Most corporate picnics don’t make news. But most corporations aren’t Nike and most bashes don’t have Drake — yes, that Drake — on hand to host the company awards ceremony.
Yet that was the scene at Nike’s Beaverton campus on Thursday. The annual Just Do It Day drew athletes like Carmelo Anthony and Lisa Leslie. Hip-hop star Travis Scott, too. It was a celebration of all things Nike.
Well, almost all things.
In his monologue, Drake couldn’t resist making a crack about Phil Knight’s favorite pet project: the Oregon Ducks.
“Nike made ‘em cool,” the rapper said. “They changed the aesthetic culture of football. They made kids want to go there.
“Just goes to show that if you’re passionate and put some money and energy and creative innovation behind one team, in just a matter of years you can watch them lose 49-3 to Georgia.”
Ouch.
The Ducks were punchless on the road and a punchline at home.
The dig was in line with the irreverent tone of the night. Don’t take it too personally, Ducks fans.
But it sure says a lot about the hit Oregon took in Week 1, doesn’t it?
If the Ducks aren’t immune from mocking on the Nike campus, no place is safe.
We still have no idea how good Oregon is after the Ducks trounced Eastern Washington 70-14 on Saturday for Dan Lanning’s first win. But it sure was needed.
On Saturday, two days after Drake delivered his zinger, Bo Nix completed 28 of 33 passes and threw five touchdowns. The offense hummed. That is a bundle of points. And Oregon did what it needed to do to reset after one of the ugliest losses in program history.
The Ducks may never look as bad as they did against Georgia, nor as good as they did against Eastern.
Now, the most important test of their season is a week away. BYU rolls into Eugene fresh off a double overtime win over No. 9 Baylor. The Cougars are physical and scrappy. Quarterback Jaren Hall is elusive and will test the Ducks defense.
A win would steady the ship and re-establish Oregon as a contender in the Pac-12. A loss? We don’t need to tell you what that would mean.
A certain Canadian entertainer, however, probably has thoughts.
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Oregon nudged its way back into the AP Top 25 with the win over Eastern Washington.
I though Oregon State showed enough to also get in, but voters disagreed. The Beavers received 42 votes. Hard to argue when Marshall and Appalachian State were also on the outside looking in.
Oregon can work its way back into the national conversation with a win over No. 12 BYU next week at Autzen and then the following week at Washington State, which is unranked but suddenly dangerous after its 17-14 win over Wisconsin at Camp Randall.
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If the Beavers don’t get tripped up by Montana State next week at Portland’s Providence Park and assuming USC gets past Fresno State, the teams will both be 3-0 for their Sept. 24 meeting in Corvallis.
Some of the most memorable moments in Oregon State program history have come against USC at Reser Stadium.
Could the Beavers muster one more before the Trojans leave for the Big Ten?
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Scott Barnes was fly fishing on the Salmon River outside of Lincoln City this summer when he slipped on a rock.
Splash! Crack!
He cracked a couple of ribs and dislocated his right shoulder. The Oregon State athletic director yowled loud enough that he figured he could be heard from miles away. As Barnes dragged himself toward the highway a few hundred yards downstream, the battered angler spotted a riffle that he simply couldn’t resist.
He’s a lefty anyway. So broken ribs, bum shoulder and all, he laid out a cast and hooked a beautiful trout.
Resilience seems to be the calling card at Oregon State these days. The Beavers looked done for on Saturday in Fresno. You figured Trent Bray’s defense couldn’t keep getting away with letting the Bulldogs into the red zone. Eventually those field goals would become touchdowns.
But the Beavers hung around and twice scored the go-ahead touchdown in the final two minutes. Chance Nolan overcame a rough start to deliver perfect passes to Luke Musgrave, Tre’Shaun Harrison and Jesiah Irish to keep the Beavers marching. He completed passes of 30, 23 and 28 yards on the Beavers final two drives. His efforts will take a backseat to the do-or-die plunge by Jack Colletto, but it was Nolan who got the Beavers to the 2-yard line to set up the game-winner.
I walked alongside Barnes to the Oregon State locker room after the game — he’s feeling much better, by the way — and he was pumped. He played basketball at Fresno State in the ‘80s. His wife, Jody, ran track for the Bulldogs.
A gratifying homecoming for the Barnes clan.
“That,” the AD said, “was crazy.”
It sure was.
What’s even crazier is the opportunity the 35-32 win creates for Oregon State. The Beavers won seven games a year ago. Topping that is now well within reach. Their first two games of conference play are against USC and at Utah. After that: Stanford, Washington State, Colorado. They later have Cal and Arizona State before hosting the Ducks.
Count quietly among yourselves.
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Mentioned Trent Bray earlier. I caught a subtle moment between the defensive coordinator and Jonathan Smith as they headed off the field. Smith saw his defensive coordinator walking by and yelled, “Hey!”
Bray turned. Smith gave him a nod and a handshake. Nothing more needed to be said.
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On the subject of Pac-12 powers handing Big Sky schools payday losses, Washington throttled Portland State 52-6. If the Vikings have any hope of building a sustained winner, they’re going to have to eventually cut Bruce Barnum some slack with the scheduling.
Barnum nearly pulled off an upset of San Jose State in Week 1, but now is 0-2 with absolutely no momentum going into Big Sky power Montana in two weeks. The Vikings might be pretty good – there’s a lot of buzz around a veteran defense — but there’s a good chance they’ll be 0-3 before they have a chance to really show it.
That’s a hard way to build a program. I’m sure Barnum would have liked a Northwestern State, like Montana had in Week 1, or Eastern Washington’s opener, Tennessee State.
Alas, this is nothing new for the affable “Barny.”
The Vikings have scheduled two FBS road games each season for the entirety of Barnum’s tenure. They have traveled to Hawaii and Washington State and Arkansas and Boise State and Washington and Oregon and Nevada.
They memorably knocked off Washington State and North Texas in 2015. Since then? They’re 0-12 in those money games.
It’s always an uphill battle at Portland State, but scheduling for the bottom line only makes it harder.
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