Sweet Home Alabama. I enjoyed it.

This one hurt. I hate myself for letting the losses get to me like this, but the Eagles yesterday, the Blazers last night, and now the Ducks - all with a cruel shot at victory that came up short. This led to a long walk in the cold for me tonight feeling genuinely bad - more than I should for a sporting event.
I thought the Ducks had one chance: To out-cool the other team and appeal to the gods of football for an upset. That's why I knew we were in trouble when Darren Thomas appeared with most of his face covered with grease paint. It was a look that said, "I am not that cool" and later, when it got all runny it looked like we had Tammy Faye Bakker at quarterback.
The Ducks played with a ton of heart. Winning a championship in college football would have been epic. This one hurt.

I was about to turn off the game half way through the 4th quarter... wow, what a play by Oregon! Tied! But then it all went downhill... ugh. Oregon SHOULD have won.

Agreed. I also was packing up to leave 1/2 way through the 4th quarter, and got treated to a cruel joke.

I'm not much of a football fan, preferring baseball first, then basketball. At least in baseball, the clock is not your enemy!

Curiously, as I watched the team come out to the field in what only can be described as ugliness in dress, my hit was they aren't going to win. White "smocks", fit for a hospital room maybe, but football? Yellow boots? So lacking in consistency, no synergy at all.

And the feathers?

The strength seemed drained from the bodies.

In my opinion anyway.

Kelly doesn't need charm school. He just needs to put up with silly questions.

Kelly doesn't need charm school. He just needs to put up with silly questions.

Please explain the difference.

Jack, remember that this is Auburn's first BCS game since their own recruiting violations and NCAA sanctions. And Alabama, last year, was their first BCS game since being given the "Alabama Slamma" for their own recruiting violations. And so it goes, all the way back to the late '80s when SMU got the "Death Penalty."

There's no shortage of unethical coaches trying to get one up on the competition.

Why is "game" still refered to as "collage" football?
It is nothing more than semi pro, rather like farm teams for baseball.
If everyone agreed to this then the violations would no longer be an issue.

Collage is the right word. Assembled from various pieces held together with glue!

Heartbreaking. It was great to see Oregon get to the BCS game, but they were outmatched on the offensive line. Cam Newton had all night to throw while Darren Thomas consistently was pressured to dump the ball early. Kelly's play calling seemed off too. Getting stuffed at the goal line was a huge demotivator. I don't blame LaMichael James for being unable to penetrate the wall of Auburn bodies, but I was surprised that the Ducks didn't try a few screens instead of running it. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

I'd like to meet #90 Auburn defense in a back alley with 300 of my friends with baseball bats, just to show him how it feels. He reminds me of the guy from "The Blind Side." Alabama overbreeding.

I watched the game and though entertaining, I found it really hard to get too worked up. The month long pre-game hype went on and on so darn much that the game itself never had a chance to live up to its expectations. Really, one more story about what the ducks were doing to prepare for the game, and I would have surely chipped. The whole pre-game hype could have been posted right along side Jack's snow coverage parody.

Bill - I have extra tickets for the Winterhawks - want to go sometime? They won both games this weekend.

For the folks that said that Oregon should have won... I'm thinking you saw a different game than I did! Auburn was most definitely the better team.

That being said, I place the loss squarely on Chip's shoulders. I agree with Jim in that I thought the play-calling was horrendous. Why keep trying to run it up the gut when their bigger monsters consistently jam it up? More screens, shovel passes, more off tackle runs... and definitely should have had more misdirection. Chip Kelly had 5 weeks to game plan for this game, and THAT was the best he could do?

And no game plan for Fairley? The guy has been a monster all year and they decide not to double-team him?

The Oregon defense played their hearts out. So did the O-line, but unfortunately they were outmatched and their coaches didn't do them any favors, in my view...

Look the Aw Burns were a bigger team. But let's face it, some of the plays that were shown on ESPN last night would have resulted in ejections, fines, and suspensions in the NFL. If Auburn wins by the if you can't beat em, then intimidate/cheat em tactics, who really wants to hold that up as exemplary football? Those goons would do Lt. Calley proud.

And why do I think Auburn resorted to that crap because they were pissed that the Ducks were actually playing so well?

And if I never have to listen to Brent Mussy call another game (would you like a cup of class with your bias, Mr.), it won't be too soon.

SEC - the league of goons

I really got interested when Brent awarded the game to Auburn with 6:49 left. I've seem players ejected for dead ball kicking in the head or twistng the face mask. Wouda, couda, shouda, but I enjoyed the game. I'll pobably watch the TIVO this week-end. Wait til next year! GO DUCKS!

I must admit that I was rooting for Oregon to win almost as much to shut-up Mussburger as being a Duck alum. When I heard a few days ago that Mussburger was in the telecast I told our TV group that this was a bad sign for Oregon. He's the worst sports announcer of all time. No wonder he was fired by his previous network. I loved his silence after Oregon tied it near the end.

There's an old saying in pro football--winner win, and losers talk about how they could've won.

Oregon had a modest chance to win, but, like in the pro game, the score does not tell the story of the game.

There's another old saying in pro football--the team that scores more points wins. Auburn had the will and the ability to score more, and if they had needed 6 more points to win--they would've gotten it. This single point is what makes all the difference in the world between the "check out our custom uniform and helmet" NikeDucks and the football at Auburn.

And the Auburn *quarterback* had more rushing yards than the overrated LaMichael James (the back).

Keep on crying Oregon fans! I love it! I live in Washington State and for the last several weeks everyone has been telling me to watch out for the "blur" and that Oregon was going to put up 70 on Auburn. Ha! Your "amazing" rushing offense TOTALLED 75 yards!

Hey, at least you guys can dress up in lots of different uniform combinations....