1. Oregon coach credits Falcons' Koetter: Criticism from Falcons' armchair quarterbacks notwithstanding, Oregon coach Mark Helfrich thinks Dirk Koetter is pretty good. He credited the Falcons' offensive coordinator with much of his growth as a coach, saying Koetter and former Oregon coach Chip Kelly have had the biggest influences on his career. Koetter hired Helfrich as a grad assistant in 1997 when he was Oregon's offensive coordinator, and then brought him along as his quarterbacks coach at Boise State and Arizona State. "Dirk was the head coach at Arizona State, Boise State. He was the offensive coordinator at Oregon when I was a graduate assistant. And then a combination of a lot of other people. Dan Henning, indirectly. I've never met Dan Henning, but studying a bunch of stuff when Dirk was his offensive coordinator at Boston College, going back to all those Washington Redskins days and kind of combining that with spread principles, option principles, all the passing-game stuff that we've done." In September, Koetter told Bleacher Report that Helfrich "can do it all in his head. He doesn't have to draw the pictures on the board. Not many people can do that. Mark is as smart a football guy as I know."
2. Department of gambling trivia: Florida State is 14-0 and has won 29 consecutive games, but is a nine-point underdog to Oregon. How unusual is that? The Seminoles haven't been an underdog since a 35-30 loss at Clemson on Sept. 24, 2011. They've played 50 consecutive games as favorites since (losing four times: Wake Forest and Virginia in 2011, N.C. State and Florida in 2012).
3. Titles change everything: Oregon has accomplished everything short of a national title in recent years. Former Texas coach Mack Brown, who won the BCS title in 2005, said the Ducks can alter perceptions forever. "It separates you from everybody who hasn't," said Brown, wearing his championship ring. "I asked (former Texas coach Darrell Royal) the day after we won the national championship, 'What does this mean? He said, 'It means you've done something that very few people will ever do.' He said when you speak, people will listen to you differently than they ever did before. They will look at you differently. And with fans, the expectations will be different."
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