EUGENE — One of the first things that Naji Saker told me after his arrival at Autzen Stadium on Saturday was how many NFL scouts were on the field during warm-ups.
“Bunch of NFL scouts out today,” my photographer texted.
Oregon beat Boise State, 34-27, on Saturday in front of those scouts. I wrote a column from the stadium about the game — was it a College Football Playoff preview? Something else? Saker captured the action and emotion of a confusing season-opening game through his camera lens.
The Ducks (1-0) won. They weren’t all that happy. The Broncos (0-1) lost. They also weren’t thrilled. Fans on both sides endured a mixture of emotions.
Saker’s photo gallery is worth your time. On Sunday, I reached back out to my photographer to ask what else he noted on the sideline. After all, he’s down on the field for three hours, virtually shoulder-to-shoulder with the teams.
“The energy from Boise State stood out to me,” he said, “especially after the first touchdown. That celebration was huge, and then there was the punt fumble recovery, and the coach went crazy… their coach was yelling, jumping up and down, hugging players.”
Enjoy:
These are great photos. Catching the action like this in a still photo is a real talent!
I think back to Bellotti's teams. They weren't expected to win easily, if win at all. They weren't teams filled with 5*s. They knew they had to fight and scrap for everything. As Bellotti said, football is a game of inches, and they fought for every inch. Contrast that with many of the high-priced teams today where some of the players have a sense of entitlement, reinforced by money and adulation. I wonder how much of that was at play yesterday for Oregon? Why should they need a "wakeup call?"
This is no disrespect to the hard work and effort of this team. But this isn't the first time a vaunted Oregon team started the season scrambling to win their opener.