2024 saw Oregon rack up 13 wins and a B1G championship, but the 2024 team had surprisingly little depth. When Matthew Bedford was lost before the season started, the offensive line was in disarray for two weeks. This season feels completely different; this season, “next man up” doesn’t feel like cliche, but a reality. Even Mr. FishDuck took a break …
It’s finally here, a new season with new faces and new surprises. In 2023 it was a surprise to see Bryce Boettcher, a walk on, get the start at linebacker. Since then he has become a household name among Duck fans. This season we had even more new faces making an impact in Game 1. Some of these new impact …
It feels strange to say that perhaps former Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning’s biggest weakness is his team’s defense. I mean the Oregon secondary in particular, but looking back at his first three years as head coach, that weakness is what stands out — but perhaps 2025 will be the season this ceases to be the case. Even our Mr. …
Oregon is preparing to enter its second season in the B1G. Though rivalries can take a long time to develop, it feels like we have some new rivalries brewing in the B1G. For the sake of simplicity I am not counting USC, UCLA and Washington on this list. They are our established longtime rivals from the Pac-12, and our hatred …
The Mark Helfrich era came to an abrupt end at the conclusion of the 2016 season. Athletic Director Rob Mullens quickly turned around and hired a young up-and-coming head coach from the University of South Florida, Willie Taggart. Taggart had an overall losing record prior to coming to Eugene, but that was less important than the signs of program improvement. …
Former HC Mark Helfrich doesn’t get much love from a great portion of the Oregon fan base. He was the last of the decades-long tradition of continuity at Oregon, and in 2014 he was the man in charge when Oregon reached its peak (though we all hope to see Dan Lanning surpass that mark soon). In 2014 the Ducks won …
Oregon is getting beat on the recruiting trail pretty badly this off-season. It’s been ages since the program has had a major win. It appears that Dan Lanning and Oregon’s main NIL cooperative, Division Street, may be changing their strategy, with a greater focus on spending NIL dollars in the transfer portal rather than on high school recruits. Mr. FishDuck …
In 2024 Oregon head coach Dan Lanning seemed to have broken football. He found ways to exploit rules to his advantage, and the result was not one but two B1G blue bloods going down to the new blood Ducks. While one of these exploits got the most media attention as it resulted in a one-point win over the eventual National …
The NCAA has a new slate of rules for 2025. I am going to summarize what these rules mean for the game and then give them a rating between 1 and 5 where 1 will be awful for the game and a 5 should be an amazing addition. ESPN published an article reviewing these new rules, which can be found …
A few years ago the University of Oregon acquired a home for their Portland Campus, the former Concordia University campus in northeast Portland. I personally have a connection to this campus, as I received my Master of Arts degree in Teaching from Concordia University in 2015, and as an Oregon alum as well, I find it strange that the University …
Deion Sanders is making news in the off-season once again, but this time in regards to how Spring Games should be actual games played between teams. In this case I agree with him, and I have even written about how the Spring Game should be a real game. The Spring Game is typically a glorified scrimmage, and even if two …
Dan Lanning came to Oregon when the transfer portal was in full swing and NIL was in its early years. Unlike many other coaches, he opted to retain most of the Oregon roster he inherited from former head coach Mario Cristobal, though he was aggressive in the transfer portal and not afraid to acquire players who were clearly upgrades to …