The Philadelphia Eagles finalized their roster this week, polished their trickiest schemes in closed practices and got ready for the season to actually begin. The Eagles are 10.5 point favorites at home against the Jacksonville Jaguars, led by quarterback Chad Henne. Older fans will remember Chip Kelly’s second game as Oregon’s offensive coordinator in 2007 when the Ducks crushed the …
While the 2014 college football season has just begun, this time also marks the second half of the recruiting season. This is the time of year that recruiting really heats up and high school seniors take their official visits to schools of interest. Oregon historically does its best recruiting during the football season after having its best recruiting preseason ever. So, …
That is not an insult. It’s really a compliment. I admire Michigan State University. The Merriam-Webster definition of Spartan is “marked by simplicity, frugality or avoidance of luxury and comfort.“ And they take the definition seriously. The school motto, translated into English, means: See what I mean? But Michiganders as a group of sports fans are to be admired. After all, they …
The excitement for Duck fans is rising by the hour, as they get ready to welcome one of the biggest non-conference regular season games in Duck history! It is the first Top-10 match-up of the college football season, and will have an immediate impact on the inaugural College Football Playoff picture. Both Oregon and Michigan State are appearing regularly in analysts’ playoff predictions; …
Starting Thursday night, you cling to the edge of your couch screaming for your fantasy team player to score a touchdown. You shoot up out of your seat and jump around every time your starting defense picks off the opposing quarterback. You curse and yell when you watch your No. 1 running back fumble the ball on the goal line. The …
Football Recruiting Commitments This past weekend’s 62-13 bludgeoning of South Dakota came complete with a “Quack” from one of the west coast’s top preps. Tabbed athlete Malik Lovette (4-Star/Redlands, CA/Rivals250) committed to Mark Helfrich and Co. prior to Oregon’s Saturday night romp, further stacking speed with likes of fellow commits Taj Griffin (4-Star/Powder Springs, GA/Rivals100) and Travis Waller (4-Star/Anaheim, CA/Rivals100). News …
Let’s take a moment to re-live the Oregon vs Cal game from last season. We all remember the rain, right? In one of the wettest games in Autzen history, the Ducks marched onto a 55-16 victory over the Golden Bears. There is one play in particular that needs to be recognized. It was the first quarter, Marcus Mariota swung out …
There were plenty of surprises in this game to please even the most ardent fan, but for me — the most satisfying was watching new freshman running back Royce Freeman run Oregon’s Straddled Triple Option as if he were a senior and following his offensive line for years. His part of the play is the Inside Zone Read option, and most …
It’s finally – finally! — football season! As the first weekend of college football wraps up, don’t expect any major changes when it comes to rankings, especially at the top. However, expect one major theme to be consistent with all top programs, there are still kinks to work out, and there is still work to do. Florida State Let’s start with the …
With the Ducks revealing little in anticipation of next week’s non-conference pièce de résistance, it was two true freshmen left to dominate the storylines from Saturday’s game: The Unveiling of Royce Freeman Kickoff wasn’t until 7:30 Saturday night, but the texts came early in the morning: “Is Royce going to live up to the hype?” Of all the question marks that …
I know. He was fined. It was not politically correct. It was even against the rules. But it was honest, and it was the truth. Just as Nick Aliotti intimated (well, spouted off, actually), during garbage time of last year’s Oregon/Washington State game Wazoo coach Mike Leach should have been working on his running game instead of scoring two passing …
1. You (likely) don’t live in South Carolina. After brutal beatdowns by a combined 48 points, both of South Carolina’s major universities are suffering from opening day hangovers that won’t be soon forgotten, even with copious consumption of bourbon and barbecue. If you also observed that poor Clemson fan the cameras repeatedly panned, with head in hands, play after disappointing …