No time like the present for Oregon's national title hopes

Paul Myerberg | USA TODAY Sports

LOS ANGELES — After taking a long look at Penn State's offense in advance of the 1995 Rose Bowl, then-Oregon defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti decided to call an all-out blitz on the Nittany Lions' first offensive play from scrimmage.

It backfired in memorable fashion: Penn State running back Ki-Jana Carter fought through the blitz to take the opening carry 83 yards for a touchdown, setting the tone for a 38-20 win.

As Carter turned the corner, bouncing off one potential tackler and racing into the end zone, Aliotti made eye contact with offensive line coach Steve Greatwood, who was struggling — and failing — to stifle a smile.

All Aliotti could do was laugh.

At the time, in the Rose Bowl for the first time in nearly 40 years, Oregon coaches felt as if they were playing with house money — the Ducks, picked to finish near the bottom of the conference standings during the preseason, were just happy to be there.

Two decades later — nearly to the day — the program's mentality has undergone a wholesale shift. No longer satisfied with merely showing up, Oregon has come to expect its annual place in the championship conversation; now, the Ducks firmly believe the program's first national title is a matter of when, not if.

"It's something we feel we have a realistic chance to accomplish each and every year going in," Greatwood said. "To get to the point where you actually believe that each and every year you have an opportunity to be in the hunt for it is pretty special."

And the Ducks will never have a better chance at the title than this January, beginning with Thursday's national semifinal against Florida State.

It's as if the program's long road — one that didn't begin in early 1995 but more than a decade before — has led to this point. The coaching staff features a perfect blend of energy, thanks in large part to former offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich's ascension to the top spot prior to last season, and experience, with five assistant coaches combining for more than a century of service at Oregon alone.

This year's team is led by Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota, the top quarterback in the Football Bowl Subdivision and the consensus best player in program history. Beyond Mariota, the Ducks have been paced by a slew of senior contributors: left tackle Jake Fisher, center Hroniss Grasu, linebacker Tony Washington, safety Erick Dargan and cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, to name a few.

The Ducks' offense has never had a more flawless triggerman, and rarely has it produced at such an efficient, effective and consistent clip. After some early struggles with youth and injuries, the entire offense — particularly the offensive line — rounded into perfect form during the final weeks of the regular season.

"You have a Marcus Mariota," Aliotti, now an analyst for the Pac-12 Network, told USA TODAY Sports. "You have an experienced coaching staff. You have Grasu and all those guys who have been there for a long time. Everything's going right for them at this point."

But each advantage — coaching, talent, experience and a much-imitated offensive system — has a limited shelf life.

Grasu, Dargan and the rest of Oregon's senior class is preparing for the final games of their college careers. Though he has yet to officially announce his intentions, it is widely believed that Mariota will opt to forego his final season of eligibility and enter the NFL draft; if so, he's expected to land within the top five picks.

At some point, Oregon will need to shuffle its experienced — and universally respected — core cast of assistant coaches. It's a process that has already begun in small part, with four new faces joining the program within the past five seasons. One of those recent additions, offensive coordinator Scott Frost, will soon be tabbed to run his own program.

"I think as a coach you realize, getting to the national championship game is hard to do," Aliotti said. "So when you're on the threshold of doing that, you don't know if you're ever going to go back. They're on the precipice of doing something really great. You don't when you're going to have that chance again."

Most of all, Oregon's up-tempo offense — one that ushered a new era across college football — has found a potential Achilles heel in its many imitators. It's not just that opposing teams have used the Ducks' tricks in their own offensive systems; it's that the same opponents are now practicing against the offense on a daily basis, negating the element of surprise.

"Every defense and every defensive coach in America — high school, junior high school or college, and now some in the pros — are trying to figure out how to stop it," former Texas coach Mack Brown said. "Most head coaches are making their offensive coordinators go to some type of tempo so they can practice against it every day."

As the Ducks prepares for their latest charge at the national championship, this sliver of doubt looms amid the positivity: Oregon cannot simply assume that its current run of annual championship contention will continue in perpetuity.

In the meantime, however, this year's team seem poised to grasp the opportunity that comes with being the most perfectly built group in program history.

"This seems like a special team," Aliotti said. "This team seems like a team of destiny. There's something about this team."

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