Third. Fourth. Second. Those have been Oregon’s rankings in the final AP college football polls the last three seasons. Three consecutive years of top four finishes are impressive for any school – Oregon is only school with a current streak that length – but what would it take to finish in the top four for fifteen consecutive years? That is …
The Ten Most Exhilarating Games of the Last Ten Seasons: #5-1
If you missed #10-6, find it here. 5) 2006 vs. Oklahoma Most of the games on this list share the same reason for their exhilaration value: a winning outcome despite all evidence to the contrary that victory was possible; the bleaker the situation prior to winning, the more exhilarating the outcome. Few games looked bleaker than did Oregon’s 2006 …
The Ten Most Exhilarating Games of the Last Ten Seasons: #10-6
How good has the recent history of Oregon football been? It was a challenge to determine what the most exhilarating games of the last ten seasons were. Over the last three seasons, the Oregon Ducks have had four losses, yet only three wins by two touchdowns or less. Close wins have been few and far between. (Not surprisingly, two of …
Have Football, Get Students
“…it has been my longstanding belief that The Big Ten’s schools would forgo the revenues in those circumstances and instead take steps to downsize the scope, breadth and activity of their athletic programs…” – Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, on how his member universities would react in the event that college athletes were eligible to be paid. It was the …
The Ten Most Influential Plays of the Last Ten Seasons: #5-1
In case you missed Part 1, read it here. To read the list in its entirety, go here. Before we get to plays #5-1, here are some plays that just missed the list: Honorable Mention: Kenjon Barner’s punt return fumble against LSU (2011): The play had a heavy impact on the game (as well as Tyrann Mathieu’s career), but had …
The Ten Most Influential Plays of the Last Ten Seasons
“Life’s this game of inches…so is football…because, in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small…one half a step too late, or too early, and you don’t quite make it, one half second too slow, too fast, you don’t quite catch it, the inches we need are everywhere around us… they’re in every break of the …
The Ten Most Influential Plays of the Last Ten Seasons: #10-6
“Life’s this game of inches…so is football…because, in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small…one half a step too late, or too early, and you don’t quite make it, one half second too slow, too fast, you don’t quite catch it, the inches we need are everywhere around us… they’re in every break of the …
Remember This Spring Game?
How deep do your memories of Oregon football go? Would you remember anyone from the 1983 season? What about the 1983 Spring Game? If we looked back, who would we recognize? Let’s play Where’s Waldo? with this photo and see if you can guess who the participants are: Likely, you recognize the subject of the red arrow. That’s Rich Brooks. …
Au-Burned: The Long Con of Mark Emmert
“If you flip Montana, there’s no going back.” – University of Washington President Raymond B. Allen, 1948 Alright, I made up that quote, but a conversation to twist the knife on Oregon took place that fall. With Cal and Oregon tied atop the Pacific Coast Conference, a tiebreaking vote amongst the members was set. The legend goes that the rivalry …
New Analysis Returns Next Week
Unfortunately, we have had some technical difficulties that have prevented us from providing new analysis this week. These things happen from time to time, and we’re proud to say that this is the first time since August 2011 that we have had a week without a new analysis article. We appreciate your readership, and we’ll promise to reward you with a brand …
Baker’s Dozen: A Duck-Centric Ranking of the Remaining Teams
Everyone’s got some formula for solving The Bracket: Always pencil the 1s and 2s in the first round. Pick at least one 12 over a 5. You have to choose a few upsets, because even though going chalk will land you in the top third of your pool, no one will respect you for how you got there. Every year …
Referee Analysis: The Stanford Debacle
Larry Scott knew he had a problem. If he didn’t know it when he took the job in 2009, he certainly knew it when he brought in former NFL VP of Officiating Mike Pereira in 2011 to fix it. His referees sucked, to put it bluntly, and it was the one of the key obstacles in harnessing the growth potential …
