Canzano: Oregon Ducks thinking bigger than Big Ten title
The window of opportunity is open for Phil Knight's team.
INDIANAPOLIS — The game ended. A dozen workers wheeled a giant stage out of the tunnel at Lucas Oil Stadium and onto the field. Oregon’s marching band played. Duck fans roared and danced in the stands. And players slapped backs and whooped it up.
It was Oregon 45, Penn State 37 on Saturday.
The Ducks didn’t just join the Big Ten Conference this season.
They blew its doors off.
I stood on the field after the game, watching the celebration. My eyes eventually landed on 86-year-old Phil Knight, who walked in measured steps across the field toward the scene. A rigid “Big Ten Champion” baseball cap was propped on top of his head, tipped off to one side. Knight looked like a guy arriving fashionably late to the party.