CJ Verdell is an anomaly. The junior running back has rushed for 1,000 or more yards in each of his first two seasons. Despite the high yardage total, Verdell has only just surpassed the freshman single season total of Royce Freeman, who had an astounding 18 touchdowns in his first season. Sitting at 19 career rushing touchdowns, Verdell seems to be …
Justin Herbert improved over his college career. That is an indisputable fact that seemed to be overlooked by pre-draft NFL writers. They seemed to believe that he peaked as a sophomore and everything was downhill after that. Herbert saw his draft stock come in to question as analysts doubted his accuracy, questioned his leadership and pre-ordained him as a bust. …
For three years, Oregon had the same offensive coordinator in Marcus Arroyo. With Arroyo leaving for a head coaching gig in 2020, Oregon had to find a new man to run the offense. In came Joe Moorhead, architect of some fantastic Penn State offenses. With a crazy fall season that still has yet to produce a schedule for the Ducks, …
It has been a long off-season. Basketball ended early due to the pandemic, as did all other sports. The recent restart of professional sports showed that limited crowds don’t have to stop sports. Last weekend college football restarted in a limited capacity, with small crowds and every team missing players. The games were alright, but without any major teams in …
As the 2020 season approaches and the Ducks prepare to hand the reigns to a new quarterback, it is fair to wonder what fans can expect. How have past Oregon QBs fared in their inaugural seasons? For simplicity’s sake, QBs will only be considered if they started at least a third of the season. 2017: Braxton Burmeister Poor Braxton Burmeister. The …
We see it all the time online these days — Washington fans bringing up their program history as a way to try (and fail) to convince recruits they should pick the Huskies over the Ducks. The fans make the claim that Washington’s number of first-round NFL draft picks is indicative of the health of their program, while more and more …
2016 was the last year the Oregon Ducks fielded an elite offense. Justin Herbert was one of the best QBs in Oregon history, but constantly finding himself in shootouts kept the young player from achieving greatness in his inaugural season. UO’s era of elite offense started in 2007 when Dennis Dixon had the Ducks on the precipice of the BCS National …
The Oregon Ducks won the Pac-12 in 2019. They had a dream-like season, just missing the college football playoff and beating the Wisconsin Badgers in the Rose Bowl. With a significant amount of seniors leaving, it is fair to ask if the Ducks will be able to repeat their success? The national media seems to think the Ducks will be …
Oregon football had a phenomenal season in 2019. The Ducks won a conference championship and Rose Bowl for the first time since the 2014-2015 season, they beat all of their rivals and even managed to get the Washington State monkey of their back. Despite their 12 wins and one of the greatest defenses in school history, many fans felt they …
Mario Cristobal is a program builder. He took over as head coach at FIU under serious penalties from the NCAA and had few, if any, good facilities for his players. The Panthers had never blown the world away in the win column prior to his arrival, and he had no head coaching experience at the time. With the cards stacked …
Oregon is a running back powerhouse. Many great Ducks have been in contention for the Doak Walker Award for the nation’s best RB over the years, and some were even considered as Heisman candidates. Yet the Ducks have had issues at running back consistently for the last decade. Lache Seastrunk was a highly-touted five-star running back who arrived on campus in …
College football is going to have a strange season in 2020. With social distancing persisting until at least June, it’s not outside the realm of possibilities for teams to be under-conditioned and a little unprepared at the start of the season. A short off-season may slow the development of several key freshmen, such as Noah Sewell and Justin Flowe. Returning players will …
