By Ari Wasserman from The Athletic:

Mario Cristobal’s name has been thrown around a lot for these high-profile jobs, but couldn’t you argue he has underachieved at Oregon given how his recruiting has been night and day better than anyone else in the Pac-12? Shouldn’t a program with that level of recruiting be able to sweep through a Pac-12 schedule with ease? Oregon has all the stars that matter, yet they still got embarrassed by Utah (not to mention losing to a 3-8 Stanford team). If Cristobal’s recruiting is so great why do they keep losing these games? — Chris M. 

Stars are like the essential ingredient to a recipe. If you want to make a pizza, you have to have flour. If you want to make a national title-caliber team, you need stars. But just because you have the flour or stars doesn’t guarantee that you will have a great pizza or a great football team. Without them, though, you don’t even have a chance.

There is a misconception about Oregon, though. This year, the Ducks are the No. 12-rated team in the 247Sports Team Talent Composite — behind USC, which checks in at No. 10 and is having a worse year.

The Ducks really didn’t take it into overdrive mode in the recruiting game until the 2021 class that included eight players ranked in the top 150. That class, which finished No. 6 nationally, was the best in the history of Oregon football, but it still didn’t compare to what Alabama and Ohio State signed a year ago. And those players are freshmen this year, so it is going to take three or four years of recruiting at that high of a level to see the complete picture on the field.

I do understand what you’re saying, though. The Pac-12 is there for the taking, and Oregon just seems to not be able to take it, especially after getting physically dominated by a Utah team that doesn’t compare talent-wise.

That’s the thing, though. Teams with less talent win all the time in this sport. Oregon beat Ohio State this year. But having a capable team means being consistently great, especially after slipping up the way the Buckeyes did or even Oregon did against Stanford. More talented teams are more likely to go undefeated or bounce back from a slip-up.

Oregon is the 12th-most talented team in the sport this year. And guess what? Oregon is probably around the No. 12 team in the actual team rankings.

Why is Cristobal such a hot candidate? Because he has recruited very, very well and proven he can do so at a place where national recruiting is imperative. That is by far the most important bullet point on any coach’s resume. But if you were anticipating that Oregon was in the same league as Alabama this year or even Ohio State (which it beat) in terms of the likelihood of winning the national title, I think you need to re-adjust your expectations until Cristobal adds a few more elite classes. That’s when the Pac-12 dominance will start.

Last edited by WoodburnDuck (11/23/2021 10:48 am)