Marcus Mariota, Thomas Tyner, De’Anthony Thomas and Josh Huff combined to score only 36 points in the 2013 Oregon-Oregon State Civil War game, one of the worst outputs of the spread option era at Oregon. It was just enough to beat the Beavers. It started with a fourth-down interception by the UO defense in the endzone in the first quarter. The Ducks came back and …
In my previous articles, I’ve written a lot about dollars and cents. But enough about that. Now, I’m ready to talk college football (CFB). Let’s talk Ducks football. … But I hope you will forgive me a short interlude, an inquiry into whether the following makes sense … I’ve been to Boulder, Colorado. It is a beautiful small city adjacent …
We’re living in unprecedented times. Major college sports recruiting is a multi-million dollar business in that a recruit’s eventual signature can lead to unprecedented revenue for a given school through on-field performance. Ticket sales, revenue sharing from tournaments, and brand recognition all stand in major flux. In an effort to continue to curb the spread of COVID-19, yet further muddling …
Football players and coaches will tell you to the man that there’s no such thing as a “good loss.” They’re all wrong! The Oregon Ducks’ loss to Arizona State on November 23rd, 2019 was not just a good loss, it was a great loss, and I’m here to convince you. As I said in this article way back on January …
How do you fit five pegs into four holes? The obvious answer is, “You don’t.” You leave one out. AZcentral.com and SEC born-and-raised Andy Staples have another solution. You whittle one of the pegs down to nothing, pick up a few of the scraps and glom them onto one of the four remaining. Naturally, the one that gets carved up—according …
The Oregon Ducks Men’s Basketball team was just starting to hit their stride. As winners of six of their last seven games, including four straight to end the regular season as PAC-12 champions, the Ducks were poised to make a tournament run. As the number one seed in the PAC-12 tournament, the Ducks were set to take on rival Oregon …
It seems like yesterday the Oregon Ducks were on the verge of a free fall, trying to save face after Willie Taggart spurned the program that Mark Helfrich (despite his good intentions) nearly dragged to the gutter. But here we are, just a couple of years later, and the Ducks are right back in the thick of the playoff race. …
A recent article in The Athletic by Andy Staples outlines why the time is now for the Big 12 to raid the Pac-12 to create the Big 16. My initial reaction to the thought of the Pac-12 disbanding was utter shock. The traditionalist in me hates this. I want to preserve the conference, west coast pride, the alliance to the Rose-Bowl, …
March 17th was Saint Patrick’s Day, and unfortunately many of us were already holed up and unable to celebrate. However, in the spirit of that holiday and this green month of March, it seemed good to me (especially since my wife is Irish!) to offer my contribution in the form of Duck-themed limericks. The limerick is generally accepted to have …
Strange times are upon us. None of us knew this was coming. Tom Brady has left the New England Patriots. In all seriousness, I bid a forlorn farewell two weeks ago to the University of Oregon campus for the time being, with no thought as to how serious the circumstances would devolve to due to COVID-19. I never would have …
Here we are on day 16 of no live sports to watch. Being the avid sports fan I am, I have often wondered what life would be like living in a world with no sports. I am now finding out, and it is a hard life. I have found myself trying to fill the time by watching “reality” television, but …
Imagine being a linebacker tasked with making a split-second choice between taking on Outland Trophy winner Penei Sewell as a pulling tackle or trying to cover a speedy receiver like Mycah Pittman or Jaylon Redd out of the slot. The RPO (Run, Pass, Option) is an offensive scheme that mixes together different run and pass options based on defensive alignment …