Finally we have actual football to talk about rather than endless speculation or off-field misery. The Ducks and Tigers play the first big game of the 2011 college football season in four days. Chip Kelly and his coaches and players, are in a normal game-week preparation behind closed doors. With just a little news leaking out, these are the storylines …

With less than a week to go, the excitement in Eugene is palpable.  At restaurants and coffee shops alike the talk is all the same.  Will the Ducks crush LSU now that they are missing key players? Will Oregon be able to keep up with their injured starters out and those who are suspended? I  suspect  it would be difficult …

In college football, you don’t want to get a bad rap. It’ll start messing with players’ heads. It’ll be heard in recruits’ homes. It’ll infiltrate columnists’ laptops. The Oregon Ducks went underground this past week, preparing in earnest for the huge LSU matchup on Saturday night in Arlington, Texas. No. 3 vs. No. 4 in the season opener. A national …

Chip Kelly’s decision to close practices makes sense from a competitive standpoint. The Ducks are working on wrinkles, innovations and subtle changes to their offense for LSU, and with the blogosphere, Twitterverse, cell cameras and loose lips out there, no sense giving anything that Les Miles and his staff will have to adust to on the fly in Dallas. But …

7 days until the season begins, and despite controversy from coast to coast, there will be football on September 3rd. In the finale of this 3 part preview, first, we will have to go back and have a painful review of the National Championship game. Let’s refute the urban myth- Oregon’s offense wasn’t totally dominated physically in this game. In …

Like most Duck fans, I’ve had my share of game experiences at Autzen Stadium.  I’ve cheered on the team, reveled in the victories and suffered through the losses, tailgated with friends before and after in the parking lots through rain or shine.  But my perspective is a little different than most of yours, at least a little bit lower, because …

Kevin, the chief writer and editor of College Football Zealots, a southern-leaning football blog that covers the nation, sent me an email the other day with six questions on the Ducks: 1. Oregon has to replace a lot of starters on the front seven of their defense. Who are some of the new starters that will need to step up …

Football is a beautiful game, complex in nature and thrilling to watch.  It is also an ugly game, one that pulls at every emotion while brutally wreaking havoc on the body physically and mentally.  For the participants, they work year round for that opportunity to perform; for the fans we anxiously anticipate all year those few days when we can …

“So much for elbow room,” says my friend I.C. Green as we watch Oregon’s morning practice wind down from the soccer stands at Kilkenny Field. “I remember when there were only three or four of us at fall camp. Rich Brooks used to come over and chat us up. How times have changed. “But at least then we were standing …

Tennessee Titans backup quarterback Chris Simms has pleaded not guilty to driving while under the influence of illicit drugs, in this case marijuana. On Tuesday, in a lower Manhattan court room, a police officer told jurors that on July 1, 2010, at around 1:00 a.m., Simms made a “tire-squealing “turn” just before a police sobriety checkpoint in lower Manhattan. The …

Well here we go, we’re under 2 million seconds (1,296,000) until football season starts, and the tension continues to build as we wait for the Ducks to take the field in Dallas. LSU Defense Let’s just jump right into it; the biggest point of debate is Oregon’s undersized offensive line against LSU’s physical and fast defensive line. The most notable …

He tore the labrum in the third week of summer workouts in 2008, getting tangled up with a safety. It was never completely right after that. He greyshirted that year, enrolled Winter Term of 2009. He shined in Spring Practice, nabbing three balls for 111 yards in the 2009 Spring Game. One of Oregon’s first recruits from Texas along with …