The off season always brings about a deluge of coaching changes around the college football world. Some coaches get fired during the season, such as Lane Kiffin at USC, but aren’t replaced until the dust has settled on the final games of the year, while others, like our very own Nick Allioti, retire gracefully after long, successful careers. No matter the situation, …
Conference Update: It’s a Rough Life on the Road in the Pac-12
Life on the road in the Pac-12 is not so easy. Especially when you’re up against a top-20 team, who happens to be unbeaten in 11 home games so far this season. This past Sunday the No. 15 Colorado Buffaloes handed No. 17 Oregon its first loss of the season for their 13th win of the season with help of a …
Predictive Recruiting Analysis: Pac-12 Rankings, Top Recruits
With the 2014 recruiting cycle ending in five weeks, those teams atop the conference recruiting rankings are beginning to separate themselves. Currently sitting atop these rankings is none other than the Oregon Ducks. In question, however, is whether or not they can maintain their position. What about your Pac-12 school of choice? Here’s the objective data, commentary and individual school …
Top 5 Games of the 2013 season
Steve Francis With the 2013 football season officially behind us, I thought that I would take this time to reflect back over the season at some of the great games. These games could be great as a whole, or it could be one performance that made the game great. The following are my top 5 games of the year: 5. …
Did Saturday’s Win Reverse Oregon’s 21st-Century Curse?
Craig Strobeck Saturday’s schedule saw a huge win for Oregon, and I’m not talking about what USC did. While the game against Utah may not have been an overly impressive victory – Oregon didn’t score at least 55 against an unranked opponent for the first time all season – it was still one that was sorely needed for Oregon, both for 2013 …
Lies, Damned Lies, and Stanford Narratives
Craig Strobeck The Spread Offense will never work. Stanford’s win over Oregon was clearly evidence of that. “Power Football” will always trump speed and innovation. So give up Ducks, old-school football has and will always prevail. This is the narrative that emerges following seemingly every Oregon loss. When Oregon loses, the argument never seems to be that Oregon with its …
Five Football Reflections From Epic Songwriters
Craig Strobeck 1. “The world is a vampire, sent to drain.” — Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins. My feelings this past weekend after the Oregon vs Stanford tilt on Thursday night are as close a Duck fan could get to having the life blood drained from its body. I ate and slept less, couldn’t turn on the TV to watch but …
Stanford-Oregon Tailgate Madness!
People are streaming in for the big PAC-12 showdown, and the Stanford tailgate crowd is the weirdest I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen nary a beer all day; there are wines, better wines and best wines — the kind where you want to write down the name for future reference. There are no Ducks hung in effigy, but check out this clever use of a very expensive …
Chip Kelly Update: Nick Foles, Superstar
Two weeks ago, against the Dallas Cowboys, Nick Foles had one of the worst games any NFL quarterback has thrown (up) this year. Today, he’s in the NFL Hall of Fame. Literally – as we speak. Foles destroyed the Oakland Raiders, 49-20, last Sunday by tossing 7 touchdowns (3 to former pariah Riley Cooper), tying the league’s record for TDs in …
“Nerd Nation” Hangs on to Down Ducks
After three-and-half quarters of domination, the Stanford Cardinal barely outlasted a furious Oregon comeback, to win 26-20. Coach David Shaw said “in the back of my mind, all of us, everybody in this room, you all know they were going to make a run. That’s who this team is. We were ready for it, we knew it was going to …
Too Little, Too Late: Stanford 26, Oregon 20
Craig Strobeck Despite a gallant 4th-quarter comeback, for the third straight year the wheels came off on the drive for a national championship, in a November game that the Ducks were favored to win. Much like the USC game of 2011, Oregon was dominated for the first three quarters, finally pulled it together in the fourth but just plain came up …
Ducks Head to Stanford Looking for Revenge . . . and Perhaps Venture Capital
This is the game that everyone has had circled on their calendars for almost a year. Oregon at Stanford for championship of the North, bragging rights on the coast, and a chance to play the biggest of the big games in January. Serious analysis of this game has begun, and will continue up to kickoff Thursday night. On a less …
