State fans would have been forgiven for staying home for the Colorado game, but, there they were, in full black-and-orange regalia. A crowd of 33,785 showed up on a beautiful fall afternoon, and, for most of the day, the Beaver fans were rewarded.
They got to see their 101st-ranked rushing offense (128.8 ypg.) go for 280 against Colorado. The Beavers were 116th in the nation in total offense (321.2 ypg.), and 114th in scoring offense (19.3 ppg.), but went for 569 yards and 33 points against the Buffs.
There was plenty for Beaver fans to enjoy … right up until the final two minutes, when the clock struck twelve, and Oregon State put another loss into the history books.
But they did give me a reminder about sticking with your team no matter what.
Which leads me to …
Perspective Lesson No. 4 … The Pac-12 is wide open
Okay, who had the trifecta of Cal mauling Washington State, Arizona State beating Washington, and Arizona posting more points against UCLA than it did against Colorado?
Sure you did.
Cal, which was supposed to be lousy this year, took down undefeated and eighth-ranked Washington State, 37-3.
Arizona State, which was supposed to be in negotiations with Chip Kelly by now, as the replacement for Todd Graham, shut down undefeated and fifth-ranked Washington, 13-7.
Arizona, which was also supposed to be looking for a new head coach to replace Rich Rodriguez, is 4-2, 2-1, after a 47-30 thumping of UCLA.
If there is one lesson to be taken from the Pac-12 results this weekend – other than the fact that the Pac-12 will likely play its way out of a spot in the College Football Playoffs – is that pretty much any Pac-12 team can beat pretty much every other Pac-12 team.
“It gives us confidence because we were able to finish a game,” head coach Mike MacIntyre said after the Buffs held on to defeat the Beavers. “We did it a lot last year, but we haven’t been able to do it the last two weeks. … We made a drive and we made a stop when we had to.”
The Buffs have five games remaining on their 2017 regular season schedule. The home game against Cal now looks a little bit more difficult, as does the road game against Arizona State. Conversely, the road games against Washington State and Utah now look a tad more manageable.
The last three weeks, the Buffs played three conference games in which the outcome was decided in the final minutes. With the parity which has taken over the Pac-12, there is a strong likelihood that the Buffs will face several more games which will be decided late.
Can the Buffs rise to the occasion? Can the Buffs find a way to at least two more wins, and secure a bowl bid and a chance at a winning season.
If the Pac-12 games, including CU’s narrow 36-33 win over Oregon State, prove anything, is that the Buffs don’t necessarily have the best stats coming into the game.
They don’t have to dominate. They don’t to even be the best team on the field.
They just, for that game, be less worse.
–
—–
Stuart
Continue reading...