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The University of Oregon got skunked on Thursday. Shut out. Blanked. Ignored. In front of a national TV audience, the NFL cleared its throat and announced the names of the 32 most qualified and interesting candidates for jobs next season and it turns out that none of them played football in Eugene.

Now, a twist: The Ducks should be proud of that distinction.

is a good bet to be selected in the second round on Friday. But for the second year in a row, coming off another Bowl Championship Series game, the Ducks didn't land a single first-round draft pick. In fact, in 2011, off that ridiculous 12-1 season and the national championship game against Auburn, Oregon's only drafted player was

, who went in the fourth round to the Philadelphia Eagles.

This was greeted, predictably, by some under the bubble in Eugene with cries of outrage, disbelief and conspiracy. As if the NFL teams with their general managers, scouts, a combine, pre-draft workouts, video, recommendations and a

had somehow overlooked the first-round talent suiting up at Oregon.

The draft doesn't lie.

They were a great team, playing a wonderful system, and doing it so effectively and beautifully that I couldn't take my eyes off it. They pummeled the competition, most nights. But let's not diminish the accomplishments of the past three seasons at Oregon by shaking our heads at the draft. Instead, we should be marveling at how it was that coach Chip Kelly managed to go 24-3 in his past two seasons without a player worthy of a first-round NFL draft pick.

USC and LSU also had two each. And so that's what Oregon was lining up against last season in big games and staying competitive. Again, take a bow, Ducks. Because Oregon blew out Stanford and didn't back down from USC and LSU.

James will become the 151st UO player drafted by the NFL. It will extend a streak of 27 consecutive years in which at least one Ducks player was drafted. But while we're waiting for the second and third, it's probably worth stepping back and recognizing that Oregon wasn't as talented as everyone believed.

Great, yes. Well coached, absolutely. Heralded around college football as innovative, undeniably. But they were absolutely, positively, playing over their heads when they lined up against programs such as LSU, USC and Wisconsin. And for that, being competitive and winning a Rose Bowl is nothing to scoff about.

Now, Oregon will tell you that it believes it has the greatest talent pool around. But the Ducks -- who haven't had a first-round selection since Jonathan Stewart in 2008 -- don't. And what we've learned in the past three seasons by watching the success on the field fail to translate into high-caliber NFL picks is that Kelly doesn't need all the best players to win big. He doesn't even need a half dozen of them. He just needs some pretty good football players, and maybe, a small number of guys who have a chance to play in the NFL someday.

The Ducks weren't that talented. We're getting sold a blue-chip myth, but the draft isn't hyperbole or marketing. It's just guys with stopwatches, measuring tapes, scales and experience telling us who the generally best players in college football are. And what they're saying about Oregon's lack of high-level talent over the past two years is remarkable.

Line up all the rankings, scoring records, and coaching awards. Throw in three BCS appearances in three seasons for Oregon. Dress up the Rose Bowl trophy and take photos of fans beside it, but there's nothing more impressive to me about Oregon's success than the first round of the NFL draft once again ignoring the Ducks.

That's some big feat.

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Catch him on the radio on "The Bald-Faced Truth," 3-6 p.m. weekdays on KXTG (750).