Mike Merrrell’s Three-and-Out The path to the national championship is teeming with eastern teams leaving bones of cupcakes in their wake. The conference with the toughest, deepest competition is relegated to being the only of the Five Power Conferences with no more than a single “New Year’s Six” bowl. And the Heisman Trophy will undoubtedly go to the best player …
Big things are happening in women’s sports at Oregon, thanks to the new Women In Flight program. Last year the second-ranked Oregon softball team played in the College World Series before being eliminated by Alabama in the national semifinals. This season, the women’s basketball team is undefeated in preseason play, including a road victory over No. 22 University of North …
Last weekend many teams across the country saw their entire season come down to a single game. USC-UCLA played for their division, Oklahoma-Oklahoma State played for a conference title, and Notre Dame-Stanford played for a shot at the Playoff. All were games for determining the success of the season for those involved. Then there was the Civil War, a game that between …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out No bones about it, the 2015 football season freaked out its share of Oregon football fans, proving that there’s a difference between living in the present – which calls for focusing on doing your best — and getting caught up in the moment – which calls for abandoning all rational thought. Despite the sluggish start and mid-season …
Here I am, after nearly 15 months, writing my last article for FishDuck.com. I started before I even stepped foot on campus for my freshman year. Doe-eyed and terrified, I contacted Charles Fischer, an incredibly passionate Duck enthusiast who scared the crap out of me from the moment I started writing. My first article was good, but the title was awful and …
Let’s play a game of hypotheticals. Say you were Dabo Swinney, head coach of the Clemson Tigers. The Tigers have to be considered the top power in College Football this year, as they have looked impressive during their undefeated run. Or say you were Nick Saban, heading an Alabama team that has looked superb since a September stumble against an …
How a season is viewed is all a matter of perspective. Regardless of achievement or outcome, if expectations are not met, it is viewed as a disappointment. Conversely, if the result exceeds expectations, it is viewed as a success. More importantly, when those successes and failures happen is just as relevant to their perception as whether or not they happen …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out The czars who run college football must be ecstatic! With just a week to go in the regular college football season, the landscape is a complete mess. For the post-season lineup, there’s all sorts of room for drama, unfairness, passing out of unjust rewards, snubbing, hypocrisy — pretty much everything that we’re supposed to like about college …
Through their five-game win streak, including their most recent convincing 48-28 win over USC, the Ducks have looked very much like the Ducks of the last few years — Duck teams that relied on almost unstoppable offenses and opportunistic defenses to dominate the Pac-12. Unfortunately for the Ducks, they they did not look like this through the first six games. As we fans …
Vernon Adams is a ringer. NFL scouts are stalking DeForest Buckner. His defense is creating turn-overs now and gets the ball back to Adams. Does anyone really think that the 2015 Ducks aren’t a top 5 team if Adams had stayed healthy? A five-fingered Adams completes the 4th-quarter pass to Byron Marshall against Michigan State. That’s a rematch Adams deserves. But …
When the College Football Playoff rankings were released last Tuesday, one-loss Notre Dame found itself among the top five, creating a stir, as the Fighting Irish were ranked higher than eight undefeated and all one-loss teams, except Alabama. The inevitable, and pointlessly early arguments about Notre Dame’s ranking soon began to bubble and squeak, ignoring the fact that these debates tend …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out In a football season that has certainly had its downs, the Oregon Ducks have emerged as one of the best — if not the best — teams in the conference. A national championship is out of the picture, but a return to the Rose Bowl, while highly unlikely, remains at least a mathematical possibility. That’s something nobody …