Word broke early Wednesday morning from the University of Washington that the Husky football program was temporarily put on hold due to positive Covid-19 tests within the program.
The temporary hold puts into jeopardy the Ducks football game this Saturday with the Huskies in Eugene and the opportunity for Oregon to represent the North in the Pac-12 Championship if the Ducks were able to win.
As expected, there’s so many moving parts to this story and how it might affect the final weeks of this shortened season.
But for Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal, it’s pretty simple – just keep moving forward.
“One hundred percent focus on playing Washington, our opponent this weekend,” said Cristobal when asked his thoughts about the breaking news coming out of Washington.
“That’s the information that was given to our football team. They understand there’s stuff out there on social media but we are preparing 100 percent to play the University of Washington.”
Cristobal told reporters he was notified of the Huskies temporary halt early Wednesday morning during his teams position meetings and addressed it with the team as a whole.
Besides the temporary stoppage in their team activities, Cristobal says that’s really all he knows and nothings changed in his teams preparation.
“We go with what we know, and right now we know we’re playing Washington on Saturday,” explained Cristobal.
“It’s that simple. How do we stay motivated? Being direct and honest. Understanding the situation, the situation, the circumstances that we’ve afforded ourselves of being in a positive way. And at the same time making sure that if there’s any change we’ll certainly let everybody know.
“We don’t try to head-fake our way into any of this stuff. It’s as simple as, if you’re not motivated for this, you’re in the wrong program.”
What does it all mean?
That’s the one million dollar question at this hour. If the Huskies do cancel the game with the Ducks, they would mathematically be the Pac-12 North representative in the championship game on Dec. 18. The Huskies would end the shortened season with one fewer loss and get into the game with a 3-1 record.
The Pac-12 could also throw a curveball into the mix by simply choosing to match the two (current) best records in the league which right now would pit USC (4-0) against Colorado (3-0).
That scenario would certainly disappoint players, coaches and fans alike because it dismisses the Ducks opportunity to play for a second consecutive league title.
“I know it’s a different year,” explained Cristobal.
“I guess I like to refer to it as different. I don’t look for crutches or excuses or stuff like that. We all know where we want to be every single year. We want to be competing for a division, a conference, and a national championship. Anytime you can put yourself in that situation there is some type of growth and certainly going in a positive direction.”
WEDNESDAY BRIEFING; MARIO CRISTOBAL DISCUSSES THE HUSKIES