Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out In Mark Helfrich’s short tenure as the Ducks head football coach he’s taken a team to the national championship game, developed a Heisman winner and turned a dismal 3-3 start into a 9-3 regular season finish. Yet who gets the kudos as top Pac-12 coaches? Stanford’s David Shaw you can understand. Utah’s Kyle Whittingham? Well, he’s done …
Hope and expectations are close companions in the hearts of Duck fans. For the past eight years our collective hope has been greatness, and our expectation has been a national championship. Twice the Ducks have reached football’s apogee and twice they have slowly fallen back to earth, saddened but not distraught, discouraged but not despairing. Each season our hope has …
Out of nowhere, Oregon Ducks football hit the month of June with a collection of recruits like it’s never seen before. The typical football recruiting cycle at Oregon starts off slow, adds a few players throughout fall and the football season and then closes hard the last month until signing day in February. This year, the Ducks found a new …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out As reported by ESPN at the recent Pac-12 Media Days, Washington coach Chris Petersen turned the tables and begged the dogs — to not get their expectations up too high. It’s not false modesty. It’s an honest assessment from the one insider who knows the Huskies best. Petersen also knows that man’s level of satisfaction relates highly …
It was great to hear that the Oregon Athletic Program finished the highest ever in the Learfield Directors Cup standings at tenth place, yet in the middle of the announcement by UO Media we saw something that really stood out; Oregon finished first among all schools having the same number of sports available for the ninth straight year! How does that work? The …
Something I worried about going into last season was the skill Vernon Adams had in throwing the long-ball, and whether the coaches would allow him to do it. It took awhile, but it became apparent to all that (even with the occasional interception) the odds for a completion were good, and sometimes for big scores at big moments. I know this …
Oregon has gone from rags-to-riches in quarterback recruiting in just one year, and it has created an interesting quandary for us as fans to ponder. Should Oregon forget about a quarterback recruit for 2017? I don’t have the answers here, and it was one of the interesting little items that sit back in my mind – wondering what the Duck …
Hello friends. It’s good to talk with you again. As most of you know, I retired from FishDuck.com some time ago. I am enjoying the warm weather in my retirement community. The neighbors speak with an accent, making communication difficult. But that will come with time. Not long ago I was reading a magazine someone had smuggled, via their rectum, into …
The number of preseason predictions touting Washington as a conference front-runner and Oregon as a fading asset have surprised me. Like so many of you – I thought we earned our stripes by ranking in the top ten nationally so often during the past decade. Yet it seems experts are quick to downgrade the Ducks for imperfections (while giving other …
ALERT: The following quotes by Defensive Coordinator Brady Hoke are NOT accurate. He stated a very polite version of what you will read, and I dramatized it to make a point. (I am known for drama … but I always back it up as you will see) Coach Hoke cleared his throat and eyed the 60-70 high school football coaches …
My FishDuck.com friends, We are converting the site gradually over the next six weeks to an “Analysis-Only” format, and there will be some adjustments going forward for everyone. First: I am sorry to announce that most of the interesting articles that the site has been known for … will no longer be published. Sports news reporting, recruiting, opinion-editorials – none of …
It appears the Oregon baseball program won’t be making a return to the postseason for a sixth straight year. Despite spending the first month of the 2016 season in the Top 30, including a short stint in the Top 15, the Ducks (29-23, 14-13) have been eliminated from a chance at the Pac-12 title with one series left to play. Unfortunately for …