My friends – I feel your pain, heck we all do at FishDuck.com, as we are Duck fans like you, and volunteer our writing, editing and analyzing for the fun of it. We are long-term, bleeding-green fans who give up a good chunk of our free time to offer our thoughts and hope to inform and entertain you in the process. It is really hard for us to want to write about all the implications of the loss to Colorado and the contemplation about the state of the program of Oregon Football that we all love so much.
Boy, was I WRONG
I have made a ton of predictions over time and been pleased at how most have gone my direction – until this year. I was wrong about all three facets of the team, as an example I felt this would be our most explosive offense ever at Oregon, yet the reality is that the downfield passing attack that has been so sophisticated in the past … is coming along too slow for what this team needs.
Time for a re-set already?
I thought the defense could be adequate this season with the defense installed by defensive coordinator Brady Hoke and from what I saw in the spring (massively wrong). I cannot help but wonder if the Ducks won’t start over again rebuilding the defense after this season … yet you can shoot yourself in foot doing that. What are your thoughts, Oregon fans?
I thought the Special Teams would be special this year – a real contributor to the team scoring. Yet between the mistakes of one player, and some bad calls sandwiched between superb performances (such as the fake punt), they came up way short in helping the team as much as I thought they would.
“We are in an awful spot; our defense is just horrendous, and our offense cannot score enough for the ‘out-score the opponent’ philosophy.”
Do remember the Grizzled Ol’ Coach’s prediction of “if Oregon’s offense isn’t ‘great,’ there are going to be a lot of painful losses waiting down the road.”
Damn – that didn’t take long!
Impact of the Loss and Remaining Season?
Is this the end of an era at Oregon? It kinda feels like it to me – but my track record lately is not so hot. How does it feel to you? The impact of this loss on team confidence, in how they view themselves and how the rest of the nation views us is yet unknown – but it can’t be good. How will this affect recruiting? Ticket sales? The budget, and thus the impact on other sports at Oregon? What a shame …
Better re-think the Uniforms …
When we’re winning – uniforms that honor The Duck are fun, and cool; when we’re losing they look clownish and dumb. Losing takes the luster off of everything cool about the program and even our staff at FishDuck.com has been questioning if the even our judgment on uniforms has gone off-track?
Will the fun end?
Keep this in Mind …
I really can’t whine or complain, as Oregon has done a lot of winning in the last five years, and not all programs can remain on top forever – otherwise Army would still be No. 1 in the nation. Yet so much of this feels that it could have been prevented … (I’m sure Husky fans said that following the decline after the Don James Affair)
Change your perspective on viewing the games and how to enjoy them. Come to FishDuck.com to learn the game and ponder with our writers, as the more you know about the game of football – the more you can enjoy this wonderful college game … even if we lose. And the more you learn, the more you will appreciate the good plays, and even admire what our opponents are doing. (Yeah – it sucks to turn to that perspective, but it helps.)
On Monday, I hope to offer you the thoughts on the team from those who are currently or are retired from being paid to coach the sport.
Have your retort Ready …
What do I do when ugly opposing fans begin to relish in our pain and rub salt on the wound? I tell them …
“Who cares? We’re a basketball school!”
Charles Fischer (FishDuck)
College Football Analyst for FishDuck.com
Eugene, Oregon
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Charles Fischer has been an intense fan of the Ducks, a season ticket holder at Autzen Stadium for 38 years and has written reports on football boards for over 26 years. Known as “FishDuck” on those boards, he is acknowledged for providing intense detail in his scrimmage reports, and in his Xs and Os play analyses. He is single, has a daughter Christine, and resides in Eugene Oregon where he was a Financial Advisor for 36 years.
He now focuses full-time on Charitable Planned Giving Workshops for churches and non-profit organizations in addition to managing his two Oregon Football Websites, of FishDuck.com and the Our Beloved Ducks forum. He is a busy man!
He does not profess to be a coach or analyst, but simply a “hack” that enjoys sharing what he has learned and invites others to correct or add to this body of Oregon Football! See More…