Ducks in despair after drubbing

The 2015 Oregon Ducks football program closed out its season with a couple of records going down in the books. Unfortunately for Head Coach Mark Helfrich and his staff, neither record set was a positive.

We all remember the game in Eugene where the University of Oregon played host to Utah back on Sept. 26, early in the season. The visiting Utes put up 62 points on the hapless Ducks, an outburst that Autzen Stadium had never seen before in its 49-year history.

If there is a silver lining in that awful showing, it’s that the Ducks still put up 20 points despite starting quarterback Vernon Adams dealing with injury and only playing briefly. Backup QB Jeff Lockie, who is largely inept, didn’t stand much of a chance against a stout Utah defense, though. Fortunately for the season, Adams would come back healthy three weeks later and lead his team to six consecutive victories, a No. 15 national ranking, and an appearance in the Alamo Bowl.

Still, that game was a day Oregon fans would like to forget, and many have already.

The Horned Frogs of Texas Christian University had a date with the Ducks last Saturday in what turned out to be a record-setting thriller.  The stage was set before the bowl even kicked off. Oregon seemed to have the disadvantage up front as the Alamodome is less than 300 miles from the TCU campus, and the Frog faithful clearly would dominate the stands. The AP Top 25, Coach’s Poll and NCAA Power Rankings also listed TCU a few spots ahead of Oregon, rankings that
began. It all favored the 10-2 Horned Frogs out of the Big 12 Conference, until their star quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate, Trevone Boykin, slipped up in a bad way.

Three nights before the game, Boykin went out to a bar, a poor decision to begin with as the biggest game of his career loomed. Details about the exact trouble that brewed inside the San Antonio bar are fuzzy, but it’s clear Boykin was kicked out and refused to leave without a fight.  Video surveillance showed the TCU senior swing on a couple of patrons and bouncers outside the front door before police arrived to defuse the situation.  Boykin wouldn’t initially calm down, and punched an officer before giving up after being threatened with a taser. When news of the incident broke, TCU had no choice but to suspend him. He was charged with assault of a public servant before issuing an apology. The Alamo Bowl was to be his last collegiate game before entering the NFL, so one has to wonder about his draft stock.

Oregon’s Helfrich may have wished for an edge in the game, but nobody would’ve hoped for that type of situation. Not only was it disappointing to see a talented athlete suspended, but there would’ve been rampant excuses about why TCU didn’t play up to snuff.

Sure enough – the Ducks came out, guns blazing, opening play with four touchdowns in consecutive possessions, good for a 28-0 lead. On the other side of the ball, the Horned Frogs’ first seven drives ended as follows: punt, punt, punt, punt, turnover on downs, punt, and interception. By the half, Oregon had put up 376 yards of offense to TCU’s 142, and outscored them, 31-0.

Horned Frogs Head Coach Gary Patterson had seen enough, and decided his team needed a change…of clothes, it would seem. No personnel moves were made, but the coach ditched his TCU secondary black shirt and visor in favor of purple ones, the team’s dominant color. And dominate they did.

The shift in momentum was truly sparked when Adams went to the locker room with an injury just before the half, leaving the offense in Lockie’s hands. The script was completely flipped in the second half, with Oregon unable to muster any offense or any score in the third and fourth quarters. Meanwhile, TCU roared all the way back and knotted the score at 31, forcing overtime.

The squads went back and forth, exchanging touchdowns, then field goals – both content with kicking an extra point and waiting to see what the other could do.  In the third OT possession, the Horned Frogs scored yet again, and after a failed 2-point conversion, the Ducks had an opening to score, notch 2 points and “steal” the win. But on a  fourth-and-eight, Lockie’s pass fell short, capping TCU’s improbable and record-setting comeback and sending the Ducks home empty-handed.

Falling on the wrong end of the record books twice in one season can tarnish a fan’s outlook, and with the way the year ended, Oregon would certainly like to forget this Alamo.