Who is and isn’t a college football Blue Blood is always a hot topic. There are certain programs that are easy to put into that category, like Michigan and Ohio State.
College Football Blue Bloods via @Andy_Staples👀
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What about a team like Oregon that has had a lot of success over the past 25 years, but historically is more of a “New Blood.” On3’s Andy Staples has been working on this topic and he says the Ducks have one more hurdle to climb.
Staples asked Twitter for some help to define what a Blue Blood is. He settled on this criteria, “Three-plus generations of elite history, one of which has to be in the last two generations.” Staples said, “I think that is a very fair definition.”
3+ generations of elite history, one of which has to be in the last two generations.
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For example, Georgia Tech is no longer a blueblood. Notre Dame is on the cutting block.
Applying that to the Ducks, Staples said, “I would say Oregon is a couple generations good. It kinda goes back to the Rick Brooks era. It changed when Chip Kelly became head coach. Then it kinda went into hyper-drive.”
Staples continues, “When Kelly really raised them to a new level, 2009, 2010, that era, it was based on a paradigm shift that Chip Kelly created. He used a clock rule change going into the 2008 season to create an offense that no one knew how to stop.”
“What’s interesting is they rode that for a little while, but everyone figured that out. Now Oregon is doing it differently. Now they’re trying to do it the way Georgia does it. They way Alabama did it. They way Ohio State does it,” Staples said.
But Staples adds at least one national title is a must, “You can’t include Oregon in that category because they don’t have a national title. That feels like the minimum prerequisite. Oregon has to win a national title to get into that club.”