New Football Season Brings New Ducks – Meet Five Now

Alaan Al-Jaibaji Editorials

As summer approaches, many Duck fans await their favorite season of the year: football. The Ducks will look to bounce back strong after losing their star quarterback and key members of their coaching staff. After promoting Matt Lubick, the 2012 wide receiver Coach of the Year, to offensive coordinator and hiring ex-Michigan head coach Brady Hoke as the defensive cordinator, the team looks to build …

Softball Shows No Mercy in Regionals, Advances to NCAA Super Regionals

Sarah Greenlaw Editorials

Oregon Softball mesmerized crowds with a stunning victory at the NCAA Eugene Regionals. The Ducks hosted Baylor, Fordham, and Long Beach State during the course of the weekend. Oregon faced off against Fordham and Baylor to come out on top of their postseason debut. The No. 5 Ducks breezed by Fordham on Friday night to take the win, 8-0, in …

I Now Pronounce You Big 12 & Pac-12; You May Kiss the Bride

Jon Joseph Editorials

Dear Reader, the following was my response to a suggestion that all teams including Florida International, play in a postseason bowl game and a criticism of the ridiculously bloated post season. Florida International University, Bowls for everyone? All 128 schools play a post season game? An interesting idea, but if there were a players’ union or at least player representation in the decision …

Saban Coerces 2017 Najee Harris, “Go East, Young Man”

Jon Joseph Editorials

If the nation’s 2017 No. 1 recruit, running back Najee Harris from Antioch, California, stays true to his verbal commitment to the Alabama Crimson Tide, he will follow QB Blake Barnett as another recent top-rated California high school football player opting to play for St. Nick Saban. Indeed, Blake was “committed” to Notre Dame and then to Oregon (for a nano-second) before he tripped to Alabama, was seduced by …

SEC (Southeastern Chickens) Renounce Roosting in Autzen

Jon Joseph Editorials

May rabies ravage the Dawgs and anthrax annihilate the Aggies! It’s not as if Oregon‘s Athletic Directors haven’t made a valiant effort. The Ducks once had home engagements scheduled with the Georgia Bull Dogs and the Texas A&M Aggies, only to be left at the altar by that castrated, chicken whip, canine University of Georgia, as well as being dumped …

Playoff Committee Ignores SOS, Good Ship Pac-12 Sinks

Jon Joseph Editorials

In 2015, the College Football Playoff Committee (Committee) seemingly paid no attention to strength of schedule (SOS.) The Committee, by design or lack thereof, has no standard metric to judge a team’s SOS. Accordingly, overall wins in 2015 trumped any evaluation of the quality of a team’s victories against  both out of conference (OOC) and in-conference opponents. 11-1 Oklahoma with a bad …

Oregon’s Most Intriguing Spring Game Yet

Nick Jones Editorials

Oregon’s annual Spring Game will kick off the 2016/17 football pre-season for our beloved Ducks. The highly-anticipated action at Autzen Stadium should make for a very intriguing springtime Saturday. After every season another exciting group of players leaves the University to seek illustrious careers in the NFL, thus leaving us with a bunch of questions heading into the spring game. With alumni …

SEC Wins Again Over Pac-12 Due to Incompetence of Scott/Guerrero

Jon Joseph Editorials

I was 10 years old in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik. I can tell you with certainty that Uncle Sammy’s reaction to being eclipsed technologically by the Red Menace was far more tepid than the SEC’s response to college football (CFB) satellite camps. The U.S. turned to NASA to bridge the gap. The SEC …

Oregon Pitchers Survived the First Half, Look to Dominate Second Half of Conference Play

Max Thornberry Editorials

Oregon’s pitching has not been great. The highly touted rotation has pitched well, but has failed to reach the levels we expected back in February. The bullpen is questionable, as well. As mentioned last week, the back-end is set, but as evidenced by the madness of the Oregon State game Monday night, the long-relievers/spot starters are anything but a sure …

The Dandy Dozen: Projections for the 2016 Season

Jon Joseph Editorials

The 2016 preseason Top 25 college football (CFB) polls, including ESPN’s FPI rankings that we reviewed last week, are pounding down the Pac-12. In the four ‘big time’ polls, the putative 2016 champion Stanford Cardinal is ranked as follows: ESPN 8; FOX Sports 11; Sports Illustrated 11 and CBS 14. The Oregon Ducks are not ranked higher than 20 in any of these polls. …