Independent Football Commentary and Analysis
After losing so many key players from last year’s Final Four team, I entered this season with tempered expectations. And after a couple games into the PK80 (Phil Knight Invitational), it was apparent that this team didn’t have ”it.” So, I kicked back and resigned myself to the idea that this was a rebuilding year. That the goal of […]
In the aftermath of signing day, as we try to make sense of it all, I compiled a chart (see below) covering the past twelve years of Oregon recruiting to help put things in perspective—from the end of the Mike Bellotti era to the beginning of the Mario Cristobal regime. […]
We’ve entered that post-championship time of year when we turn our attention towards ways we can make the game better. In other words: Which would be the best playoff model for college football to adopt? I’ve taken it upon myself to end this childish debate. A Six-Team Playoff is the […]
Before the season began I predicted that the Ducks would go 10-2 and win the Alamo Bowl (click here). And I must say — I nailed it! That is, if about a hundred “woulda, coulda, shoulda” type things had actually happened. And we’ll get to a couple of those in […]
As I prepared to watch the Las Vegas Bowl on Saturday and saw a fired-up Royce Freeman addressing “his” team, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “What the … ???” As most know, Freeman–arguably the greatest running back in Oregon history–chose to sit out the game. And even if […]
It is rightly said that adversity brings opportunity. And when you are a cutting edge, forward thinking, innovation spewing machine like the University of Oregon, you don’t let adversity bring you down, you let it propel you to greater things. Beloved Ducks, there shall be no further whining and crying […]
As I’m sitting here writing this, Willie Taggart is still the coach of the Oregon Ducks, but that could change at any minute. After just one successful, culture-altering season at one of the top programs in the country, Taggart is the top candidate for the blue-blood power Florida State. And […]
With that very first play from scrimmage — a ten yard completion from Justin Herbert to Dillon Mitchell — you could feel Duck Nation let out a collective sigh of relief, as if to say: “Our long offensive nightmare is over.” Good times are here again as the flash n’ […]
Good ole’ figures of speech such as “going down swinging,” “take a roll of the dice” and “gotta’ be in it to win it” didn’t apply to the Ducks on Saturday. The Ducks offense was the equivalent of a baseball team whose batters stood at the plate all game long […]
It could have been worse. It could have been 2007, on the heels of Dennis Dixon’s knee injury against Arizona, when the Ducks stumbled into the Rose Bowl and couldn’t score a point, losing 16-0 to a hapless and free-falling UCLA. Though the Ducks had national championship aspirations that year, […]
Protect the quarterback. It’s Football 101. It’s football gospel. If football had ten commandments it would be etched into one of two stone tablets, just like the original Ten Commandments. But apparently protecting the quarterback in Eugene has gone the way of that mysterious 3rd tablet, as illustrated by the […]
If only Saturday’s loss had been to USC, Stanford, or Washington — against one of the Pac-12’s better programs — I’d feel much better about things. I could say that the Ducks are a legit top-25 team, that they scratched and clawed to the bitter end against one the conference’s […]
