National Championship Blueprint: Oregon Ducks
Alabama won its sixth national title under Nick Saban last season, bringing the total to three for the Crimson Tide since the college football playoff began in the 2014-2015 season. Now everyone is asking: what do teams need to do to be one of the four selected by the playoff committee?
Oregon was part of the initial playoff, but has yet to return. So let’s look at what the Ducks need to do to win a national championship. These items can change as time passes, but I believe this is what’s most important
Recruit like a blue-blood
Almost four years into the Mario Cristobal tenure, starting with his first full year as head coach in the 2018 cycle, Oregon’s recruiting classes have finished ranked No. 13, No. 7, No. 11 and No. 6 nationally. Recruiting is the lifeblood of any program, just look at the past three national champions. In its most recent championship season, Alabama's class ranked No. 2 nationally, LSU had the No. 5 ranked class in 2019, and Clemson had the No. 7 ranked class in 2018, headlined by projected top NFL Draft pick Trevor Lawrence.
Cristobal showed his recruiting prowess by landing bluechips Penei Sewell (2018) and Kayvon Thibodeaux (2020). Both are projected first rounders, and it looks like the Ducks could have more in the making with Sewell’s younger brother, Noah, who won the Pac-12 freshman defensive player of the year and Mykael Wright-- one of the premier defensive backs in college football.
Develop talent
Luring elite talent to Eugene isn’t very difficult. Scott Frost might think so, but with the Ducks’ recent play on the field, the staff Cristobal has assembled, and the national brand of Nike University make Oregon a contender for virtually any recruit in the country.
Turning that talent into on-field production however, is an entirely different task. The Ducks were one of the youngest teams in the nation last year, yet three 5-star freshmen, Noah Sewell, Dontae Manning, and Justin Flowe, couldn’t make up for what was lost from a historic 2019 defense.
Granted, Flowe missed the season and Manning wasn’t totally healthy all year--but the fact remains, you can’t rely on freshmen to carry the team every year. There’s no substitute for experience, and players need to be coached the right way to reach their full potential as we saw with players like Penei Sewell and Jevon Holland. What’s more, developing strong depth behind the first line ensures injury won’t derail a team in any given game, especially on the brightest stage.
Win on the field
Winning on the field is the best recruiting tool any school can pitch to a recruit. When the Ducks were getting embarrassed by schools like rival Washington in 2016 en route to a 4-8 record, they couldn’t sell a winning product.
Fast forward to 2021, and they’re back-to-back Pac-12 champions, and Rose Bowl champions, coupled with a New Year’s six bowl appearance in the Fiesta Bowl. Now you have coaches taking pictures with hardware and posting it on Twitter, and recruits have taken notice.
They see the winning and want to be a part of it. I talked to over half of the 2021 signees, and each of them told me they wanted to be part of the program’s first national championship. The talent on this roster has the Ducks in contention.
The quarterback
You can recruit all the elite talent you want, but if you don’t have at least a competent quarterback, you don’t stand a chance in big-time games. Tyler Shough is challenging to put under this light, since he was thrown into the spotlight in the COVID-19 pandemic, and didn’t have many of the luxuries afforded to him in a typical offseason.
Whatever the opinion on Shough, he’s now in Lubbock and the Ducks have names like Anthony Brown, Ty Thompson, and Jay Butterfield. On the surface, it’s Brown’s job to lose. He has the experience as a multi-year starter at Boston College, and the offense looked like a different animal with him under center in brief spurts during the Fiesta Bowl.
Whoever wins the job, the Ducks are now pulling from at least 4-star talent, instead of guys like Jeff Locke when Vernon Adams got hurt in the Alamo Bowl. Five-star freshman Thompson has all the hype, as well as all the tools to succeed in college.
Make solid hires
When your program is successful, other schools go after your coaches, it’s just part of the process. But Mario Cristobal has proven to be one of the best at making new hires, always taking his time, interviewing countless candidates and making sure they fit into his culture.
Joe Moorhead has only been in Eugene for one season, but the offense is exciting and keeps defenses guessing--a complete 180 from the days of Marcus Arroyo. Tim DeRuyter has yet to assemble his defense on the field, but has a proven track record not only on the West Coast at Cal, but also in the SEC at Texas A&M.
Oregon is trying to become the “Alabama of the West.” It certainly looks like the Ducks have their man and are on their way.
