Oregon football's incredible transformation from nothing to title contender

This article might have already been posted here but first time I've seen it.

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1983 is the year Oregon and Oregon State played to a 0-0 tie in the Civil War. It's a good barometer for rock bottom for both programs.

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There hasn't been a first-time champion since Florida in 1996. During the BCS' 16-year run, Virginia Tech in 1999 and Oregon in 2010 were the only championship-free programs to even reach the title game.

Whether Oregon wins its first this year or not, it's accomplished something. Unless you're the Miami Hurricanes in the 1980s, it takes decades to become a somebody in a sport as old as college football.

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It is quite remarkable what they've accomplished so far. They haven't hired a new coach from outside the program since 1977. They turned a perennial bottom feeder into a perennial conference champion in the hunt for the national title.

And, yeah, you can credit Nike and Phil Knight for a lot of that I suppose but even that organically grew out of the University of Oregon's track program. Phil Knight had the business acumen to see what nobody else was seeing and took Bowerman's idea and ran with it. He could have set up shop in California but instead kept his company in Oregon. Nike is the ultimate Oregon success story.

I've got a love/hate relationship with Nike and Oregon. It's in my backyard. I live and work within five miles of Nike HQ. Nike has gone to great lengths to avoid annexation by the same city I live in. I cheer for the Beavers. I've watched them lose 7 straight Civil Wars to the Ducks. It's been a very bitter pill to swallow.

But I have to marvel at what they've accomplished. They have done the state of Oregon proud. And I'm sure that's exactly what all those fireworks in Corvallis last night were all about.