Oregon Sports, Dec. 31

UO fb
Years from now, as is the case with the 2007 season, folks still may wonder what might have been for the 2013 Oregon football team. What if Marcus Mariota hadn’t suffered a knee injury? What if a couple plays go different early in the Stanford game? What if the Ducks still had a national championship to play for when they went to Arizona? What the numbers will show, at least, is a team that finished 11-2, with an Alamo Bowl victory over Texas on Monday, 30-7. With a new head coach and a new offensive coordinator, and in the final season for the defensive coordinator, this was a transition year for the Ducks, and one that ended with a flourish Monday. “Unforgettable, unforgettable, my rookie year,” UO coach Mark Helfrich told his team in the locker room. “Thank you.”