Willie Taggart and Company’s recruiting success is impressive by any measure. But once you understand how the NCAA stacks the deck, Oregon’s 2018 class ranking becomes jaw dropping. One of the reasons we love football so much is that there are clear rules about victory: the team with the most points wins. But even in athletic competition, the means of …
Coaches as Salesmen Coach Willie Taggart inherits the legacy of the past five coaches and, as explained below, his ability to sell the program will be a major influence on its success. Signs so far should lead you to be very optimistic. A football coach sells to sets of customers. Number one, the most important, is the fan base and is …
The top and bottom of the food chain is fairly easy to predict. The shark eats the minnow every time. Predicting what happens in the middle of college football’s food chain, however, is another matter. And this is the first season in ages that Oregon fans are entering with general expectations to be somewhere in the middle. Not a minnow. …
If you missed the inaugural Saturday Night Live July 29 in Autzen Stadium, you missed a great day for die-hard Ducks fans. Nevertheless, if you weren’t there, FishDuck.com still has you covered with some recruiting analyses of a few players and some other tasty tidbits. By now everyone has seen the fruits of Oregon’s SNL. Four players committed prior to the actual …
Oregon football has a legacy of accomplished receivers. Let’s examine the attributes they have had in the past and what this year’s group needs to continue a fine tradition. We’ll look at the talent side first. Speed Fast is always good. Stretching defenses is critical, and breakaway speed does that in spades! Patrick Johnson and Sammie Parker were past burners …
The Dawg Daze effect lingers. I’m getting a little panicky. We’re running out of time to grunt, groan, and gas about the past, before lightning strikes and our Frankenstein comes back to life. Obviously, I am still shaking my head at our not-so-ducky 2016 season. It’s not helping me lose the belly fat I added trying to cushion the blows …
You are as stunned as I am. We as Oregon fans cannot believe what the Willie Taggart staff is doing with football recruiting, as we are experiencing our own recruiting Nirvana, Valhalla, Duck Elysium or whatever your description for a result often dreamed of, but never thought was possible. Our beloved Ducks have 22 verbals on August 6th, with 11 of …
SPECIAL EDITION: Please tell us your predictions below in the comments section This past week, two of FishDuck’s finest made their regular-season predictions on how many games the Ducks will win this year. On Monday, young (OK “middle-age approaching”) and fatally cocky Padawan Jedi Darren Perkins predicted that the Ducks would party like it’s 2005 and win ten games. While …
We have all been guilty of playing down a development that has huge implications by making a joke of it, or rationalizing it away. With my beloved Ducks–I’ve rationalized extensively with two out of the three Mark Helfrich recruiting classes, and I’m sure many fans are not giving much thought to the announcement earlier yesterday about moving Brenden Schooler from …
My friends, I have been portrayed as a hopeless and shameless homer for the Oregon Ducks, as my past predictions have resembled cheerleading mantras more than analysis to many. Yet that is how I have honestly felt, and I believe I can call it differently when my head (not my heart!) tells me to. I have never made a prediction …
Sure, the Ducks should be better in 2017. But 10 wins? No way. Yes, Willie Taggart has brought the enthusiasm, the recruiting magic, the superb coaching staff and the Harbaugh moxie (Jim took Michigan from 5-7 to 10-3 in his first season). He may well be the next “it” coach. But it sounds as if the overly optimistic author of …
The University of Oregon football coaches will have one last summer camp before August, when they host the Saturday Night Live recruiting camp on Saturday afternoon, July 29. The exciting part about this camp is it is free and open to the public. That’s right! No charge! The football staff wants to get the word out about this event so the fans can …