It’s perfect that this Saturday’s game against UCLA at the Rose Bowl is the sixth game of the season for the Ducks. I say that because earlier today it hit me how I hope the Ducks come out and play: like it’s game 6 of a series. If you watch enough basketball or baseball, in a game 6 the team trailing 3-2 has no time for messing around, hurting anybody’s feelings, or margin for error. The team is in the most literal sense on the brink, and it is (in a way) freeing because the team has nothing else to lose. There is no time to worry about tomorrow because if the game doesn’t end with a W, then there is no tomorrow. That’s why in baseball you send your best pitcher out on short rest and have him go as long as he can, and in basketball you play the starters as many minutes as possible (in the case of a LeBron or Durant, those guys play all 48)

I say all of this because this is basically what the Ducks are facing Saturday. Sure there are at least 6 more games to play after this, but everything the season was built up for-winning the conference, going to the playoff, maybe (FINALLY) winning the Natty-all goes away if the Ducks leave the Rose Bowl scoring less points then the Bruins. That margin for error I mentioned left the building as soon as Arizona took a knee last Thursday up in Autzen, and now Oregon is staring down the barrel of a loaded gun for the rest of the season. I was always convinced this would be the toughest game on the schedule, and I still believe that way, because although UCLA’s o-line is worse than ours, and Mariota is a touch better then Hundley, that’s offset in my mind because UCLA has Jim Mora-who I think is building a great program at UCLA, while we have Mark Helfrich-who the jury is still out on to say the least.

Helfrich’s earned leeway for guiding the Ducks to the great second half against Michigan State, and it’s not his fault the o-line has collapsed due the amount of injuries, but he didn’t motivate the team last year in their loss to Arizona, and that has me concerned going into this game. To be fair, the 2 guys who were leaders of the offense last year (De’Anthony and Josh Huff) didn’t do the best job at motivating guys leading up to that game. (An aside: Josh Huff’s attitude came from a place of seeing his senior season go up in flames thanks to Stanford. He should have put on a better face for the young guys, but it’s understandable in his disappointment. De’Anthony-although he wasn’t captain-was a leader and in all honesty he shouldn’t have been, and I say that in the best way possible. It’s because DAT legitimately views football as a game, and enjoys the hell out of it, and if you win cool, and if you lose, no big deal it was still fun. I’ve long thought that he is going to be an awesome youth coach because of this philosophy, because those are the type of people that should be coaching kids, but it’s not the best mentality to have in a competitive high stakes environment.) Mariota, Ifo and Hronnis Grasu are this years leaders, and have so far done a better job of leading the Ducks through adversity then last years squad. I honestly believe the players still believe the season can be special, but although they are the ones in control of making plays, it’s not all in their hands, which is what concerns me.

These two concerns are our coordinators-Scott Frost and Don Pellum, and the mounting injuries on both the offensive & defensive lines. After having a couple days of stewing about the Arizona loss, I realized the loss wasn’t on Helfrich as much as I thought (as seen by my Facebook status yearning for DA GAWD Chip Kelly’s return). What I am worried about is the two men surrounding Helfrich and that they might not be good enough. Frost has been handcuffed by the attrition on the o-line, but the playcalling in the third quarter, notably the three straight inside runs that resulted in a three and out, was super alarming. On the defensive side, Don Pellum has decided that his favorite formation is the 3-8, which looks even more foolish now with our best defensive lineman Arik Armstead hurt. The problem with our 3-4 as well is that it puts more linebackers on the field, which is easily our worst position group on the entire team. Joe Walker is the only decent inside linebacker and he has to split time with Derrick Malone (who is the flip side of Michael Clay) and Rodney Hardrick (who doesn’t deserve to start after tearing off Anu Solomen’s helmet and goading Tony Washington into doing the ‘Namaste’ which drew the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.) We don’t send enough pressure to get to the QB, and are dropping too many into coverage so the D gets burned when there is a draw or delayed handoff (like in the Arizona game). Outside of the Arizona game and 2 quarters of the Civil War last year, the defense played it’s usual “pretty good” that it had been under Nick Aliotti the past few years. This year, outside of the second half against Michigan State, the defense has been alarmingly bad, and even South Dakota and Wyoming were able to move the ball against the D without much resistance. Poor tackling and lack of discipline has really hurt them on that side of the ball this year, and Pellum needs to start holding the players accountable for their poor play.

The good news about this weekend for the defense is that UCLA’s offensive line is somehow even worse than ours is, and they don’t have nearly the amount of injuries to the unit. I feel bad for both Mariota and Brett Hundley in this game though, because these guys are getting hammered nearly every time they drop back to pass. The sequence of Hundley getting sacked on three straight plays against Utah was something I’m sure most Duck fans thought looked familiar as Mariota has taken beatings the last two games. All that said, I think this is a toss up game and will go to the team that plays more desperately. This is a defacto elimination game for the college football playoff, and while for UCLA that would be awful for them to be out of it by mid-October, up in Eugene a loss is going to be the official slammed shut end of an era. To have the best quarterback the program’s ever seen (college-wise) last two years go down the drain is going to be a bitter pill to swallow and the program will have-to put it bluntly, wasted multiple chances at the elusive National Title. When Mariota leaves, and the uncertainty about the talent of our coaching staff, the window to win a National Title could be closed for some time. It would be a shame to witness all of that begin Saturday. If the Ducks play desperate and lose, then it just wasn’t meant to be. But if they play like they did against Arizona again, with unimaginative playcalling and lifeless defense, then that will be more crushing then the actual loss. Please win the day.