How a Blown Call Against Auburn in 2010 Changed the Course of History for the Oregon Ducks

Michael Dyer was down, but since he wasn't, the course of Oregon football history forever changed.

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

It's safe to say that Oregon fans have a spotted past when it comes to games on the big stage against College Football's best teams. If you ever want to have some fun, mention the words 'Ohio State,' 'Auburn' or 'LSU' in any sentence, and watch as Duck fans squirm. 

The uneasy feeling surrounding these high-level matchups is grounded, and measured. If you look at the Oregon football program as a whole, this past decade — give or take a couple years — has really been the golden era in Eugene. It started with a bang when Chip Kelly burst onto the scene and made the Ducks a national title contender, and it continues now with Mario Cristobal and Justin Herbert bringing the team back into contention. 

However, any Oregon fan will tell you what could have been, had a single call been overturned back in 2011. On January 10th, in Glendale, Arizona, the Ducks place in history was forever changed in the final quarter of the BCS National Championship game against the Auburn Tigers. If you ask any Oregon fan to give you their takeaway from that game, they will all likely repeat the same sentiment:

"Michael Dyer was down."

The game was tied at 19-19 with just over two minutes left. Cam Newton and the Tigers had the ball on their own 40-yard line. Dyer took a handoff to the right side, and was met by linebacker Eddie Pleasant a few yards down field. Both players collided and went to the ground. 

Players stopped and began to ready for the next play, but no whistles blew. 

Dyer quickly popped up and bolted down the sideline, turning what was thought to be a short run into a 37-yard gain that would cut the Ducks legs out from under them and set Auburn up for a game-winning field goal. The Tigers celebrated, the Ducks sulked, and the Oregon fanbase is left, a decade later, still arguing that the wrong call was made. 

Whether or not you believe the right call was made (it wasn't), Dyer was not ruled down on the field (he was) even after review. Almost a decade later, the play still stands in infamy for Oregon fans across the nation — a BCS Championship victory in Kelly's second year as Oregon's head coach would have undoubtedly sent the Ducks on a far different trajectory over the next several years. 

Instead, they lost, 22-19, and the narrative that they couldn't get it done on the big stage was born. 

Of course, that narrative has picked up steam over the years, and major losses to LSU and Ohio State in the ensuing seasons only acted as fuel to the fire. But still, it all started with a blown call against Auburn. 

I think that's why this upcoming game against the Tigers feels a bit different. The Ducks are no stranger to monumental games early in their schedule, ones that have the ability to make or break a season — think LSU, Michigan State, Tennessee — but there's more on the line Saturday than just a win or loss. There's 10 years of hurt waiting to be reparated. 

Should the Ducks start their season 1-0, it won't change the past and magically place a 2010 BCS Championship trophy in the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex. But what it will do is offer reassurance to Oregon fans everywhere that their team can in fact win on the biggest stage...

And of course, that Michael Dyer was down.