PULLMAN, Wash. — The Ducks' pursuit of perfection limped along Saturday, a forgettable performance by the offensive line at the forefront of a concerning night, when the only consolation was a 38-31 victory at Washington State.

The way things have been going, Steve Greatwood should have figured things wouldn't have gone easily in the Palouse.

Since the end of last season, the longtime offensive line coach for the Ducks has absorbed some titanic emotional blows.

In June, his father, Fred, passed away at age 79 after a battle with Alzheimer's.

And in the past month, he says his heart has been broken as his group of offensive linemen has been decimated by injury, threatening what was supposed to be a strength in the Ducks' quest for the national championship.

Then on Saturday, in the Ducks' first road test of the season, Greatwood's patchwork line was under siege.

With a true freshman starting at left tackle, and a former walk-on starting his first game at right tackle, the Ducks' line at times looked like a turnstile. Marcus Mariota was sacked seven times. Back-to-back holds negated runs of 15 and 54 yards. There were three false starts, and the inability to pick up a first down on third and 1.

It was the nightmare of every Ducks' fan, played out on national television, and continued what has been a trying three months for Greatwood.

If you think the injuries to three offensive linemen are trivial, or not on the same plane as losing a father, then you don't know Greatwood and the bond he has with his unit.

In the spring, the linemen take part in Easter egg hunts at his house. There are summer lake-house trips where Wave Runners and speed boats roar while Greatwood, or "Wood" as the players call him, mans the barbecue. The damage this year: three inner tubes, a ski rope and a lounge chair were broken.

"You know, those things just aren't made for 300-pound guys,'' Greatwood says proudly.

And during August's two-a-day practices, the group for one day delights his mother with a visit to her home on the McKenzie River, some of the linemen soaking in the wilderness for the first time.

"He shows us he cares,'' says Tyler Johnstone, the former freshman All-American left tackle who in August suffered his second ACL injury in nine months. "He really opens his home to us and lets us know he is there. If we need a father figure he is there for us. It's not like this is just a job to him, and we are his employees. He treats us like an extension of his family.''

Why all this extra time and attention?

"I love being part of these guys' lives,'' Greatwood says. "Pure and simple.''

So understand, then, how this perfect season has been anything but perfect for Greatwood and his boys. Yet, they both keep plugging along as if nothing has happened; Greatwood pounding the importance of fundamentals; the linemen pushing their opponent.

And while the blur known as the Oregon offense is defined by its quick scores and Mariota's Heisman candidacy, inside the trenches, where it all starts, the season is defined by something much deeper.

To Wood and his boys, the fabric of this season is stitched in lessons of loss, and how to move on.

• • •

Part of Fred Greatwood's routine after retiring from the insurance business in Eugene was attending Oregon football practices to watch his son work the Ducks offensive line into shape.

"He looooooooved that, coming out and watching practice with his cronies," Greatwood said. "Darn near every day.''

He was a father rooted in the pillars of manhood: Honor. Work Ethic. And compassion.

"A stoic Englishman,'' Greatwood said. "When Fred Greatwood promised you something, it was going to be there. A very honorable man.''

He taught his three sons the value of a dollar. He never berated them. And he encouraged them to chase their own dreams.

"He taught me that you have to stand on your own two feet in life,'' Greatwood said. "He could have wanted me to follow in his footsteps and run the family business, but he always wanted me to chase my dream.''

So it was with great pride that Fred watched Steve evolve from player at Oregon (1977-1979) into one of the program's most established position coaches.

"He wasn't a braggart about it, but I knew he was very proud,'' Greatwood said.

Knowing the humble and reserved nature of his father, Greatwood remembers being alarmed one day in practice several years ago.

"He came out one morning and just wandered out in the middle of the field, with practice going on,'' Greatwood remembers. "He had never done that before, where he didn't have any sense of where he was and what he was doing.''

From across the field, Greatwood froze and stopped his drill. He ran to his father.

"That's when we started to see the Alzheimer's take hold,'' Greatwood said.

• • •

When Fred Greatwood passed away on June 13, the news trickled throughout Wood's boys.

"We are close enough to know all that stuff,'' Johnstone said. "But he kind of kept it from us and tried not to make us worry for him. I think he didn't want to make it our sorrow.''

Hroniss Grasu, the two-time all-Pac-12 center and leader of the group, went to the service and encountered a stoic Greatwood.

"I knew his father was dealing with the same thing my grandmother is dealing with, and we had talked about their problems,'' Grasu said. "But when I went to offer my condolences, he didn't want to talk about it. He dealt with it the way he dealt with it. He didn't want to show any type of weakness.''

It's not that Greatwood is a hardened soul, unable to express his emotions. He shows up to players' homes after they undergo surgery, texts players regularly to check on their spirits, and makes sure they know his home is their home.

"I think it's important to give them a sense of family,'' Greatwood said.

But his stoic front to the team resonated with his boys. Did he grieve? Absolutely. But did he wallow and dwell? No.

"I can't allow myself to do that, because it's not serving anybody any purpose,'' Greatwood said. "It's like with my dad, watching him slip further and further, each and every day. You can be there, you can comfort him, but you know he is not going to come back to you the way he was. But at some point, you have to have the resolve that, hey, he's in a better place. ''

• • •

Two months after his father passed, Johnston's knee buckled in practice, just nine months after fighting back from a torn ACL. It was the same knee. And the same injury.

"My heart just broke for him,'' Greatwood said.

In the season's second game, Johnstone's replacement, Andre Yruretagoyena, went down with a serious leg injury.

In the third game, starting tackle Jake Fisher went down with an injury and didn't travel Saturday to Pullman.

Once again, Wood and his boys were faced with loss, and how to deal with it.

"To equate the finality of my dad's passing and the injuries is a little different, because Tyler will be back next season and Andre will hopefully be here by the end of the season. But by the same token it hurts, and we have to deal with it,'' Greatwood said. "But as much as it bothers me, I can't show that to the kids. I can't hang my head and mope around like 'Poor me' and 'Poor us' because we don't have so-and-so. What message does that send?''

Instead, he said he finds himself leaning on the principles his father instilled in him, and in turn, directing them into his boys.

In the process, Greatwood said he has noticed he has acquired one of his dad's traits, which might turn out to be his greatest coaching tool.

"My dad was a patient man — never berated us, never saw him get totally mad — and I feel like I have a lot of patience,'' Greatwood said. "It's why I will never give up on a kid. I live by an adage: You never say they can't play until the final play of their senior year. I owe it to these kids to coach them right up to the end of their career. And later on in life if they need it, too.''

His credo of never giving up on a kid has produced many success stories. Among his favorites: Chris Tetterton, a walk-on defensive lineman from Sheldon who ended up starting for the 2001 team that played in the Fiesta Bowl; and Matt Pierson, a walk-on from West Linn who started his first career game Saturday at right tackle.

"There are tons of kids like that out there,'' Greatwood said. "You can't give up on them.''

• • •

Under Greatwood's tutelage, Oregon's offensive line has opened up holes that have led to the Ducks leading the Pac-12 in rushing eight consecutive seasons. For the past seven seasons, the Ducks have ranked in the Top 10 nationally in rushing.

On Saturday, they played better in the second half, and did enough to allow Mariota to throw for five touchdowns and help propel the offense to more than 450 yards.

"We probably demand more out of the five guys up front than any team in the country,'' Greatwood said. "Because they have so little time to make the decisions they make with the tempo we go at. So there are so few static looks we get out of the defense because we don't always give them a chance to line up. But we also don't give ourselves time to analyze what they are doing because we are going so fast.''

The Ducks' linemen are quick and athletic, with Grasu and guard Hamani Stevens often hustling out to the edge to usher a back through a hole, but Greatwood says the unit's skill goes beyond speed.

"My guys can move, yes, but I'd like to think that if people really knew the nuances of what we do they would see that these kids are really highly conditioned athletes who are highly intelligent and highly competitive,'' Greatwood said.

And as we've seen, even with a rash of injuries, they are a highly resilient group as well, thanks to his lessons in loss and how to move on.

"He is our leader, and he believes in us,'' Grasu said. "When your offensive line coach has more confidence in you than you do, as a player, that just means a lot. He's not acting like it's the end of the world, so neither are we.''

Maybe that perspective has to do with Greatwood's own loss. Or maybe it is what most coaches would do when faced with injuries. Or maybe it has to do with what happened last Saturday, after the Ducks beat Wyoming.

That evening, Greatwood got married.

Koni Perrin caught his eye at a recruiting dinner in Portland a little more than three years ago, and little did he know at the time she would change his life, and his outlook.

"She inspires me,'' Greatwood said. "She has taken a lot of stress out of my life. Her personality is one that, 'Hey, the sun is going to come up tomorrow. Don't dwell on it. Don't stress about it. You will find a way to get it fixed.'

"She has just instilled that confidence in me by her attitude that you can't beat yourself up about things,'' Greatwood said. "You have to put it behind you and move forward.''

-- Jason Quick | @jwquick