Find “The One” and #FireHelfrich

Matt Bryant Editorials

Oregon’s 20-year football nadir has produced three factions on this site. It is no secret that I belong to the outnumbered Root-and-Branch faction. As difficult as may be for some to hear, in this camp we’ve forecasted that Mark Helfrich will fail and have begun calling for new leadership to reverse the degradation to Oregon’s erstwhile winning culture. Then there …

Duck Basketball Starts Fast – 5 Thoughts

Kellen Garrett Editorials

Tonight the most anticipated Oregon Ducks basketball season in recent memory will begin, and the 5th-ranked Oregon Ducks will charge onto the hardwood at Matthew Knight Arena. Their goal in simple terms will be to start the season 1-0, but by winning tonight the Ducks will also extend their home game win streak to 25. It has been more than 500 days since Oregon …

Bowl Game: Key to the Rebuild of Duck Football

Aaron Lewis Editorials

Ducks Need a Miracle to Reach Bowl Eligibility After some signs of life in a victory against ASU, the Ducks returned to playing really badly in their blowout loss to the USC Trojans. With the loss, the Ducks now sit at 3-6, their worst record through nine games since 1991, when they also sat at 3-6. No one on the Oregon football …

MAD AS HELL: Terrible Defensive Techniques Taught at Oregon

Charles Fischer, Mr. FishDuck Editorials

I am mad as hell. I have had three Coaching Consultants on the FishDuck.com Analysis team tell me that, “If my players in high school used defensive technique like that – I would be embarrassed.” I can hardly believe my eyes, as coaches sit with me through intense “Skull-Sessions” and detail the bad technique being exhibited on defense. Could we have …

Oregon Football 2016: Chip’s Guys Quit

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out Amid the controversy of why and how to fix it, there’s one thing we can all agree on: Oregon football 2016 sucks. “Why” is no doubt complicated. If we want to be simplistic, we can just blame the coaches and join the witch hunt. Reality, however, is more complicated than that. Personally, I subscribe to the “perfect …

Oregon’s Niche in the Cycle of Pac-12 Football Dominance

David Miller Editorials

Over the past 50 years or so there have been many great teams in the Pac-8/10/12, but only a few teams have risen to the top to dominate the conference over an extended time period. There are common threads among the teams that dominated and unique outliers as well. Coaching, a matter of “no small disturbance” in Oregon right now …

Oregon Duck Basketball Looks To Build on Off-Season Momentum

Kellen Garrett Editorials

After last season’s groundbreaking success that finished with the most wins ever in a season by an Oregon Duck basketball team, the off-season has brought unprecedented attention to the program. There was some concern in the spring as two of the leading scorers declared for the NBA draft. That concern was short lived, as Dillon Brooks and Tyler Dorsey pulled their …

Duck Fans Are WRONG AGAIN by Second-Guessing Mark Helfrich

Charles Fischer, Mr. FishDuck Editorials

You would think we are in Seattle with all the Dog-Piling of Oregon fans on the stack of the #Fire Mark Helfrich movement around here. As you all know, I am not in that group, although this site will allow editorials on both sides of this discussion and we have certainly had some juicy articles on that topic lately. Yet, I …

The Next Generation of Oregon’s Defense

Jay Garnett Editorials

Oregon’s defense, regardless of their (relatively) amiable performance against Arizona State this past weekend, is bad. Like historically bad. Prior to the game this weekend, the Ducks ranked in the bottom 10 in the country in rushing yards allowed per game, yards per rushing attempt and turnovers generated per game. They were 3rd-worst in total scoring defense and penalty yards allowed. …

Bombs Away! The War to #FireHelfrich

Matt Bryant Editorials

Listening to my adversary’s closing argument this week, I suffered a moment of déjà vu clarity; one of those moments where you realize you just relearned a lesson you already knew. Everyone has a “tell.” We can train, practice and strive for self-improvement, and sometimes succeed, but we cannot escape that which we have made normal. When someone shows you, …

Preseason Coaches Poll Shows Oregon Ducks Basketball Has Respect

Kellen Garrett Editorials

Polls never really mean much. The games still have to be played, and no trophies are given out for poll rankings. That being said, the release of the preseason basketball Coaches Poll signifies that the season is right around the bend and sparks some excitement, especially if you are a fan of a school such as the Oregon Ducks that …

Three Reasons Oregon-ASU Never Became a Rivalry

Nathan Roholt Editorials

Amid the chaos following their game, the two coaches ran toward each other for a common ritual of their profession: the post-game handshake. While this interaction is normally brief and emotionally distant, after this particular game one coach, Arizona State’s Todd Graham, chose this moment to voice his contempt for the coach he was facing, Washington State’s Mike Leach. Broadcast …