In 2015, the College Football Playoff Committee (Committee) seemingly paid no attention to strength of schedule (SOS.) The Committee, by design or lack thereof, has no standard metric to judge a team’s SOS. Accordingly, overall wins in 2015 trumped any evaluation of the quality of a team’s victories against both out of conference (OOC) and in-conference opponents. 11-1 Oklahoma with a bad …
The 2012 recruiting class for college football was full of stellar defensive line prospects that had big dreams and huge hopes of becoming the next legend for the school that each prospect signed to play for. DeForest Buckner (DeFo) was not an exception when the 6-foot-7 inch Hawaiian declared to play at the University of Oregon. He had many options …
“Whatever is the natural propensity of a person is hard to overcome. If a dog were to be made king, he would still gnaw at his shoelaces.” The Hitopadesha Although he is in the process of doing it incrementally, I certainly hope that Johnny Manziel will not confirm his father’s fear and commit suicide in one fell swoop. New Age folk will, of …
The Cranky Curmudgeon, is a new writer at FishDuck.com, and I welcome him as a critic of all, and one who is not reluctant to step into negative writing territory. Reading a few of his first articles submitted required me to step back from the keyboard, lest the flames singe my eyebrows. Jon Joseph is a retired corporate attorney who …
Although Oregon has now been a winning program for more than 25 years (dating to the 1989 Independence Bowl season), and much of that success has been due to the continuity of its coaching staff — with assistants like Don Pellum, Steve Greatwood and John Neal‘s tenures stretching across multiple head coaching regimes — there have always been necessary course …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out If you had to pick three sore spots from 2015 Oregon football, quarterbacks, defense and the lack of a championship run would have to dominate the list. Those sore spots and what they mean moving ahead are the subjects of this week’s Three-and-Out. 1. Quarterbacks. The Oregon program has been criticized for bringing Vernon Adams in from …
Duck Family Day is a new feature article where Oregon fans share their stories of … being Oregon fans! Email charles@fishduck.com to share your experiences, your family stories and what it means to be a Duck fan. Craig Harmon is in the military and a reader of FishDuck.com and is extremely passionate about our beloved Ducks, the same as you and me. Contact …
If you have ever worked in wet, cold weather with drenched gloves that merely protect soggy fingers from the gusty winds, you’ll know what I mean when I say it is uncomfortable. You know that feeling that your hands are stuck in a bowl of ice water, and it seems like nothing will cure the biting sting of cold. It …
Everyone knows that at FishDuck.com we do in-depth analysis of Oregon football, and I have been fortunate to have cultivated a network of coaches who can offer commentary and insight far superior to mine or other casual fans’. Like you, I read about how Montana State quarterback Dakota Prukop is graduating from MSU at the end of the current term …
In last week’s analysis I investigated Oregon’s yards allowed per play, an important statistic by which defenses are measured. Although important, however, yards per play does not define a defense. So this week I continue on my quest to discover how the Oregon defense has evolved over the past decade. In future articles I intend to compare Oregon’s defense to other …
Mike Merrrell’s Three-and-Out The path to the national championship is teeming with eastern teams leaving bones of cupcakes in their wake. The conference with the toughest, deepest competition is relegated to being the only of the Five Power Conferences with no more than a single “New Year’s Six” bowl. And the Heisman Trophy will undoubtedly go to the best player …
My friends, we have a new writer, Evan Markel, who will provide some statistical information about our beloved Ducks. For now he will focus his study on the Duck defense in a quest for answers. He has been charged with offering the data, yet keeping it simple for those of us mathematically impaired. Take the extra two minutes to soak …
