Take a one-man band, remove the musician, and you’re left with a bunch of instruments that can’t make any music. That’s basically the story of the Oregon Ducks. The superstitious voice inside my head is starting to think that the BCS #2 slot is cursed. The voice of reason, on the other hand, is now screaming what we knew all along: Dennis Dixon is the Oregon Ducks. Down goes Dennis Dixon. Down goes the team.

Dixon was taken out of the Thursday Night game with a no-contact knee injury in the first quarter. Shortly after, the rest of the team including the defense just fell apart. Arizona went ahead to beat the Ducks 34-24.

With the National Championship gone, there’s now three Pac-10 teams converging in the Rose Bowl hunt. Arizona State leads with one conference loss. They’re followed by Oregon and USC each with two, in that order. All that needs to happen is USC win out and Oregon lose one of its last two games against either UCLA or OSU (a reasonable expectation if Dixon remains on the bench).

Is it just me, or do I detect the faint scent of roses?