Power on the Edge: Buck Sweep in the Willie Taggart Offense

Coach Eric Boles Analysis

With it being a bye week for the Oregon Ducks, I have decided to go back a couple weeks and take a look at a play Oregon used against the Utah Utes. The play is Buck Sweep, often referenced by Mr. FishDuck on the site as the Sweep Read. This is a play Gus Malzahn has famously run at Auburn; former Duck …

Ducks’ Season Becomes One Big “What Might Have Been”

Darren Perkins Editorials

Protect the quarterback. It’s Football 101. It’s football gospel. If football had ten commandments it would be etched into one of two stone tablets, just like the original Ten Commandments. But apparently protecting the quarterback in Eugene has gone the way of that mysterious 3rd tablet, as illustrated by the classic Mel Brooks movie The History of the World:   …

Ducks’ Loss Brings Harsh Reality

Darren Perkins Editorials

If only Saturday’s loss had been to USC, Stanford, or Washington — against one of the Pac-12’s better programs — I’d feel much better about things. I could say that the Ducks are a legit top-25 team, that they scratched and clawed to the bitter end against one the conference’s premier teams, and almost pulled it off. I could say …

Ducks Win: The Good and The Bad

Darren Perkins Editorials

As the final gun sounded on Saturday and the usual post-game mad scramble took place across the field as the head coaches tried to find each other for their customary handshake, I half-expected the ending music to the movie “Rocky” to kick-in. After all, a relatively large underdog (13.5 points) had gotten the tar beat out of it early on …

What the Oregon Ducks are Giving up for Lent

Kim Hastings Best of FishDuck.com Humor, Humor

My friends … Kim Hastings was the humor writer at FishDuck.com for over four years, as every Saturday morning it was fun to check the site and have some laughs over a good cup of java. I really miss his humor, and as favor to me–he came back to offer some fun to brighten your day too. Charles Fischer My …

Taggart’s Accountability and Fear: MUSTS For a Great Coach

Coach Morris Advice for the Coaches, Coach's Opinion

This article will be mainly conceptual – not anecdotal.  I wrote a book with dozens of  stories to illustrate the concepts I’m going to talk about here.  But this isn’t the place to cite a lot of those anecdotes.  Mike Morris (Grizzled Ol’ Coach) My concept is stated in my title.  It’s based on 30 years of being a high …

Oregon Football: Time to Wake the Sleeping Giant

FishDuck Staff Editorials

The end for Mark Helfrich was written long before the second half rains in Corvallis washed away any hope of his redemption. There was no artistry to that second half bludgeoning by Oregon State. No intricate scheme or innovation was required. It was straight ahead football, 27 consecutive running plays by the Beavers, and the Ducks had no answers … …

On Oregon, Culture and the Revenge of Riley

D. Louis Thornton Editorials

The Ducks of Mike Bellotti, Chip Kelly and Mark Helfrich won the Civil War game over Mike Riley 8 straight years, including twice (2008 and 2009) denying the Beavers their first Rose Bowl invitation since 1957.  As soon as Riley took the Nebraska job and the home and home with Oregon was scheduled, I am sure the date was circled on Riley’s calendar. …

‘Next Man Up’ at Oregon … or Helfrich for 2017?

Matt Bryant Editorials

2016 is in the books. Should the rebuild begin under Mark Helfrich or somebody new? I would like nothing more than to wake up today and get a blaring headline that Rob Mullens has pulled the trigger and followed the University of Texas to become one of two formerly elite programs ready to rebuild. In theory, Oregon had the purse power to …

Has Oregon Killed Chip Kelly’s Offense?

David Miller Editorials

There’s no questioning that Chip Kelly revolutionized not just the Oregon offense, but college football itself. While Mark Helfrich largely sustained that offensive success with quarterback Marcus Mariota, since he left for the NFL we have seen gradual changes to the Oregon offense. The question today, as Oregon struggles on all fronts, is, are we witnessing the demise of the …

Find “The One” and #FireHelfrich

Matt Bryant Editorials

Oregon’s 20-year football nadir has produced three factions on this site. It is no secret that I belong to the outnumbered Root-and-Branch faction. As difficult as may be for some to hear, in this camp we’ve forecasted that Mark Helfrich will fail and have begun calling for new leadership to reverse the degradation to Oregon’s erstwhile winning culture. Then there …

Oregon Football 2016: Chip’s Guys Quit

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out Amid the controversy of why and how to fix it, there’s one thing we can all agree on: Oregon football 2016 sucks. “Why” is no doubt complicated. If we want to be simplistic, we can just blame the coaches and join the witch hunt. Reality, however, is more complicated than that. Personally, I subscribe to the “perfect …