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As the No. 2 Oregon Ducks (11-1, 8-1) prepare for the No. 7 Arizona Wildcats (10-2, 7-2), one player stands out compared to the rest in college football. Undoubtedly, Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota will be in New York City to be named this year’s Heisman Trophy winner. Before that, however, he must lead Oregon into San Francisco for the Pac-12 Championship.
Oregon’s only loss this season came against the Wildcats at home on October 2, and it could have diminished its chances of being part of the inaugural four-team College Football playoff. Arizona and Pac-12 Coach of the Year Rich Rodriguez has found success slowing down Oregon’s high-powered offense with turnovers, a misfortune giving the Wildcats an advantage in defeating the Ducks twice in the past two seasons.
As luck would have it, Arizona is the only Pac-12 school that Ducks head coach Mark Helfrich is winless against. Chip Kelly was the helm the last time Oregon won against the Arizona, shutting out the Wildcats 49-0 back in 2012.
That all will become history for Helfrich with a strong showing from Mariota on Friday. The junior sensation has already inked his name into Oregon’s record book this season, breaking nine offensive records including total career touchdowns (124), total touchdowns for a season (47), total career passing yards (11,915) and most points for a season (282).
Mariota’s unique ability to drive the Ducks’ offense to impressive standards is nothing new, and the conference championship game will be no exception for the flying Hawaiian. He’s thrown a touchdown in all 38 games of his career at Oregon, setting an FBS record. Mariota also leads the nation with at least four touchdowns or more in nine games this season.
The numbers are outstanding and speak volumes about the type of game-managing quarterback Mariota is destined to be in the NFL, but they will be put under a microscope if the Ducks can’t take care of the task in front of them. The stage only becomes bigger for Mariota from here on out, and he must rise to the challenge. He only needs 293 yards and 16 pass completions against Arizona to claim the remaining three offense records in Oregon history: passing yards in a season, total offense in a season and pass completions in a season).
Should Oregon advance past Arizona to become the Pac-12 champions on Friday at Levi’s Stadium, they’ll become one of the four teams to play for a National Championship. The Ducks know they must play to “win the day,” but more importantly to become the first Oregon football team in history to “win the season.”
Mariota and company have the chance to do just that — all they need to do now is win.
Jeff Hauser is a Pac-12 Football contributing writer for RantSports and a member of the Football Writers Association of America. Follow him on Twitter @radiohauser.
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