Oregon is in. In the College Football Selection show this morning it was announced that Oregon retained its No. 2 position, and will play No. 3 seed Florida State on New Year’s Day in the Rose Bowl. Rece Davis, the moderator, explained that “we tried to reach Oregon Head Coach Mark Helfrich, but he was in Hawaii recruiting.” That immediately …
Fame and respect is what we all want for our favorite college team–but it can also create untended consequences for our beloved Ducks. The College Football Playoff show demonstrated their respect for Oregon in an unusual way, and surprised everyone with who the opponent the Pac-12 Champion will face in the Rose Bowl. (As of this week with one week …
The coaches and fans are buzzing about Oregon’s new play unveiled against Oregon State last Saturday night. I was on the phone with one coach that evening and with three coaches the next morning from across the nation as we were all fascinated with Oregon’s new Wildcat Power Zone Read. Now that is a mouthful, but the good news is …
Oregon fought hard, but could not prevail over 14th ranked Virginia Commonwealth Tuesday night in Brooklyn at the Legends Classic Basketball Tournament. The Rams tried to turn the game into a rout, but the Ducks continued to stay close despite some fans chanting, “Just Give Up!” Dillon Brooks had 15 points and Elgin Cook posted 11 points for Oregon as …
If you were an Oregon fan watching the College Football Playoff show — you were very bored. How fortunate if you missed it as you had a more productive half-hour than mine! Oregon was barely even mentioned–and that to me states volumes in what was NOT said, and can generate some thoughts from us fans about our “invisible” status. My …
For many of you veteran coaches that read this site — did the term “Loaded Option” bring back some memories of the 70’s and 80’s in college football? Oregon is bringing back that wrinkle as a new variation to the Zone Read plays the Ducks operate from. It is a clever innovation emerging from the Helfrich/Frost offensive brain trust in Eugene, …
The transition from Chip Kelly to Mark Helfrich has been fascinating to observe in many areas, but now we can begin to compare their game plans, since Helf’ has now been heading Oregon for nearly two years. Are there similarities? What are the differences? I laid the groundwork in three videos two years ago that fans and coaches loved, thus I …
For those of us who are Greybeards, we remember vividly the epithets and humor directed at Oregon when we began to change our uniforms. Now, truth be told, I am an old fuddy-duddy who would still have them wearing the same uniform from 1983 (I LOVED that stripe on the helmet and the thin stripe on the leg!). Yet I love …
We are seeing more of the Mark Helfrich stamp upon the Oregon offense become evident through this 2014 season, yet an old Chip Kelly game plan has remained with the new head coach. Using plays in the playbook infrequently and then storing them for years at a time is becoming a norm for Helfrich and Offensive Coordinator Scott Frost. This …
This week we put the two football analysts doing the Tuesday analysis, (Charles Fischer), and the Thursday Opponent Analysis, (Rory Davidson), together to talk about what the Oregon fans should watch for in the upcoming game against Utah Saturday night. Charles: The loss for the year of their go-to receiver in Dres Andersen has slowed the Ute passing game to under …
Oregon has changed its foundation play, the Inside Zone Read, from how they ran it three years ago! I covered part of it in a recent discussion about the components of the Pistol offense being added to Oregon Spread Offense, but we need something that covers this essential play from the perspective of how Duck running backs learn to read …
Injuries do create tactical opportunities, as opponents have feasted upon Oregon’s depleted offensive tackle position earlier in the season. However, the Cardinal now have injuries that open up some unique situations that fit within our offense’s abilities to exploit and can be added on to the analysis about Stanford by FishDuck.com analyst Rory Davidson. What plays do we run to capitalize? …