The Pac-12’s best this year was no match for the Alabama. The Huskies boasted an impressive defense – it held Alabama about 150 yards shy of its average per game production – but the Tide controlled the game after Washington’s second series. While the Pac-12 has made two of the three semi-finals under the current regime, there was barely restrained …
What the hell is wrong with college football? How is it possible that we have college football playoffs. So. Completely. Wrong? Let me first preempt the inevitable retort from Ohio State Fans: I like Urban Meyer. I like how his Bucks play. This is not an anti-OSU piece. If we are going to debate who the best college football coaches …
2016 is in the books. Should the rebuild begin under Mark Helfrich or somebody new? I would like nothing more than to wake up today and get a blaring headline that Rob Mullens has pulled the trigger and followed the University of Texas to become one of two formerly elite programs ready to rebuild. In theory, Oregon had the purse power to …
Oregon’s 20-year football nadir has produced three factions on this site. It is no secret that I belong to the outnumbered Root-and-Branch faction. As difficult as may be for some to hear, in this camp we’ve forecasted that Mark Helfrich will fail and have begun calling for new leadership to reverse the degradation to Oregon’s erstwhile winning culture. Then there …
Listening to my adversary’s closing argument this week, I suffered a moment of déjà vu clarity; one of those moments where you realize you just relearned a lesson you already knew. Everyone has a “tell.” We can train, practice and strive for self-improvement, and sometimes succeed, but we cannot escape that which we have made normal. When someone shows you, …
Chip Kelly may be the next Pete Carroll. And by that I mean he will likely be fired soon from the pro ranks. Carroll failed to impress during his first at-bat (6-10, NY Jets, 1994) and boasted only slightly better success during his second attempt at the Patriot’s helm, which ended after his 8-8 finish in the 1999 season. Fourteen …
Readers: Every writer on FishDuck.com is allowed to express their opinion in their articles. However, articles do not represent the views of the other writers, editors, coaching consultants, management, or the principals at FishDuck.com Charles Fischer I never say “I told you so” and I don’t like people who do. But I told you so. I didn’t put any money on yesterday’s …
I’m still flummoxed that the Cornhuskers ever hired Mike Riley. He seems likeable enough but, even as the winningest coach in Oregon State’s storied football history, one struggles to call him a “successful coach” by any meaningful measure. When the Cornhuskers needed an institutional change from Bo Pelini, whose worst season was 9-4, Mike Riley did not jump to mind; at …
There’s been a lot of grousing about preseason rankings and critics. When did Ducks fans develop such a thin skin? Rather than pound the table, I say bring it on. To the national pundits we’re known as the Blur or Track Town, USA. Speed may impress, but it doesn’t always earn long-term respect. We hear it all the time. They …
Summer’s perennial promise has again faded into guilt. I am not so old that summer has lost all its romance, yet every summer I grow more eager for the gift of fall: Oregon football. And as each season starts, we tend to look backwards, however briefly. Many may prefer to forget the Alamo Bowl, but in all things we must …
Vernon Adams is a ringer. NFL scouts are stalking DeForest Buckner. His defense is creating turn-overs now and gets the ball back to Adams. Does anyone really think that the 2015 Ducks aren’t a top 5 team if Adams had stayed healthy? A five-fingered Adams completes the 4th-quarter pass to Byron Marshall against Michigan State. That’s a rematch Adams deserves. But …