With the early season struggles of the Philadelphia Eagles, suddenly everyone is breaking their legs jumping off of the Chip Kelly bandwagon — proclaiming that they saw it coming. Everyone has their magic fix for the offense: “If LeSean McCoy were still here they’d be winning,” one will say, or “Jeremy Maclin is the magical missing piece.” I’d even bet …
Back before Marcus Mariota, Darron Thomas, and even before Dennis Dixon, Oregon had another famous quarterback or two. Of this lot, only Joey Harrington had Oregon’s interest from birth. Born to former Oregon quarterback John Harrington, Joey’s potential was recognized immediately by his dad’s old head coach Len Casanova. Casanova sent his congratulations to his former quarterback on becoming a …
Any time a star athlete the caliber of Marcus Mariota moves on, his successor will inevitably be compared to him. It happened to Steve Young when Joe Montana left San Francisco, it happened to Andrew Luck after Peyton Manning left the Colts and it’s happening to Vernon Adams now that Mariota is gone. Many comparisons have been made between Mariota and …
When talking about the head coach who started Oregon on its winning ways in the modern age, people often think of Chip Kelly — he is the one who built the program, many would proclaim. While Kelly did certainly have a lot of success at Oregon, Mike Bellotti is the man who first set Oregon on course with a culture of winning. …
With the NFL preseason around the corner, all of the intrigue that has been building throughout the offseason will finally be seen on the field. One of the most interesting stories coming out of Eagles camp this year has been surrounding Chip Kelly’s two new quarterbacks – Sam Bradford and Tim Tebow. Both players have looked impressive thus far, with Bradford looking …
The NFL off-season was filled with talk about Chip Kelly and Marcus Mariota, the match made in heaven that was so good it couldn’t possibly happen — and it didn’t. Now they’ve moved on to talking about Kelly and Sam Bradford. Kelly’s the coach so desperate for a headline, he traded for a QB coming off of two ACL tears in the …
ESPN writer Kevin Gemmell understands Oregon and its offense more than your typical national writer or talking head. As he correctly points out, “What do you think of when you think of Oregon? Fine, after all of the uniform combinations. You think of offense. And specifically, the ground game.” OK, so he has the requisite “too many jerseys” one-liner, but he understands that …
Set the way-back machine to 1951 and get your DeLoreans up to 88 MPH. We’re going back to look at a famous Duck from Oregon‘s rich history. While Oregon has had many great coaches over the years, I think we can all agree that the coolest name of them all belongs to Len Casanova. Known as Cas to his friends, he …
“He’s a project … second-best quarterback in the draft … not pro ready!” Such were the cries of many draft analysts in the first quarter of the year. Of course, they were talking about Marcus Mariota. Many so-called “experts” such as Bucky Brooks, had Mariota falling to the late teens before being drafted. Many others saw him as playing second fiddle to …
In the history of the Heisman Memorial Trophy, only two colleges have had back-to-back Heisman winners — in 1945 and 1946 by Army with fullback Doc Blanchard and running back Glenn Davis winning the award. Then 28 years later when Ohio State running back Archie Griffin won the award twice in 1974 and 1975. Coming off Marcus Mariota’s Heisman Trophy season, could Oregon be the …
In Oregon’s history, there have been many players and coaches of note — from coach Cal Young and his one-game inaugural season in 1984 to Chip Kelly and Marcus Mariota. Although most people say Mariota is the greatest Oregon player of all time, another man held that honor since the 1950s. Back in the era of leather helmets, the hero of …
Although Oregon has been a run-oriented football team the past few years, the number of times they have run the ball has decreased in both of Mark Helfrich’s seasons as head coach. The difference in the Helfrich era thus far has been athletic passers playing the QB position rather than runners who can somewhat throw. The Chip Kelly-type QB will always be defined …