For Duck fans who haven’t been hitting refresh on their Twitter every 30 seconds for the past 36 hours, here’s what you missed:  Thomas Tyner, senior running back for Aloha (OR) High School, announced on Twitter that he was re-opening his recruiting process, and decommitting from Oregon.  His decision is likely based on an Oregon Football policy that prohibits commits …

The winter of 2011 was a dark time for the Oregon faithful.  Losing the National Championship weighed heavily on the minds of Duck fans, but it was not the primary source of their consternation.  Nor was the realization that the Ducks had failed to capture the championship, despite having the country’s best team for the second time in four seasons.  …

There is a routine for fans to deal with injuries.  The play ends, everyone goes back to their side of the line of scrimmage, and one player remains on the turf.  We know the perceived severity of injury based on how much the player writhes in agony, or worse, how long he remains motionless. The more members of the team’s …

It is the signature moment of every Oregon pre-game fire-up motivational video–the long-standing replay of Kenny Wheaton’s iconic interception against Washington in 1994, known as “The Pick.” The crowd builds to a crescendo amidst the sounds of Jerry Allen yelling “Kenny Wheaton’s gonna score!” A few revs from the Harley, punctuating “the most improbable finish to a football game!” and …

It has become fashionable to profess a hatred of the NFL preseason.  There are too many games, the stars don’t play, the tickets are too expensive, and the fans don’t care—except the 9.5 million viewers that watched a preseason week three game between the Colts and the Steelers.  Hating preseason football lets others know that you respect real football, when …

Historically, Oregon fans have had what is known as “The Fear.” It is the unshakeable feeling that as soon as you believe in the possibility of something good happening, it will immediately be ripped away from you in the most gut-wrenching way possible.  That something beyond the control of the team – be it computers or injuries – will derail …

Nine days from now, on August 15th at 6pm, the Pac-12 Network will go live.  It should provide everything that a Pac-12 fan could want: live games, conference-centric reporting, and extensive coverage of all sports, not just football and men’s basketball.  It should be everything fans have been anticipating since the network’s announcement last July. The big question is whether …

On May 23rd, College GameDay’s Twitter feed sparked a Twittersphere mini-riot by asking the following: “#Oregon has to win a National Championship to be considered an ELITE college football program… AGREE or DISAGREE?“  The question itself was clearly meant to incite discussion about Oregon’s place in college football’s hierarchy during the slow portion of the long off-season.  If College GameDay …

If you are a college football fan who loves video games, today is Christmas Eve.  That’s because tomorrow is the release date for NCAA Football 13, EA Sports’ highly celebrated annual college football game.  This year’s roster update game features an all-new mode called “The Heisman Challenge,” where “fans can build a national powerhouse by placing one of 10 former …

Two weeks ago, I outlined why any college football playoff needed to have a requirement of its participants that they be conference champions.  The idea was that selecting the best teams was too subjective a process; that any committee making that decision would be making assumptions based on a limited sample set of data of 12-13 games; often with few, …

“You have to win something, and that’s a concept that’s accepted by fans and, given the way college football is structured, fair.“ – Larry Scott, Pac-12 commissioner We are getting a playoff, or at least that is what the commissioners of college football announced this off-season.  Despite not having any knowledge of its structure related to how a playoff would …