Oregon Football: 5 storylines to follow during 2018 spring ball

1. Will Oregon regain their mystique?

The Oregon Ducks football program once had a mystique to it. They played fast football under Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich and mixed uncanny speed for the Pacific northwest with big bodies that could also run and hit. The Ducks offense had been a nightmare for opposing defensive coordinators to figure out with quarterbacks of all different sizes and skillsets thriving under Chip Kelly.

Then came Marcus Mariota and another trip to the national championship game. Mariota took home the Heisman Trophy hardware and got Oregon a half of football away from their first ever title.

Between the speedy backs, the spread out offense, and the fashion statements- Oregon had a mystique about them. However, that’s changed over the past few seasons where Oregon has struggled for relevance with the resurgence of the USC Trojans and the rise of the Washington Huskies under Chris Petersen and the Washington State Cougars under Mike Leach. With former Ducks head coach Chip Kelly down in L.A. at UCLA, the window is closing even faster. Can Oregon regain their mystique?

Mario Cristobal knows how to rebuild a program. He played at Miami in their heyday but served as a graduate assistant during the rebuilding years of 1999-2000 before the 2001 national title. He won a bowl game at FIU, and kept the Alabama train rolling with Nick Saban. Saban himself was charged once with bringing the mystique back to Tuscaloosa, AL.

Next: Building the best college football super team

Even though the Ducks don’t have the market cornered on option quarterbacks or flashy gear anymore, there’s still an aura around Oregon football. The beauty now is that the Ducks are built behind Troy Dye and Jim Leavitt’s defense, and defense wins championships. If you step inside of Autzen Stadium you can feel the special quality of U.O. and the weight room and locker room are a sight to behold. Oregon can draw the national eye again, but will they?