Mario Cristobal rebuilds Oregon by focusing on strength as much as speed

George Schroeder | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption College football game of the week: Washington State vs. Oregon College football insiders Paul Myerberg and George Schroeder go head-to-head over who will win Saturday's matchup between Oregon and Washington State.

To flummox and delight an Oregon fan in a single sequence, pitch this thought: In beating Washington last Saturday, the Ducks probably ended the Pac-12’s realistic hopes of making the College Football Playoff.

The initial reaction: Wait, but what about us? But then the grin spreads:

Hey, not Washington!

“We love beating Washington,” says Mike Raabe, a lifelong Oregon fan. “We did not want Washington to go, even if it was our last hope.”

Raabe, who manages a retail store in – get this – Seattle, is as passionate as any in a fan base that is routinely described as passionate (his Washington license plate reads: “MRDUCK2” only because his dad is “MRDUCK”). Full disclosure: We’ve known each other for years. But Raabe has ridden Oregon’s rise in the last two decades to the cusp of national championships – and then its plummet in the last few years right off the national radar. It’s in that context that he adds:

“The Rose Bowl would be pretty cool.”

PLAYOFF IMPACT: Breaking down the five biggest games of the weekend

BOLD PREDICTIONS: What unexpected outcomes to anticipate in Week 8

STAFF PICKS: A huge showdown in the ACC and big game in Pac-12, Big Ten

That’s a long way off, of course. But a 5-1 start, punctuated by that 30-27 overtime win against Washington, has Oregon fans very excited about the program’s trajectory. Mario Cristobal would not disagree – that is, if you could get him to consider the bigger picture. He’s far more concerned this week by the immediate challenge.

Washington State is, well, good. Adding to the degree of difficulty, ESPN’s College Gameday is visiting Pullman, Washington, for the first time; the atmosphere is likely to be intensified far beyond a typical game at Martin Stadium. Combine that with the natural tendency after a huge win to struggle to find the same motivation, and if it feels like a potential trap – well, Cristobal isn’t about to sit back and take stock of where the program is or where it might be headed.

“I think we’ve done a pretty good job of shaking off (the win against Washington),” Cristobal says. “You want to shake off a loss, but you want to do it with a win, too. … We’re going week to week. We’re not trying to take a snapshot of the season and judge it.”

The rest of us will, of course; it’s why you’ve seen all these midseason reviews. Quick snapshot of Oregon: The Ducks are trending upward, and fast.

“We’re certainly progressing,” says the Ducks’ first-year coach, who was elevated to replace Willie Taggart last December. “We’re starting to elevate the standards.”

The attention goes to junior quarterback Justin Herbert, and with good reason. If he decides to leave school early, he potentially would be the top quarterback taken in the NFL draft next spring – and maybe the top player overall. The combination of his size (6-6, 235 pounds), arm strength and athletic ability has scouts salivating.

Herbert’s talent has been perhaps the biggest catalyst lifting Oregon back toward relevance, at least in the Pac-12. But so has Cristobal’s emphasis on the line of scrimmage.

The former Miami (Fla.) offensive lineman, who coached the position under Nick Saban at Alabama, has described the current offensive line as the best he’s coached, which seems a stretch or maybe coaching hyperbole.

So does the collective mindset Cristobal is trying to instill. When Oregon rose to elite under Chip Kelly, the program was known for playing super-fast and wearing wacky uniforms. It wasn’t smoke and mirrors, but the success came despite deficiencies on the line of scrimmage. That was occasionally exposed – see the BCS national championship game against Auburn and the College Football Playoff national title game against Ohio State.

These Ducks still have wacky uniforms, because Oregon. They still play fast, because everyone does. But Cristobal is attempting to build a smash-mouthed approach that begins on both lines. The plan sounds a lot like a mashup of Oregon and Stanford – or, hey, like what we’ve come to see in Alabama.

“It’s our emphasis, being an offensive line coach and the belief I had as a player,” he says. “Games are won and lost in the trenches” – and here, he makes the point that in a changing world filled with run-pass options and bubble screens, the trenches include the perimeter and receivers.

“It’s a mindset,” Cristobal continues. “It’s toughness. If we could accomplish all those things through the creation and enhancement of a culture, it would pay a lot of dividends. There’s been some really good return on that so far. It’s such a different blueprint than what was here before, it takes time to continue to develop and ingrain. But the blueprint is there.”

He says the resources are, too, pointing specifically to the Marcus Mariota Sports Performance Center. In the spirit of taking snapshots, Oregon is recruiting at an unprecedented level, as well.

The Ducks are ranked No. 4 overall by 247Sports, right behind Alabama, Texas A&M and Georgia, and ahead of heavyweights Clemson, Oklahoma and LSU.

At the same time, Cristobal says he has tried to imprint the Ducks’ recent history of success on his players, too.

“Oregon’s been good for a long, long, long time,” he says. “To proceed and move forward, we have to understand our past, too. Our players have a good understanding of what went on here.”

At the very least, the Ducks altered a narrative that had been developing in the Pac-12 North. Chris Petersen’s arrival, which coincided with Oregon’s dip, had altered the hierarchy. Never mind that 12-season winning streak in the rivalry, the Ducks were destined to fight uphill against a Washington program that is building toward elite. Instead, they might at least have served notice that they’re not fading away.

And if this season, victory didn’t propel the winner to national relevance?

Even if the Ducks were to win out, they’d seemingly be a long shot for the playoff because of a soft non-conference schedule and the Pac-12’s perceived weakness. A fan can hope for turmoil elsewhere. But if chaos doesn’t come, it’s OK.

“We’re pretty excited about the future,” Raabe says. “Then you can start talking about the national championship. But after the last couple of years, that’s a pretty big goal. … It’s good to just get back on solid ground, and that’s what (Cristobal) is doing.”