What happened to Oregon last year really doesn't need to be rehashed, but it will live on for a long, long time in the Pacific Northwest.

You remember the team that took the college football world by storm and got to within one play of being No. 1 in the country; the team that really had a chance to win a national championship before Dennis Dixon, who had emerged as the favorite for the Heisman Trophy, was lost for the year with a knee injury.

In the end, what started special turned out, well, not so special.

Dixon's gone now. So is star running back Jonathan Stewart. So are other important parts of Mike Bellotti's Oregon machine. In the "more bad news" department, the Ducks were in it until the end but lost the recruiting war for star high school quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

So, the Ducks have to rebuild, but that doesn't mean the cupboard is bare for Bellotti, who should be just fine if he can find someone to call the signals. The new guy doesn't have to be as good as Dixon was last year; he just has to keep Oregon from losing games.

Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.