STANFORD LOSS FORGOTTEN AFTER VERDELL’S WIN

Hey diddle diddle, Verdell up the middle, for the win.

Flashback to nearly a month ago, where everyone was questioning decisions made by University of Oregon head football coach Mario Cristobal after a devastating loss against the Stanford Cardinal – some critics going as far to say he is not fit for a head coaching position at any level.

Now check out the evening of Oct. 13, where every Ducks fan is praising Cristobal and the team, completely forgetting the loss three weeks earlier. Amazing what a win can do to change your mind!

But the question remains: Are people just riding the high of the win over a Top-10 team, or are they actually on board with Cristobal?

If fans actually understood the underlying effects of certain coaching decisions, they would have been on board at the beginning of the season, and would not have questioned the choices made in the Stanford game.

The main decision that received the majority of the criticism was deciding to run the ball on 2nd-and-3 with 58 seconds remaining in the game, while up three points. Most people saw it the simple way: Kneel with the ball twice, and the game is over. The only problem, Stanford still had one timeout remaining. Meaning that the first kneel only wastes 1-to-2 seconds. Kneeling again and running off the 40 seconds on the play-clock leaves, roughly, 16 seconds. This would mean Oregon would have to punt the ball away and leave the rest of the game up to Stanford.

Some critics would say it would be better to trust that the Cardinal could not go nearly the length of the field in such a short time with no timeouts remaining. To this, I say I would much rather take matters into my own hands than to leave it up to someone else.

Cristobal instead chose to have the Ducks run the ball. While some might call him crazy, I see a man showing great confidence in his team. If Verdell gets those 3 yards and just goes down instead of fighting for extra feet, that’s the game. At that point Oregon could kneel the clock out without any worry.

This decision was the correct decision, even if it did not go as planned. The underlying meaning of that decision is basically Cristobal staring his players in the face and telling them “Hey, I trust you guys. I have 100 percent faith that you boys can do this.” And as players, this is what they want to hear, and why they support their coach so heavily.

After that upsetting loss, chance at redemption came around last Saturday. Playing the No. 7 ranked Washington Huskies, in what was an amazing battle of two great programs, Oregon seemed to just have something extra with them. A chip on their shoulders kept them alert all game long, and they just seemed to be clicking as a single unit.

Enter CJ Verdell, the redshirt freshman running back, looking for redemption from his previous miscue in the Stanford game – for it was he who fumbled on that critical late run. Now, against the Huskies, on 3rd-and-goal from the 6-yard line,  in overtime with a chance to win the game, Cristobal called timeout. Everyone watching knew this was to draw up some brilliant play that would give Oregon a huge win. This play call? Give Verdell the ball.

Again, this was Cristobal showing absolute faith in his players. As the play unfolded, Verdell received the handoff and ran right up the middle, untouched, for the touchdown and the 30-27 win.

Mayhem inside Autzen Stadium ensued – the running back who was frowned upon weeks prior was now the hero.

Following the victory, video surfaced of Cristobal having to chase down Washington head coach Chris Peterson to shake his hand before they left the stadium. After which social media blew up and suddenly everyone loved Cristobal and forgot what they said about him just three weeks previously.

In the end, UO fans should have been supporting Cristobal from the beginning and should not have questioned any decisions he made. But it is great that everyone seems to be on board now.

Thanks to Cristobal and his trust in his players, “Straight ahead for the touchdown! CJ Verdell wins the game for Oregon!” will always ring through the heads of Oregon football fans.