There are two months left in Oregon's regular season. 62 days. They are now media darlings and the country's hot team, first in the discussion of "who could unseat Alabama?", 2nd or third in the in discussions of "which team is on the rise?" or "who's the best surprise Heisman trophy candidate?"
The guys who write the national columns or sit at illuminated desks with earpieces coiled around their necks pose a lot of questions like these, because there's not enough college football news from Sunday to Wednesday. They have to fill those billable half hours with something, so it's usually recap, drummed-up controversy and speculation, with a couple of segments of hype and hyperbole to prep Brent Musberger for Saturday afternoon.
The Ducks can't be sucked in. They can't find themselves bobbing their heads and humming to this rap, because it's a giant distraction from the disciplined preparation that got them here. They became the hot team and the media darling with a lot of hard work and a fierce attention to the words and mantra of their fast-talking, hard-driving coach. If he loses their attention for a couple of days, if they sleepwalk through practice or let their enthusiasm for the process slip, someone's going to put a gansta cap into all that shining possibility. And they won't be anyone's hot team any more.
It all goes away if you stop winning. The media will try to fill their heads with the idea they've already won, because media needs winners to fill the segments and the slots. The kids are going to class now, and in the lecture halls and on campus and at the Erb people are going to slap their backs and compliment them and tell them how good they are and how easy the next opponent looks and how cool it is to be a Duck.
The whole campus and now the whole country is giddy about the return of the Quack, but the players who make it happen never left and never went anywhere. They were in the Mo in February running pass patterns and lifting weights. They assembled on the practice field in June and July and led themselves through workouts and conditioning. There were few microphones then. And the questions were mostly doubting ones, like who's going to replace the irreplaceable quarterback, and what will the coaches do without anyone to play defensive tackle or anchor the secondary. If you'll remember, the Oregonian's writers picked the team to go 8-4, dumping a couple of games by now, to a frenzied and electric atmosphere in Knoxville and a smashmouth power running team with a tall, NFL-bound quarterback.
They overcame those challenges in impressive fashion, but there are 62 days before they can dance the championship dance with Roses in their mouths. And seven more quarterbacks who want to be NFL-bound or XFL-bound or CFL-bound or just want to impress pretty girls will take aim at the team everybody is watching and talking about. If one of those guys gets a hot hand and has the day all his rhymes are picking up rhythm all the hype could bust like the big wobbling soap bubble it is, full of nothing but trapped air. You can't be mesmerized by the rainbow in the soapsuds of flattery. You've got to do the job every day, lock down the hype machine and put a pancake block on the distractions.
There are 62 to days to win, and so far the Ducks haven't won nothing. They're back, but now they have to stay here.
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