Although Oregon has been a run-oriented football team the past few years, the number of times they have run the ball has decreased in both of Mark Helfrich’s seasons as head coach. The difference in the Helfrich era thus far has been athletic passers playing the QB position rather than runners who can somewhat throw. The Chip Kelly-type QB will always be defined …
Look to FishDuck.com to bring you coverage of the 2015 Men’s and Women’s NCAA Track & Field Championships. Covering the event for FishDuck will be our editor-in-chief and former Oregon Track Club member Mike Merrell, who narrowly missed qualifying for the 1976 U.S. Olympic Trials in the marathon. In addition to following all of our Oregon Ducks, Mike will be …
Wednesday marks the beginning of what could be the four most exciting days in Duck track and field history as the men’s and women’s teams have a chance to win dual titles for the first time. According to the usually-reliable Track and Field News’ forecasts, the men are favored to win their second title in a row by a scant …
Analysts love to dissect Oregon’s many packaged schemes and option runs, offensive plays designed to take advantage of whatever the defense throws at them, with an answer for just about anything and everything. There is, however, another part of any offense that is just as crucial, sometimes referred to as constraint plays. Constraint plays force a defense to hesitate, to think a little …
The quarterback battle going on in Eugene has certainly received its share of local and national press, and justifiably so. The Ducks are replacing the single greatest player in program history, who also happened to occupy the single most important position on the field. While I do not want to diminish the importance of this position — indeed, Oregon cannot …
Pressure is something Marcus Mariota knows well. From his days in college, he understands that his team’s successes and failures will all fall on him. He understands how to thrive in situations when everyone is looking to him, needing him to come through when it matters most — either on the field or in the community — whether that means working at a …
Rich Brooks, Mike Bellotti, and Chip Kelly are all coaches responsible for great seasons and the current state of the Oregon football team. As fans, we attribute success and failure to the head coaches, but it is never just the head coaches that are responsible for the success of a team. Too often we give the head coaches — and sometimes …
As I write this article, I am also preparing for my family to fly into Eugene for my graduation from the University of Oregon. While my career at UO has come to a close, I, along with the rest of the Class of 2015, will join the exclusive life-long club of Oregon alumni. While we will no longer attend classes or spend …
While watching ”The Sandlot” the other day, I couldn’t help but get caught up in my nostalgia. Babe Ruth comes into Benny’s room and gives him advice on his predicament, and before he leaves, he says, “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.” I began to think about Marcus Mariota. His contributions to the Oregon football program go far beyond …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out With the upcoming NCAA Track & Field Championships – and with the utter failure of the preliminary rounds as spectator events — those who oversee the events ponder what to do to generate more spectator interest, and, presumably, therefore more dollars. But maybe efforts to promote track & field should be made with something besides dollars in mind. …
Former Ducks football players can be found across the NFL. Oregon even had the distinction of having more former players starting in last year’s Super Bowl than any other college team with three. Over the last 20 years, 71 Oregon players have been selected in the NFL Draft, including nine first-round picks. In the 2015 draft, Marcus Mariota became the …
Easily the most highly touted player to come out of college in recent memory, Andrew Luck checked all the boxes. At the combine he measured in at 6’4″ and a stocky 230 lbs, and every time he threw a football people swore you could hear the laces sing in pure awe and glory. Seriously, the guy was the living, breathing …