Oregon Football: Mario Cristobal won a lot of doubters over with OSU win

“Mario Cristobal can’t win the big game.”

“He’s just a good recruiter who can’t coach.”

“Time is running out for Cristobal to prove himself.”

I’ve heard all three of those statements regarding the Oregon football coach from inside and outside of the fanbase. Some Oregon fans had been turning on the head coach despite back-to-back Pac-12 titles and it had something to do with how 2020 finished against Iowa State and how 2021 began against Fresno State.

The Ducks looked unprepared against Fresno State, needing a late touchdown to top the Bulldogs at home, but that can sometimes happen in the first game of the year when your opponent has nothing to lose and a win already under their belts. That also happens when the next game on the schedule is arguably the biggest in years.

Oregon was off to a tough start and needing pretty much 56 minutes to beat an average Fresno State team was not a good look. Those doubts surrounding Cristobal seemed warranted.

The dread for the Ohio State matchup in Columbus was real. Some fans were already marking it down as a loss and considering how poor the rest of the conference (outside of UCLA) looked in Week 1, it seemed inevitable that the Buckeyes would roll.

And then Kayvon Thibodeaux and Justin Flowe were ruled out before kickoff.

Going into Columbus without two of its best players? Oregon was doomed.

But Cristobal had the troops ready and they led Ohio State from start to finish in Columbus in the first hostile crowd environment in two years — the first for some of these guys in a Duck uniform.

Cristobal had the perfect game plan, executed it without two of his best players, and stole a win from the No. 3 team in the country when everyone and their mother was picking against the Ducks. He marched into Columbus as a 16.5-point underdog and stole a win.

How do the doubters feel now?

Oregon football recruiting is sure to pick up

Winning a game like this on the national stage against a perennial powerhouse on the road does a lot of things for a program, but one area that is sure to pick up, as a result, is recruiting.

The Ducks are already one of the top recruiting teams in the country and when you have a head coach who was once named the national recruiter of the year at a program like Oregon, it’s easy to see just why that is. The Ducks have top-class facilities and they’re a national brand, but they have been out of the spotlight for a while because of the Pac-12’s struggles.

Now that Oregon has proven it can beat top teams on the road and contend for titles, top recruits are going to start showing more interest. If you thought Oregon recruiting was good before, wait until you see what it looks like after a playoff run.