Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out The czars who run college football must be ecstatic! With just a week to go in the regular college football season, the landscape is a complete mess. For the post-season lineup, there’s all sorts of room for drama, unfairness, passing out of unjust rewards, snubbing, hypocrisy — pretty much everything that we’re supposed to like about college …
Through their five-game win streak, including their most recent convincing 48-28 win over USC, the Ducks have looked very much like the Ducks of the last few years — Duck teams that relied on almost unstoppable offenses and opportunistic defenses to dominate the Pac-12. Unfortunately for the Ducks, they they did not look like this through the first six games. As we fans …
The Oregon Ducks destroyed the Trojans 48-28 in bitterly cold, sunny weather today at a packed Autzen. RB Royce Freeman ran wild for 147 yards, but USC’s players and coaches had one explanation for the reason why: Oregon quarterback Vernon Adams, Jr. The Eastern Washington transfer threw for 313 yards, completing 14 of 17 passes for 4 TDs and an interception …
Vernon Adams is a ringer. NFL scouts are stalking DeForest Buckner. His defense is creating turn-overs now and gets the ball back to Adams. Does anyone really think that the 2015 Ducks aren’t a top 5 team if Adams had stayed healthy? A five-fingered Adams completes the 4th-quarter pass to Byron Marshall against Michigan State. That’s a rematch Adams deserves. But …
College football’s proverbial cool kids were so ready to get rid of Oregon with Marcus Mariota out of the picture. The Ducks sat at 3-3 midway through the season. At that point, many were ready to attribute the success the Ducks have had for the better part of the decade up to an offensive system that had finally been figured …
10:30 a.m. is an important time at FishDuck.com headquarters in Compton. That’s when the mail arrives. While electronic media is responsible for some of the feedback we get from readers, some folks prefer the old ways. They put pen to paper and write to us. Once a year I like to share some of the mail I get from readers and answer them …
The Philadelphia Eagles raced out to a 16-3 lead against Miami Sunday in what looked like the easy, hilarious victory that it should have been. Tight end Brent Celek, who usually just blocks these days, caught passes for 14, 20, 40 and 60 yards as he ran rampant across the middle of the Dolphins’ defense. Miami has committed a series …
Ok, so I’m just going to keep doubting the Ducks. That’ll mean that they keep winning … right? No, in all honesty, this is why I love and hate college football! It’s so maddening that the Ducks are playing as well as they are now. This means that they clearly should not be 7-3 whatever the reason: injuries, bad play …
News Oregon has its quarterback of the future in the class of 2017 member Ryan Kelley (4-Star/Chandler, Ariz./Rivals250). Perhaps the most hyped passer to come to Oregon in the last two decades, Kelley is the type of prep who could make an immediate impact as a true freshman. Kelley has been a student of numerous quarterback coaches, but none more …
When the College Football Playoff rankings were released last Tuesday, one-loss Notre Dame found itself among the top five, creating a stir, as the Fighting Irish were ranked higher than eight undefeated and all one-loss teams, except Alabama. The inevitable, and pointlessly early arguments about Notre Dame’s ranking soon began to bubble and squeak, ignoring the fact that these debates tend …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out In a football season that has certainly had its downs, the Oregon Ducks have emerged as one of the best — if not the best — teams in the conference. A national championship is out of the picture, but a return to the Rose Bowl, while highly unlikely, remains at least a mathematical possibility. That’s something nobody …
I’ll be honest. I didn’t know what to write about this week. I considered several times writing to Charles Fischer and the editors and letting them know I was out of ideas, out of articles, I could write no more, I needed a break. All told, I’ve put down five articles of more than 1,500 words each since early September and had …