Deep breath in. Exhale to release.

These words can be heard in just about any yoga studio from coast to coast, but it could’ve been a fitting way for Oregon fans and members of the team alike to restore themselves and find balance during a conveniently timed bye week set before a critical final stretch of the regular season that begins in earnest this Saturday when Arizona visits Eugene.

While we can’t confirm whether Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal was able to connect with his inner yogi during the bye week, the second-year head coach has demonstrated an early trend of making the most of his open dates by following them up with victories the very next week.

Coming off a bye last season, Oregon toppled Washington inside Autzen Stadium, earning Cristobal and quarterback Justin Herbert their first signature wins at Oregon. Though the stakes weren’t quite as high coming off the first bye week of the 2019 season, the Ducks still responded well, picking up a 17-7 win over Cal which helped propel them through arguably the most difficult portion of their schedule. Now coming off a bye week prior to the most essential stretch of the season, the hope, of course, is that Cristobal and company can move to 3-0 coming off the bye and continue the positive momentum with two of their next three games coming at home.

The prize awaiting the Ducks at the end if they do run the table from now through the first week of December is a possible berth in the College Football Playoff, but the potential landmines between now and then are numerous and real.

The biggest, obviously, is the upcoming schedule. Over the next three weeks, the Ducks will face an Arizona team that is coming off a dominant win over Oregon in Tucson last season, an Arizona State team that rarely rolls over for the Ducks inside Sun Devil Stadium, and an Oregon State team that is much improved from last season and would like nothing more than to play spoiler in a rivalry game. The grand prize for navigating that stretch is a likely date with Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game; a team that ranks eighth in the latest College Football Playoff Top 25 and whose strengths closely mirror those possessed by the Ducks.

Another potential landmine is the Ducks themselves. Though they’ve shown zero indication of being a team that gets out over its skis and is ill-equipped to handle prosperity, every game they win from here on out ratchets up the intensity and pressure that surrounds the following game. For a team that is relatively inexperienced and unproven on the big stage from the top down, that can be an unsettling proposition the deeper they penetrate into uncharted territory.

If that weren’t enough, the final potential trap door looming for Oregon in their hopes of reaching the playoff is the college football landscape itself. While the Ducks sit in an enviable position with roughly a month to go, they’ll likely still need some fortunate breaks to go their way in order to clear a comfortable path to the final four. Big games loom on the horizon for teams likely to be ranked ahead of Oregon this week, such as LSU, Ohio State, Clemson, Georgia, and Alabama, but also for teams like Oklahoma, Baylor, and Minnesota that could leap frog the Ducks given the opportunities for marquee wins on their remaining and respective schedules. This is a factor beyond Oregon’s control should it continue to win, but it’s an easy thing to find yourself preoccupied with if you’re a team that may be comparing your résumé with multiple contenders at the end of the season.

A mental reprieve can be just as necessary as a physical one once you reach this point in the season, and for Oregon, they’ve been tapped with good fortune given the timing of their latest bye week. But the moment has arrived for Cristobal and the Ducks to dive back into the chaos and turn their attention seizing the incredible opportunity that sits before them thanks to the impressive work that’s already been put in. Quieting the mind, blocking out the noise, and finishing the race is now all that remains.

Deep breath in. Exhale to release.

Top Photo: Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal (Jenny Rydstedt/Whole Flock of Ducks)