No Mark Twain quotes here. No rehashing of the great author’s famous statement about his death being overstated. Yet, as Duck fans, many of us can relate to that phrase. Every year Oregon’s detractors predict that the end is nigh, that surely this year the Ducks will face some sort of collapse and fall flat on their feathered faces. This year, the …
Dominant. Explosive. Powerful. While these adjectives have generally been used to describe the Oregon football team, they can also be applied to this year’s softball team, which has found itself ranked No. 1 in the nation for the first time in school history. Their record as of last Saturday was 43-5, with a gaudy 16-1 record in Pac-12 play. The only loss, it …
Injuries happen every year, to every team. In a game as violent as football, players are injured in every scrimmage and every game. Most of the time these injuries are bumps, bruises, stingers and sprains. But the teams that contend for National Championships are either able to weather those injuries or manage to escape major injuries to key players. Oregon …
The Ducks’ head track & field coach Robert Johnson has to be happy. This wasn’t necessarily supposed to be a championship year for the Oregon Women’s Indoor Track Team. At the start of the year, it was believed that the Ducks would certainly be in the mix for a fifth straight NCAA championship, but many believed that Oregon’s run would …
For the last half-decade, Oregon football has been one of a handful of teams that has been, at some point during each season, a true contender for a national championship. For a variety of reasons they have fallen short of attaining this goal. They have come very close on multiple occasions, but have failed to close the deal. In each …
The Ducks could have folded, could have checked out, given up and quit. One month ago they were spiraling out of control, looking lost (at times) on the court and appeared to be out of the equation for an NCAA tournament berth. Lesser teams would have surrendered. But not these Ducks, and not this coach: Dana Altman. Certainly, there is …
Disingenuous, adjective: “Not truly honest or sincere: giving the false appearance of being honest and sincere.” (From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary.) They should call it the Bret Bielema rule. Or perhaps the Bielema-Saban rule, since it is, in part, due to these two coaches’ influence that this rule is now being considered. For those who are unfamiliar with this proposal, …
Oregon will never win any recruiting championships. While teams such as Alabama, USC and LSU tend to dominate in the rankings, the Ducks rarely crack the top-15. Year after year they bring in solid, but unspectacular recruiting classes, yet year after year, Oregon takes those same recruits and turns them into champions. Why is that? What is the key that allows teams without …
DeAnthony Thomas’ time at Oregon was like one of his scorching touchdown plays: it went by in a flash. From his first game against LSU to his final appearance (if it can be called that) against Texas, DAT was the equivalent of a human meteor. He blazed a bright trail across Oregon football that will not be forgotten soon. He …
Another football season has come and gone. Overall, it was another successful run for the Ducks, even if they did not meet their ultimate goals. Another 11-win season. Another win in a bowl game. Another top-ten ranking to wrap up the year. Mark Helfrich proved that he can handle the pressure of running a major college program, Marcus Mariota continued …
Oregon leads the nation in Scoring and comes in at No. 7 in Field Goal Efficiency – but where’s the love? Granted, some of the other stats rankings aren’t as special: assists, No. 24 (which is certainly solid but not elite) and rebounding, No. 155. On the surface, rebounding is by far their biggest weakness, but when the ball goes through the hoop the first …
Kevin Cline It would appear that after four straight years of BCS appearances, the University of Oregon football team will be left on the outside looking in. Most likely the team will be headed to the Alamo Bowl, something that most pundits and fans would not have predicted before the season began. Yet here they are. There is nothing wrong …