Having a Heisman-hopeful, such as quarterback Marcus Mariota, is always exciting for a team. However, the timeless saying “Defense wins Championships” has been proven correct time and time again. With that being said, the Duck defense — which is arguably the best it has been since the departure of Defensive Coordinator Nick Alliotti — is possibly what could finally land …
Chip Kelly Update: Dominatin’ Ugly
The Philadelphia Eagles are playing terribly. Nick Foles has been blind to wide-open receivers and throws erratically when he does spy them. LeSean McCoy, 2013’s leading rusher, has yet to reach 80 yards by land in a game. Four of the seven offensive linemen and three of five interior linebackers (if you count ILB/OLB Travis Long) are out injured and …
Stock Up, Stock Down — Pac-12 Edition
We are a day away from the fourth weekend of college football and every weekend reveals high and low points for teams. Both teams listed on the low side of the chart last week turned it around (for the most part) and played much better in Week 3. Let’s see which team’s stocks are looking especially high and low this …
Winning the Trenches: The Key to the Oregon Ducks and Philadelphia Eagles’ 3-4 Defenses
There is a reason why defensive line guru Jerry Azzinaro was the one Oregon position coach who joined Chip Kelly on the Philadelphia Eagles’ coaching staff. The 3-4 defensive scheme and two-gap technique are just as important to Kelly as the fast-tempo, zone-blocking, and packaged plays. Azzinaro was Kelly’s right-hand man in installing the 3-4 as the base defense at …
Oregon’s No. 2 Ranking … and What It Means For Recruiting
It’s still too early in the college football season to know the future of the Ducks, but all the same, it’s exciting they have a chance to be in the top four reaching the playoffs each week. But for Oregon, that isn’t the only thing to look forward to, and the increasingly positive rankings could have even better side-effects. This …
A Fishy Examination of the History of Washington State University Football
Hello Ducks! Our boys take to the road this week, opening Pac-12 play with a trip to the Papoose, or whatever they call the part of Eastern Washington that Washington State University reluctantly calls home. We have discussed Mike Leach’s unfortunate description of his players’ lady friends as fat little girlfriends while at Texas Tech. To be fair, beyond a failure of …
Opponent Analysis: The Covert Claws of the Cougars
OK, get your laughs in now. Joke about how terrible the Cougars are, including their defense. The usual: “My 6-year-old brother’s Pop Warner team could beat WSU.” You guys got the giggles out? Good. Now we can move on to business. Washington State isn’t the joke you may think. They have a proven head coach, Mike Leach, in his second year …
New GIF! Sark needs Help!
I will take credit for the idea is all for this one, but Glenn Hanna did all the work finding the footage and creating this GIF. He is amazing! Charles “FishDuck” Fischer Featured picture at top from Video
College Fantasy Football Week 3: Can’t Go Wrong if His Last Name Is Hill
For the third consecutive week, my college team has put up huge fantasy numbers. That was thanks in large part to my starting quarterbacks, Kenny and Taysom Hill (not related) of Texas A&M and BYU, who scored 34 and 31 points respectively. Connor Halliday led the way for all quarterbacks, scoring a miraculous 45 fanatsy points. His week by week totals …
Recruiting Update: “Abominable Snowman” Set to Visit Oregon
Football Recruiting Visits Fueled by Heisman-frontrunner Marcus Mariota, the Ducks rolled over hapless Wyoming, 48-14, in Autzen Stadium. In attendance was longtime Oregon-connected linebacker Mike Tafua (3-Star/Honolulu, HI) and per our friends at DuckTerritory, may be poised to flip a previously held commitment to BYU in favor of the Ducks. Standing 6-foot-3, 225 lbs., Tafua is the hard-nosed, sideline-to-sideline defender …
Pac-12 and Beyond: Ducks Roll; USC Disappoints; Final Four in Flux?
Oregon Avoids a Letdown as Conference Play Nears After defeating a Top-10 opponent in Michigan State the previous week, it was only human nature for the Ducks to have a more difficult time “waking up” to face off with the Wyoming Cowboys. Throw in an 11 a.m. kickoff time, the students being very late for kickoff, and no College GameDay, it’s no surprise the …
Byron Marshall Loves Oregon’s New Slot-Sweep Read
How fun is it to see a new variation of a foundation play of the Oregon offense! The Sweep Read is one of those plays of the Oregon offense that has been unchanged since FishDuck.com introduced the play to football fans more than three years ago. Now we are beginning to see new wrinkles that Oregon head coach Mark Helfrich is adding to …