Josh Huff caught the game-winning catch for Oregon in Friday’s Civil War with 29 seconds left in the game. Even for the plodding late-game football clock, 29 seconds is an extremely short amount of time.
But compared to Saturday’s Alabama-Auburn game, 29 seconds seems like an eternity.
On the penultimate play of the Iron Bowl, tenths of a second determined whether or not T.J. Yeldon’s foot landed out of bounds before or after the clock hit zero. Officials correctly put one second on the clock. Alabama then tried for a field goal, which led to one of the most unbelievable plays of the year:
Head coach Mark Helfrich is aware that a play like that would give even the toughest coach nightmares.
“As a coach that’s what makes you stay up at night and make sure you’ve crossed every ‘t’ and dotted every ‘i’ to the best of your ability,” Helfrich said during Sunday’s conference call with local media. “But sometimes things happen.”
That unpredictability led Helfrich to call sports the ultimate reality TV. Auburn has won five games this season by a touchdown or less. Oregon and Oregon State traded leads on Friday four times in the fourth quarter.
“I think that’s why everyone’s so interested in (sports),” Helfrich said.
Helfrich also said team performances impact a game’s outcome most. Plus, worrying about luck won’t do the Ducks any good.
“You look at Auburn’s game versus Washington State or Auburn’s game against Georgia or certainly this last finish (against Alabama), there are elements of all these things, but most of it is earning it,” Helfrich said. “There’s so much randomness to it, the parts you know about you have to handle.”
The randomness in college football could determine Oregon’s bowl fate. The Ducks appear bound for the the Alamo Bowl, but that projection could disappear as quickly as Alabama’s Iron Bowl hopes during Chris Davis’ field goal return on Saturday. With a bunch of losses this upcoming week to teams ranked ahead of Oregon, the Ducks could end up going to a completely different part of the country. Helfrich, like he has all season, said he’ll use a wait-and-see approach.
“Again, it goes back to the ‘woulda coulda shoulda’ and even more reinforcement of handling your business and why it’s so important to handle your business every week,” Helfrich said.
The business at hand for Helfrich and the coaching staff in the next couple of weeks is recruiting.
Helfrich and his team will also get a chance to reflect on their 10-2 season in the coming weeks. Defensive coordinator Nick Aliotti said his team should never be ashamed of a 10-win season, and Helfrich agreed that the Ducks have been successful this year.
But as Helfrich and his staff prepare for their bowl game and for next season, they certainly won’t forget about areas that need improvement.
“Are there things we did really well? Yeah,” Helfrich said. “Are there a lot of things we can do better? Absolutely.”
Follow Victor Flores on Twitter @vflores415