It’s really a
thing. The Ortego Factor. Beginning more than a dozen years ago, Ortego
siblings and cousins stepped into the ranks of their chosen college
schoolmates, thereby bringing phenomenal success to their football teams. How is that possible, you ask? Did they suit up? Did they coach? Did they drive the bus? No, they did none of those things; all completely
unnecessary. Merely stepping on campus
did the trick. In the following
historical record, there is one constant that prevails: the mysterious,
glorious, passion and intensity of the Ortego Factor. Just one Ortego seems to bring tectonic power
and influence, but just look at what happens when it’s doubled.
Let’s review:
2001: First Ortego registers as LSU student
2001: SEC Champion LSU wins Sugar Bowl
2003: Second Ortego registers as LSU student,
Ortego Factor doubled
2003: LSU wins BCS National Championship
2004: Undefeated Auburn wins
Sugar Bowl in mere anticipation of Ortego Factor coming to the Plains.
2005:
Third Ortego registers as Auburn student
2005: Auburn /LSU co-champs of SEC
2007: Ortego Factor doubled again with two Ortego’s
on LSU campus
2007: LSU wins BCS National Championship
2009:
Ortego Factor doubles once again, fourth Ortego
registers as Auburn
student
student
2010:
Undefeated,
Untied Auburn wins BCS National Championship
2011: SEC
Champion LSU returns to BCS National Championship Game on strength of one
Ortego (Roussell)
2013: SEC
Champion Auburn returns to BCS National Championship Game on strength of one
Ortego
2014: ????
Final season for current Ortego Factor
era ????
What’s their secret you
ask? No one really knows for
sure. Some say they’ve bottled the
essence of Mike’s roar and War Eagle’s flight. Some point to superior parenting, but
modesty prohibits comment. Some point
to crippling good looks and charm. Who
can argue? One cringes a bit at the
future absence of the Ortego Factor but scholars have postulated that “Once
in Motion – Always in Motion” may well
apply to this phenomenon. Both “campi”
eagerly anticipate the footfall of the next generation of Ortego’s to continue
“The Factor”.
And yes, since you asked,
the Factor does encompass life everywhere an Ortego strides, and that, it
seems, as easily as a Les Mis childhood!
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