Growing up in Eugene in the 1980s-90s, I never got into hockey. There were no youth hockey leagues to play in, and if there had been, I would not have played, as football, basketball, baseball, volleyball and soccer occupied my youth. Mr. FishDuck took time from his fun at Memo casino to agree that he was never into hockey as a youth either.
Not to mention, I’m awful at pretty much all activities involving water, whether in liquid, solid or gaseous form. Swimming, ice skating, snow skiing, water skiing — you name it, I stink at them. Speaking of stink, I’m also awful at picking up my dog’s steaming pile of you know what, I burn myself boiling hotdogs, and I have been known to slip and hit my head in the steam room at the gym.
No bueno.
Water, outside of merely being the lifeblood of my existence, is simultaneously the bane of my existence — as is the third quarter for the Oregon Ducks’ offense, where they have seemingly adopted hockey’s three periods of play as opposed to football’s four quarters.
Oregon’s 2024 offense averages almost 10 fewer points per game than in 2023. Granted, the Ducks did not play a team as overmatched as Portland State last year (the Beavs were close) in putting up 81 points to pad the statistic, but it is clear the Ducks are not scoring as much.
I put some stats together. For the fun of it, I included some defensive stats as well. As you can see, the defense has truly become Dan Lanning’s defense compared to his first year in 2022.
For the record, I hate math, and I’m miserable at math. Oregon’s misery in the third quarter has forced me to do math for the first time in God knows how many years. In fact, I am so bad at math I cannot correctly do the calculation to give you an accurate answer. So, according to my shaky “math skills,” here we go…
Dillon Gabriel settles in for a nap in the 3rd quarter against Maryland. (Photo by Eric Becker)
Some Stats
2024 Ducks’ Third Quarter B1G Scoring: 0, 3, 0, 0, 0, 3, 8. Total: 14.
Oregon’s 14 3rd quarter B1G points is 5.7% of the total points in those seven games.
Oregon’s B1G third-quarter average is 2 points per game (25% would be 62).
2024 B1G games scoring average 35.29/game (247 total points in 7 games).
2024 full-season scoring average 35.7/game (357 total), down 23% (defense allowing 16/game).
2023 full-season scoring average 44.21/game (defense allowed 16.5/game).
2022 full-season scoring average 38.77/game (defense allowed 27.38/game).
Only 14 Points in Two Games???
As the stats above show, in B1G play the Ducks have scored 14 points in seven quarters. Let that set in. For the equivalent of almost two full games, they scored a total of 14 points! It is hard to imagine the Ducks only scoring seven points in a single game, let alone two.
Desperate times require desperate measures. Lanning was so desperate for third-quarter points that against Maryland he turned to a defensive lineman on a fake punt, an offensive lineman for a touchdown pass, and another offensive lineman for a 2-point conversion.
Oregon’s third-quarter offensive siesta is a momentum swinger that keeps teams around, especially in the last two games against Michigan and Maryland. The Ducks should have put those games to bed in the 3rd quarter and put up well over 40 points. But, they did not, and it made the games more interesting than they should have been.
What could be causing this?
This offense is loaded with talent; why the third-quarter shutdown?
Do the Ducks get conservative with the lead by trying to bleed the clock?
Did Bo Nix keep the Ducks focused after halftime the past couple of years?
Are the Ducks helping the television networks by keeping games closer in order to not lose viewers?
A joke of mine through the years has been when I step up to order a drink at a sports bar showing a hockey game to turn to an obvious hockey fan and ask, “Hey, what quarter is it?” I wait for the evil death stare before letting them know I am joking.
Unfortunately, if the Ducks are playing and I ask a fellow patron the exact same question, I might get that exact same evil death stare.
Darren Perkins
Spokane, WA
Top photo credit: Eric Becker
Natalie Liebhaber, the FishDuck.com Volunteer Editor for this article, works in technology in SLC, Utah.
Share your thoughts about this team in the only free, “polite and respectful” Oregon Sports message board, the Our Beloved Ducks forum!
Darren Perkins is a sales professional and 1997 Oregon graduate. After finishing school, he escaped the rain and moved to sunny Southern California where he studied screenwriting for two years at UCLA. Darren grew up in Eugene and in 1980, at the tender age of five, he attended his first Oregon football game. His lasting memory from that experience was an enthusiastic Don Essig announcing to the crowd: “Reggie Ogburn, completes a pass to… Reggie Ogburn.” Captivated by such a thrilling play, Darren’s been hooked on Oregon football ever since. Currently living in Spokane, Darren enjoys flaunting his yellow and green superiority complex over friends and family in Cougar country.