The Ducks Volleyball team is playing for all the marbles. #5 Oregon upset the #1 Penn State Nittany Lions in 4 sets, in the Ducks’ first appearance in the NCAA Volleyball semi-finals. They will be facing #3 Texas in the championship match on Saturday. There was good news and bad news for Oregon at the start of this very tense …
Meet Your New Ducks: A Home Run In Football AND Basketball!
One of Chip Kelly’s underappreciated qualities is his ability to get the most out of his players and maximize their potential. This has been evident throughout his whole tenure at the University of Oregon. Look at what he did with former QB Daryle Hawkins, or DB Kenjon Barner, or TE Dion Jordan (now a 1st round NFL prospect at DE). …
Recruiting Recap: Transfer Possibilities Fuel Surprise Recruiting Trip?
Football Recruiting Commitments Oregon addressed a position of concern when newly offered linebacker Joe Walker (2-Star/Wilmington, CA) chose to pledge his commitment to head coach Chip Kelly & Co. Walker, a 6-3, 230 lb. west coast junior college standout, is Oregon’s second commit in the 2013 linebacker corps. “I just thought the coaches were honest. I like the players, and …
Bowl Games To Watch: A Duck Perspective
Hey there fans! Like watching football that matters? Have a really comfortable couch? You’re primed to make a run through all the big college football bowl games this year. But since there are a lot of teams you don’t care about, here are the top-10 bowl games to key in on, so you don’t completely isolate yourself from your friends …
In the Bowldrums: Film Breakdown, um, Breakdown
Well, Duck fans, we’re smack dab in the middle of the bittersweet period known I like to call the “Bowldrums.” Sure, we’ve got a great matchup ahead of us, but as Tom Petty once said, “The waiting is the hardest part.” So here we are: waiting for January 3. What are our coaches and players doing? In short: studying film. …
Ducks Clean Up Play in Blowout Win
Going into Saturday’s game against hapless Idaho State, Coach Dana Altman was concerned that his young Oregon team was making far too many mistakes in winning seven of its first eight games. Leading the Pac-12 in turnovers (17.3 pg) isn’t a desirable stat, but with a week between games and a re-focused attention on improving giving the ball up, the …
Notes From Around the College Football Nation: Johnny Heisman, Coaching Carousel, and Bowl Games
That’s it, the regular season has come to an end. If you’re a Notre Dame fan, you’re stoked at how the whole season unfolded. If you’re an Oregon or Kansas State fan, well, there is always next year. What a way to close the season out with an exciting Army-Navy game, and in the evening we had the Heisman Trophy …
Ducks Volleyball: Where No Duck Has Gone Before
The Ducks are in uncharted waters. The #5 Oregon Ducks Women’s volleyball team entered the second round of the NCAA tournament for only the third time in the history of the program. In their previous attempts, the Ducks did not advance past the round of 16. Emotions ran high against the #12 BYU Cougars on Friday. Although they would wind …
Optimus Klein vs. Flyin’ Hawaiian will be a show for the ages
There will be plenty of matchups worth watching on January 3rd when Oregon and Kansas State collide in the Fiesta Bowl. Kansas State’s special teams prowess versus Oregon’s woeful coverage. Oregon’s high speed athletes versus the Wildcats plodding attack. The best, however, will be the one between two guys who will never be on the field at the same time. …
What Happens in Vegas Matters a Lot to Some People
On December 22nd, shortly after noon, Washington will play Boise State in the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl. It’s a battle of teams that used to have national relevance. This week Washington Huskies head coach Steve Sarkisian said, “This is why players come to the University of Washington. To play in games like this.” That was a silly thing …
Hey, Johnny Football? Thank Dennis Dixon for That Heisman
In 1970, Notre Dame’s publicity man, Roger Valdiserri, convinced the school’s starting QB, a senior named Joe Theismann, to do something drastic to increase his chances of winning the Heisman Trophy. Valdiserri suggested to the QB, who pronounced his Austrian surname “thees-man“, that he should change the pronunciation to “thies-man”, to rhyme with the name of the sport’s most prestigious …
Recruiting Analysis: Confusing Developments
“What in the world are the coaches doing?” Oregon’s recruiting philosophy has always been a bit of a mystery, but some of the recent happenings have left many more confused than ever. Let’s take a look at some of the recent head-scratchers. It seemed to start with Gareon Conley, a Tier-1 cornerback prospect that recently de-committed from Michigan, and by all …