Duck Cubes: Stanford, Hurricane Cristobal, Oregon’s No-Sack Club?

Jordan Ingram Editorials

— The No. 13 Oregon Ducks (3-1, 1-0)  and Stanford Cardinal (1-2, 0-2) have their 86th matchup on Saturday at Autzen Stadium (The Ducks first played Stanford in 1900). Stanford holds the upper hand at 54 overall wins. Last year, the Cardinal spoiled then-ranked No. 3 Ducks’ dreams of a College Football Playoff birth, handing Oregon one of just two conference losses. In 2018, Stanford also rained on the Ducks’ parade in their conference opener in front of a national ESPN Game Day crowd.

For some reason, the Cardinal always give Oregon fits. But instead of another “Palo Alto Hell Ride” in Eugene, the Ducks jumped out to a 31-3 first-half lead over Stanford and coasted to the finish…GO DUCKS!

— Oof. Former Ducks head coach Mario Cristobal is feeling the heat in Miami…Cristobal, who left Oregon for the top coaching job with his alma mater Miami Hurricanes (2-2), is on a hot seat with fans just four weeks into the season.

Miami head coach Mario Cristobal facing a new stormfront — Canes fans.

Apparently, Canes fans don’t dig Cristobal’s conservative brand of football, dragging the coach on social media after last week’s embarrassing 45-31 home loss to Middle Tennessee State (Miami was 25 1/2-point favorites). There’s a storm brewing in South Florida and it isn’t Hurricane Ian. Here’s what some fans were saying about Cristobal — the 10th highest paid head coach in college football this year at $8 million — after the loss:

“Miami fans getting a taste of that sweet, sweet Mario Cristobal Game Management ™ that Oregon fans enjoyed so much.” (@alex_kirshner)

“Everything makes sense when you realize Mario Cristobal is from the Willie Taggart coaching tree.” (@NotThatRawlings)

“Mario Cristobal just Willie Taggart with a salsa routine.” (@UnkleSilk)

— Several Class of 2023 recruits were at the Stanford game on Saturday night: Five-star wide receiver — No. 2 in nation — Jurrion Dickey (East Palo Alto, Calif.), four-star wide receiver Ashton Cozart (Flower Mound, Texas), four-star safety Tyler Turner (San Antonio, Texas), four-star DE Jaeden Moore (Visalia, Calif.) and four-star linebacker Blake Purchase (Englewood, Colorado). A talented group — all but Dickey have committed to play in Eugene.

— Thumbs down to Oregon’s slew of penalties against Stanford — 10 penalties for 90 yards in the first half alone, including fighting, unsportsmanlike conduct, facemask and a handful of false starts. Last week against Wazzu, Oregon racked up eight penalties for 87 yards. Ducks head coach Dan Lanning has to be banging his head against the wall. Nothing like yellow flags and whistles to kill a drive. Clean it up, boys. This ain’t it.

— Hats off to the Oregon offensive line, with just one official sack (a one yard loss) in five games. Will they be the best in FBS?

Jordan Ingram
San Diego, California
Top Photo from Harry Caston

New 2024 FishDuck Publishing Schedule….

During the off-season the FishDuck.com publishing schedule will consist of articles on Mondays and Tuesdays. Do keep checking as new articles could be published during the week when a writer has something to say.

In mid-August of 2024, we will go back to the seven-days-a-week of articles during the football season as we did in the football season of 2023.

The Our Beloved Ducks Forum (OBD) is where we we discuss the article above and many more topics, as it is so much easier in a message board format over there.  At the free OBD forum we will be posting Oregon Sports article links, the daily Press Releases from the Athletic Department and the news coming out every day.

Our 33 rules at the free OBD Forum can be summarized to this: 1) be polite and respectful, 2) do not tell anyone what to think, feel or write, and 3) no reference of any kind to politics. Easy-peasy!

OBD Forum members….we got your back.  No Trolls Allowed!