While I am known for being a Sunshine-Pumper when it comes to my beloved Ducks, the team of coaching consultants at FishDuck.com are much more grounded and can give a realistic assessment concerning the state of the Oregon football team after one game. Yes, you have seen opinions from sportscasters who are not any better at knowing things than the …
There’s been a lot of grousing about preseason rankings and critics. When did Ducks fans develop such a thin skin? Rather than pound the table, I say bring it on. To the national pundits we’re known as the Blur or Track Town, USA. Speed may impress, but it doesn’t always earn long-term respect. We hear it all the time. They …
For the second year in a row, much to the dismay of national pundits and a segment of the Ducks’ own fan base, Oregon‘s prolific offense will be led by a graduate transfer. With last week’s release of the two-deep depth chart, Oregon’s closely-watched quarterback battle was officially decided (for the opener, at least). Montana State’s Dakota Prukop, one of …
Nearing the halfway mark of the 2017 recruiting class in September, the Oregon Ducks have managed to collect roughly half of the expected prospects to sign in February. Just because Oregon has 11 current verbal commitments to date, don’t expect those same 11 to be intact through the letter of intent day. As recruiting goes, there are bound to be …
As it is time to reveal my 2016 Oregon football predictions – and the reasoning behind them – I look back to the last two weeks and marvel at how some notable sports journalists got called out here on FishDuck.com. Senior Editor Mike Merrell eviscerated Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports and then skewered Todd McShay of ESPN a few days …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out It’s time for my fourth annual calling out of three teams that I think are overrated. Qver the past three years, I’ve been right on 7 out of my 9 picks. Of course the two times I’ve been wrong, I’ve been very, very wrong (See Ducks, below, for explanation.), so take it to Vegas at your own …
A vast colosseum lies brooding on the banks of a wide lazy trout-filled river. Surrounded by nothing but forest and thick grass, both barely waving in a gentle breeze under azure cloud-dappled skies. Such is the vision of Autzen Stadium from the top of Skinner’s Butte on game day in the fall. A stadium, a field, soldiers marching to battle …
Handicapping the 21st-ranked Ducks’ chances of proving prognosticators wrong. This August, preseason polls have been unkind to Oregon compared to recent years, with the Ducks ranked No. 24 in the first Associated Press poll and No. 21 by Sports Illustrated. In 2015, by comparison, the Ducks were ranked No. 7 by the AP going into the season, and in 2014 were ranked …
After almost a year hiatus, I have returned to FishDuck.com for what will be a new chapter of Oregon Recruiting. It’s been too long Duck fans, too long. As I sat down to pen this article out, I felt those age-old feelings of excitement build; by golly, we only have one more Saturday before this juggernaut revs its engine and …
(In following with the policies of the University of Oregon Athletic Department, this article will not discuss plays, formations, blitzes, tactics, injuries or anything of a detailed nature before the 2016 football season begins. We will revert back to the days of the old “Fish Reports” where the information was primarily football gossip, yet enjoyed by all. More recent versions …
Twenty-one Power Five coaches won nine regular season games in 2015. Nineteen of those coaches are back with the same school this season. Of the two coaches not returning, one is Art Briles, formerly of Baylor, who was fired not for how his team’s on-field performance, but rather his team’s horrifying behavior off of it. The other nine-win coach who …
Summer’s perennial promise has again faded into guilt. I am not so old that summer has lost all its romance, yet every summer I grow more eager for the gift of fall: Oregon football. And as each season starts, we tend to look backwards, however briefly. Many may prefer to forget the Alamo Bowl, but in all things we must …