Oregon football: 5 best seasons in Ducks history, ranked
By Ethan Lee
2. Heisman winner Marcus Mariota leads Oregon football to national title game.
In 2014, the BCS was finished. The system that snubbed Oregon’s chance at a national championship in 2001 was dead and gone. The College Football Playoffs then took its place, and the Oregon Ducks were one of the first teams to compete in it.
The Ducks started the season highly ranked at No. 3 and appeared to be one of the teams to beat throughout the early part of the season. A 46-27 win over Michigan State in the second week of the season elevated the Ducks to No. 2 and appeared to set Oregon on a clear path to the playoffs.
But Arizona got in the way. The Ducks inexplicably fell to the Wildcats, losing 31-24, causing Oregon’s national title hopes to evaporate and dropping the Ducks down to No. 12.
But like in 2019 and 2011, Oregon would go on to win its next nine games after a disappointing loss. That win streak included a win over No. 18 UCLA, a 51-27 win over No. 20 Utah, and a 51-13 win over Arizona in a rematch in the Pac-12 Championship Game.
That led Oregon to the Rose Bowl (which was the semifinal site for the College Football Playoffs) where the Ducks met up with Florida State, the defending national champions. Oregon plowed right through FSU as quarterback Marcus Mariota (who had just won the Heisman) led the Ducks past the Seminoles and Jameis Winston (2013’s Heisman winner).
Oregon appeared to be unstoppable heading into the national championship game, and that’s when things fell apart. Oregon could not keep up with Ohio State as the Ducks battled the Buckeyes for the national title.
Mark Helfrich’s team fell short of winning its first national championship, but the Ducks had won 13 games (the most in a single season in school history), claimed a conference title, produced a Heisman winner in Mariota and won the Rose Bowl.