EUGENE -- The giant play card he clutched in his left hand was brand spankin' new. Willie Taggart hadn't broken the thing in with a formation or a play call and here the Oregon Ducks coach found himself on Saturday, running up the sideline and waving the thing around Autzen Stadium like a man trying to cool down the fan base.
It was the greatest opening number of an opening act ever.
All that hum-drum energy from last season? The sloppy play? The lack of focus and energy?
Poof. Gone. Just like that.
Return man Tony Brooks-James took the opening kickoff of a new Ducks era -- Taggart's era -- and raced 100 yards, carrying the football as if it were an Oregon Ducks punctuation point.