There have been a lot of undefeated national champions in college football history. Michigan did it last season going 15-0 and seemingly not having a game in which they struggled all season. And I think sometimes we see this and forget that going undefeated is difficult.
Last season Michigan had two stretches playing five consecutive conference games without a bye – and never trailed in the fourth quarter or second half. The Ducks were on their eighth consecutive conference game without a bye and their third trip across multiple time zones in less than a month. Oregon had been able to coast in some of those games, but only twice in the last month had the Ducks been able to dig into their reserves early enough in the game to get some true rest for the starters. They are without their leading receiver (Tez Johnson) and both of their starting guards (Marcus Harper, Matthew Bedford) and are dinged up at probably every position.
I was thinking a lot about this last night and remembering my days of powerlifting. As competitions approached, my body and mind were closer and closer to the edge. The amount of weight, the constant physical exertion, the constant state of catabolic tissue breakdown leading up to a competition left me always feeling on the edge of a fine line between perfectly ready and about to fall off a cliff of physical exhaustion.
And I was not doing that while absorbing hits from 300+ pound football players.
Sure, Oregon has a bevy of sports scientists doing everything that they can to keep the team ready both physically and mentally. But the reality of the stretch makes the ability of the Ducks to turn on that switch in the fourth quarter and escape Madison with a win still very impressive to me.
The Wolverines were not always a well-oiled machine in their run. Against Maryland, they led the whole way, but were never our of ‘danger’ winning the game by seven after a fourth quarter safety. Against Penn State, Michigan’s passing offense was hardly a thing of beauty. They threw eight total passes in that game. In their undefeated 2022 season, Georgia gave up 22 points to Kent State and the following week trailed a Missouri team that would go on to finish the season 6-7 by 10 points in the fourth quarter and later struggled tp score against 6-5 Kentucky.
None of this is to say Oregon will win a national championship, but I do think sometimes it is easy to forget how difficult it can be to go undefeated in modern college football.
Did I think that the offensive game plan was great? No. Wisconsin was giving up a sack adjust 4.9 yards per carry and 179 yards per game. I thought there should have been better early balance. That being said, one errant pass on the second drive also changed the tone of the first half. If Dillon Gabriel hits Justius Lowe in stride instead of throwing it behind him, I think he walks in for a touchdown, and we are talking about a completely different feel early in the game. But he didn’t and that allowed the Badgers momentum and hope. Oregon is clearly missing the dynamic playmaking ability of Tez Johnson and will need to find plays from someone until he is 100-percent.
Going undefeated is difficult. Doing so without your leading receiver and starting interior guards is even more difficult. The fact that Oregon has been able to find ways to win the last two weeks is actually more impressive in hindsight.
"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will." – Mahatma Gandhi
