In the locker room after Oregon’s 31-24 win against USC on Friday to claim the Pac-12 title and a likely spot in the Fiesta Bowl, Ducks coach Mario Cristobal brought up a conversation the team had in March .
“We said that whoever copes best with this pandemic will hold that trophy,” recalls Cristobal.
It wasn’t that easy, but in a year when the Pac-12 shortened its regular season to six games and didn’t start playing until November, no conference was changed like that. And there may never be such a bizarre road to a championship as the one the Ducks completed on Friday.
Oregon (4-2) advanced to the championship game despite not winning its own division. The official designation went to Washington, which secured first place in the Pac-12 North by not being able to play against the Ducks last week due to a COVID-19 outbreak on the Huskies roster. The match between Washington and Oregon would have served as the conference’s semifinal. Instead, the Ducks were inactive, and the Pac-12 announced on Sunday that they would play second place in Colorado at USC.
Just over 24 hours after the first pairs were set up, the Pac-12 announced that Washington would not be able to play – as widely expected – and the Ducks were elevated to the main event of the conference.
“We had three game plans in I think it’s a matter of three, four days, just like the constant shifting,” Cristobal said Friday. “Can you imagine?” Hey guys, we’ll see you tomorrow at 6am and we’re going to go to Colorado from 6am to noon, and then we’ll take a five minute lunch break and then we’ll go to USC until the small hours, and then we’ll continue recruiting. ‘
Through the madness was the constant struggle against complacency in carrying out COVID-19 protocols.
“We are really disciplined and we really chase them all day long to the point where we are sometimes difficult to deal with, but they have managed to find a way to stay healthy,” said Cristobal. “Make it every game and indeed we were here in the Pac-12 Championship and made it happen. So a huge credit goes to these footballers.”
Oregon deserves credit for the way it has handled the virus, but there’s an element of luck too. California, one of two teams to which Oregon lost, presented an example of how quickly the virus could wreak havoc for a season. The Golden Bears saw two games canceled due to two positive events.
Defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux got the MVP of the game on Friday-evening.
“We fought this year,” said Thibodeaux. ‘So many trials and tribulations. So many things that kept popping up. So many excuses we could have come up with, and we didn’t budge. We stuck to the script and got it done. ‘
For USC (5-1), which was plagued by three expensive turnovers and several premature penalties, the loss put an end to hopes of ending unbeaten.
“There are a lot of hurt souls in our locker room right now,” said USC coach Clay Helton. “And it’s something that I know our kids really wanted to win a championship. And we came a lot short today.”