LAS VEGAS — Far as I know the “aggressive” contract extension that the University of Oregon laid at the feet of its football coach on Friday didn’t come with an expiration date or a Pac-12 title contingency.
Good thing for Mario Cristobal.
He should sign the thing immediately.
Utah beat Oregon 38-10 in the Pac-12 Championship Game at Allegiant Stadium. South Florida probably stopped watching at halftime and may have stopped wishing as hard for Cristobal, too. Before kickoff, the billionaire booster trying to wrest control of the Miami athletic department was drooling at the thought of stealing the Ducks’ head coach.
Utes coach Kyle Whittingham did the polite thing and handed out a napkin.
Miami will still covet Cristobal. Just maybe with fewer zeroes on the contract. The Ducks should still want him too, just maybe with a few tweaks to his act. Bad losses often do what sloppy wins can’t — they make you get better. They force you to look in the mirror, address shortcomings and ask, “What could we have done to avoid this embarrassment?”
Oregon won 10 games this season. They’ll head to the Alamo Bowl. This is a program coming off back-to-back conference titles and a line of top recruiting classes. But if Cristobal wants to elevate Oregon’s program and compete for a College Football Playoff berth next season, he has to get real about a few things.
He must:
♦ Stop talking about being physical until his team actually is. Oregon got pushed around in the second straight meeting with Utah. The piles fell the Utes way. The rushing yards didn’t come easy for the Ducks. For all the talk about putting a cleat in the turf and winning the line of scrimmage Oregon was out-rushed 191-74 by Utah and failed to run the ball effectively for the second time in two meetings.
♦ Find a quarterback who can hurt defenses with his arm. Anthony Brown Jr. was not competent on Friday against Utah. I know Cristobal wants to run the football and establish identity. I understand he values trust and maturity in a leader. That’s fine, but college football is a quarterback-centric game and Oregon’s inability to find and develop a dazzling one in the wake of Justin Herbert’s departure is puzzling.
♦ Replace offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead with another great offensive mind. Oh, and also let the guy go to work. If that means putting the ball in the air more and trusting a young quarterback, embrace it. The rest of college football is. Moorhead is rumored to be headed to Akron where he’s expected to be named head coach. If he does leave, Oregon must find a creative play caller who can help shape the program’s offensive identity.
♦ Correct the game management meltdowns. Cristobal is 35-13 at Oregon. He’s won a couple of conference championships, recruits well and does a lot right. But anyone who saw the final quarter of the Stanford game or the second quarter of Utah I and Utah II knows that game management isn’t his strength. I suspect the glitches aren’t because Cristobal doesn’t understand when to kneel down, run out the clock or get to the locker room at halftime without digging a bigger hole. I think, rather, the errors come when Cristobal is trying to control too much on the sideline and loses big-picture focus.
Miami spent this week coming to grips with its shortcomings. I was told early on Friday that the “U” was chasing a line of big-name established athletic directors. Said one current Power Five Conference AD: “I know they were fishing in deep waters trying to land a big one.”
Clemson’s Dan Radakovich may be the guy.
I was told early Friday he was identified as the next AD. If so, Radakovich’s first call this weekend may be Cristobal. The offer could be in the neighborhood of $7 million to $10 million a year. It’s why Oregon AD Rob Mullens was wise to get what a UO source told me was a contract extension unlike anything ever offered in Eugene before.
“It’s aggressive and in line with what we’ve seen this week,” the source said.
Lincoln Riley’s deal with USC is rumored to be worth $110 million with incentives. LSU gave Brian Kelly a deal that could be worth as much as $95 million for 10 years. We’re all going to have to get over the shock of the financials. This is apparently the cost of doing business now in major college football, but if Cristobal is going to stick around — and I hope he does because I think he can win big in the next two seasons — there are some corrective steps he needs to take.
Utah had a terrific season. It overcame early-season troubles and the loss of two lives in less than a year. It was an emotional journey that played out on Friday with confetti shot out of cannons and 56,511 witnesses.
The Utes were the better team.
Said Cristobal after, “They earned it tonight.”
After the game there was an emotional embrace between the Sewell brothers, one of them on each side, and their mother and father. You can bet there will be no doubt or debate in their household about which of the teams was more physical or talented.
Utah erased all questions on Friday.
Now, it’s time for Oregon to answer some of its own.
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