This is long, but I'm a passionate fan - sue me.
I would imagine very few of you believe this, but Oregon is probably closer to an NC than any other team in the nation that hasn't yet won the title.
Yes, we haven't managed to win our conference, but nevertheless there have been two seasons in the past decade that suggest with some better breaks, we could have been playing for it all.
It's true we don't finish high in the rankings recruiting wise with the big boys, yet. We generally hover in the 25-35 range when all is said and done - though there have been some years where we had really strong top 20 type classes - but Mike Bellotti's staff has consistently been able to find under the radar guys and turn them into monsters. Oregon State's Mike Riley generally gets all of the "more with less" credit in the national media and deservedly so, but in a state as lacking in talent at the HS level as Oregon, Bellotti and his staff deserve a ton of credit for honing in on unheralded west coast guys and making them serious impact players for the Ducks.
All of that said, Oregon has still had moderate success going for stud players. The best example of that is obviously Jonathan Stewart, and it's true that he represents the one truly "big time" recruiting success that Oregon as a program has enjoyed - a number one running back. But in addition to Stewart there have been many other guys who were pretty highly sought after including Dennis Dixon, the De La Salle guys including Cameron Colvin, Terrance Kelly (RIP) Willie Glasper, and Jackie Bates... Ed Dickson, and a host of other talented and well-offered but not quite ELITE guys since those fairly strong early 2000's classes.
The reality is that recruiting in this conference has gotten harder - there are more serious teams now in California and Oregon is having to turn away from that state more now that Pete Carroll, Rick Neuhisel, Jim Harbaugh, and Jeff Tedford are ALL going after the best in-state. It's only natural that Oregon has gotten increasingly more ambitious on the recruiting front with SC's dominance of the conference - and it's only natural that there have been a few high profile misses recently (Brown and Boyd come to mind.) But before Brown and Boyd - two stud prospects who actually managed to VISIT Eugene, there was Terrelle Pryor who never even made it out in spite of suggesting he was interested. And this recruiting cycle, Oregon's second commitment came from Florida. True the Ducks aren't yet in a position to be a serious consistent challenger head to head with great teams across the nation (SEC or otherwise) in recruiting battles - but every year we seem to be getting a little closer. This cycle we're going to get a visit from Lattimore - a blue chip type prospect from South Carolina. Most Duck fans would have called you crazy as few as 10 years ago if you were to suggest that a kid like that would even express interest, let alone stop through town.
Yes the facilities are a big deal, so too are the uniforms and that unique relationship with a sports marketing/apparel giant. But that's not the whole picture. Consider the stability of the staff - the number of guys that played here and now coach here, and the number of years this staff has been at the same place. Consider the absolute beauty of the campus, and the state itself - which by no means is something other schools can't claim themselves, but is still worth noting. Consider the most rabid fan base on the west coast, and the chance to play for a passionate crowd that consistently lets its voice be heard and felt in a way that no other team in the conference can offer.
I suspect that our fanbases will be getting to know each other a lot over the next 5 years, both due to the showdowns on the field that I'm sure both of us are eagerly anticipating, but also because we'll be knocking heads on the recruiting trail for the foreseeable future.