This year 2 is the loneliest number

The green-colored, long-haul semi truck sat outside Arizona Stadium in Tucson early Friday as it was being readied to transport Oregon’s equipment back to Eugene.

It was after midnight, after Arizona 34, Oregon 24.

The yellow-painted words on the truck’s side said it all:

Keep on Duckin’

With addition trailers, you could have added:

And bobbin’.

And weavin’.

Two things you don’t want to be this year in college football: a quarterback without a medical plan and a team ranked second in the Associated Press poll.

The curse keeps hitting No. 2 where it hurts.

Oregon was in mellow-yellow mode Thursday night against Arizona, amassing 183 offensive yards in the first nine minutes. Then, star quarterback Dennis Dixon crumpled to the ground with a season-ending knee injury.

Oregon was no longer No. 2.

Oklahoma, two days later, was primed to become the New 2 so long as it could beat unranked Texas Tech in Lubbock.

Then, the Sooners lost starting quarterback Sam Bradford, the nation’s leading passer, to a first-quarter concussion. Oklahoma lost the game and all No. 2 claiming rights.

The dubious “2” now hangs on Kansas, fabulously positioned at 11-0 to go from unranked in August to the national title game in January.

Kansas isn’t only second in the AP poll.

Thanks to the double-O losses (Oregon and Oklahoma), the Jayhawks are No. 2 in the USA Today coaches’ poll, the Harris Index, the Master Coaches poll and, most importantly, in Sunday’s third-to-last release of the Bowl Championship Series standings.

The reshuffled BCS top three is Louisiana State, Kansas and West Virginia. No. 4 Missouri is very much in the mix, as are fellow one-loss hopefuls Ohio State and Arizona State.

The question: Do we offer Kansas congratulations or a witch doctor?

Kansas’ ranking is in immediate peril as it makes its second-banana debut Saturday night in Kansas City against 10-1 Missouri.

Kansas fans have been crying all year for respect and Kansas’ critics have been crying for the Jayhawks to play somebody -- and now both camps are finally getting what they wanted.

At stake is the Big 12 North crown, a trip to the conference title game and possible passage to this year’s BCS championship game.

So why should Kansas be nervous?

Because being No. 2 this year is like being a tightrope walker with vertigo.

Oregon became the fifth No. 2 team to fall and Oklahoma would have been the sixth had the AP poll been conducted Friday.

This ghoulish No. 2 trend started Oct. 6 when Stanford shocked USC at the Coliseum, 24-23, in one of college football’s more improbable upsets.

California moved up to No. 2 and, one Saturday later, lost to Oregon State at home, 31-28, when backup quarterback Kevin Riley, subbing for an injured Nate Longshore, allowed time to expire with his team in position for a chip-shot game-tying field goal.

South Florida stepped up to the No. 2 plate in a reign that lasted five days, until the Bulls lost at Rutgers.

Boston College came forward and held No. 2 for what seemed an eternity -- from Oct. 21 to Nov. 3.

Then again, to hold the No. 2 high ground for more than one game, Boston College had to score two touchdowns in the final 2:11 to beat Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

Boston College gave up the ghost with a Nov. 3 home loss to Florida State.

That was the same day Oregon beat Arizona State, 35-23, in Eugene.

Autzen Stadium fans buzzed like Jerry Seinfeld’s bee movie each time the public address man announced a score that contributed to Eugene’s cause.

Ducks fans cheered Michigan’s comeback win over Michigan State knowing it would help Oregon’s BCS computer numbers. Earlier in the year, Oregon beat Michigan by 32 points in Ann Arbor.

It was a perfect, near-cloudless day in Oregon.

The stadium had emptied when the best news arrived -- that Florida State’s Geno Hayes had returned Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan’s third interception for a 38-yard touchdown with 1:10 left to clinch the 27-17 win.

That knocked Boston College out of No. 2 and put Oregon in.

What a Ducky day.

Sure, Dixon had tweaked his knee with 13:01 left when hit by Arizona State defensive back Omar Bolden.

Few paid it much mind.

Dixon walked off the field. He did sprints behind the Oregon bench and said later he could have returned had his team needed him.

“His knee is fine,” Oregon Coach Mike Bellotti would say. “It’s a strain.”

Dixon said, “I knew it was OK, I didn’t feel a pop.”

The knee, we know now (and Oregon knew Nov. 4), wasn’t fine.

An examination the next day revealed a damaged ligament.

Oregon kept the news private, at Dixon’s request, to allow him a chance to keep the Ducks at No. 2 with a win over Arizona on Nov. 15.

Dixon was also leading most straw polls in the Heisman Trophy race.

Oh, what a tangled Duck web.

It should have been a giveaway when Dixon entered the Arizona game wearing an elaborate knee brace. He looked like a gazelle racing vertically on a 39-yard touchdown sprint but, with 6:01 left in the first quarter, Dixon’s left knee buckled as he tried to make a cut move on linebacker Dane Krogstad.

It seems incredible now, knowing what Oregon knew, that backup quarterback Brady Leaf seemed so ill-prepared to take over for a quarterback with a known-to-be-damaged knee.

Call it the curse of No. 2.

USC learned it the hard, Stanford way, on Oct. 6.

Cal, South Florida, Boston College and Oregon would soon suffer similar fates.

So here’s to you, Kansas Jayhawks, you’re No. 2.

Enjoy it while, or if, it lasts.

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Play it forward

1. Pat yourself on the back if you were the one person back in August who predicted that Kansas vs. Missouri on Nov. 24 in Kansas City would be a matchup of top-five teams with the winner advancing to the Big 12 title game. And that the winner of that game could play for the national title.

2. Boise State plays at Hawaii on Friday in what might be called The Benson Bowl. Western Athletic Conference Commissioner Karl Benson is going to argue that the winner deserves a top-14 ranking and a guaranteed spot in the BCS. Of course, even if Hawaii wins to stay unbeaten, the Warriors have one home game left on Dec. 1 against Washington.

3. USC at Arizona State. Brilliant! Some programming bigwig is going to get a nice Christmas bonus for guessing this Thanksgiving Day matchup would be worth sticking on the holiday tube menu between dinner and dessert. The winner may end up being the Pac-10 champion and Arizona State still has a shot at playing for the national title.

4. Maybe this isn’t the end for embattled UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell. His Bruins on Saturday get to play host to a two-loss Oregon team with Brady Leaf at quarterback instead of Dennis Dixon. If you saw what the Oregon offense looked like with Leaf playing instead of Dixon, you’ll know why UCLA has a chance to win.

5. One-loss West Virginia appeared boxed out of the BCS title picture until, well, now. Now, a home win Saturday against Connecticut puts the Mountaineers in title-game pounce-position if LSU loses or a two-loss champion emerges from the Big 12.

-- Chris Dufresne