Oregon’s goal was to make it back to the College Football Playoff. But above all, it seemed the goal was to prove that it could remain at an elite level without reigning Heisman winner Marcus Mariota behind center.

Expectations from fans were high.

I mean, can you really blame them?

Oregon returned one of the best receiving corps in school history, had an improving Royce Freeman in the backfield, was anchored by projected first-round draft pick DeForest Buckner on defense and the secondary featured four four-star recruits.

I have to admit that, I too, wasn’t going to leave out the possibility of the Ducks sneaking back into the final four.

Then, reality hit.

Vernon Adams Jr. missed a streaking, wide-open Byron Marshall in the end zone in East Lansing, Michigan, that would have alleviated Oregon’s poor secondary play. Then Travis Wilson and the Utes marched into Autzen in late September and ran up the score. And to top it all off, Washington State made sure Oregon wouldn’t make the Playoff with a double overtime win on the road.

What fans and analysts across college football nation quickly found out was that this Oregon team just wasn’t going to live up to the preseason hype.

They found out that Adams wasn’t going to be the second coming of Russell Wilson, due to a lack of preparation time and a broken index finger. They found out that Oregon’s secondary was simply too inexperienced and too young. They found out how valuable it was to have a player like Hroniss Grasu (now with the Chicago Bears) leading the line.

Regardless of what Adams was able to string together on a five-game winning streak — he tied a school record against USC with six passing touchdowns, becoming the first ever player to so against the Trojans — it became apparent that Oregon was missing a player who Adams declared the “greatest of all time to come here.”

When it’s all said and done, this Oregon team will have likely made the Holiday Bowl and finished the year on a high note. In some ways, they will have overachieved.

For fans though, it’s understandable to want to play hypotheticals with Adams, who has looked like one of the hottest quarterbacks in the country these past five weeks, especially with what he just did to the ranked Trojans.

Resist that urge, as hard as that might be.

Instead, acknowledge that Adams still provided the show that was expected of him as soon as word spread that he had passed his math test and became officially eligible. Remember that Oregon stuck with a Spartans team that just beat the defending national champion Buckeyes. Appreciate the fact that if Oregon weren’t coming off such a historical, memorable season, 2015 wouldn’t have been looked at like such a failure.

Early in the season, former Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington passionately called out who he felt were uneducated, spoiled Ducks fans for not appreciating what they had. He was trying to get the message across that Oregon was never going to be Alabama or Ohio State and that fans shouldn’t even be thinking about that.

I disagree.

There is nothing wrong with striving to be the best program in the country, regardless of whether Oregon has prior history. There is nothing wrong with taking risks like putting all the chips in for Adams this year in hopes of competing right away.

When everyone looks back at this year, they’ll see the three L’s on the schedule. That’s OK.

This season wasn’t a failure, though. It was just one of the many years that all the stars didn’t align in Oregon’s favor. It was a year in which a top 15 ranking, bowl eligibility and individual theatrics weren’t taken for granted … at least in the Oregon locker room.

“I’m happy with what I’ve done so far, what my teams have done at Eastern and here,” Adams said. “I do wish I came here earlier and [had] more years, but it’s just what it is.”

Follow Hayden Kim on Twitter @HayDayKim