John Giustina The Oregon Ducks hate the Washington Huskies. The Washington Huskies hate the Oregon Ducks. What more could you ask for in a college football rivalry game? These two teams have battled for bragging rights on the gridiron for more than a century, beginning all the way back in 1900. That season, Oregon State (then Oregon Agricultural College) temporarily …
Craig Strobeck Holding on to an Oregon “secret” for a year and a half has been difficult, as ongoing games have confirmed the accuracy of the previously “undisclosed.” This game against the Cougars revealed TWO new Oregon strategies within the offense that now render the old secrets null and void, thus we can now delight in learning about them, and …
Craig Strobeck The first official BCS standings for 2013 have arrived, and with no surprise, the undefeated and reigning national champion Alabama Crimson Tide is at No. 1. However, the rest of the field saw significant change, as upsets and the notorious BCS computer calculations once again took over the world of college football. Florida State nudged out Oregon for the …
Craig Strobeck We’ll cut to the chase: 1. Gary Campbell is a coaching superhero. Forget all about Thor, Ironman or Tony Robbins, I want running backs coach Campbell as my life coach and mentor. Remember those early season complaints that Byron Marshall didn’t have the vision, patience or explosion to stay ahead of Thomas Tyner on the depth chart? I predicted …
Craig Strobeck Worried about what we saw in Oregon’s game against Washington State last night? Concerned about Oregon’s long-term prospects for the season? Don’t worry; here is your weekly affirmation that everything will be ok — for now. Washington State is Much Improved . . . Yes, Oregon was a 40-point favorite over the Cougars last Saturday, but this is …
Craig Strobeck Despite the shellacking on the scoreboard, the players from Washington State walked into the press conference with pride intact and heads held high. “We just got to do anything we can to win,” left tackle Gunnar Eklund said, “It’s tough, but in the end you got to get the job done.” “In the years past, around this program, …
This could be the best Saturday we have had in college football this season. The upset bug was at work all around the country. We are really starting to see who are the contenders (Alabama, Oregon, FSU) and the pretenders (Clemson, Georgia, LSU). Team stocks are rising for the contenders and falling for the others. We had teams in …
Craig Strobeck The Oregon Ducks hosted the Washington State Cougars Saturday night, in a matchup of two teams with extraordinary offenses. One hundred combined points later, the Ducks emerged victorious, 62-38. WSU set several offensive records (related to pass attempts, completions and yards) and QB Connor Halliday kept throwing ’til the end, but the Cougars were ultimately no match for …
from Video This Saturday, the Washington State Cougars come to town for a 7 pm match up between the Blur and the Air Raid offenses. Think trying to hit a cheetah with a sling shot. Now for the mandatory stats. The Ducks lead the series 45-38-7 and have won six in a row over the Cougs. Washington State’s last win …
from video Chip Kelly’s Eagles are surprising people — after disappointing them — after startling them, like a date with too many tattoos and no job who proves nicer and more respectful than you or your parents imagined. The Birds evened their record at 3-3 and stayed apace with Dallas with a solid, if not spectacular, win against Tampa Bay, …
Craig Strobeck Now that we are halfway through the season, I thought I would take this chance to highlight some of the top players. Most of the names on this list are the usual suspects and for good reason. While there are players on the team whose roles go unnoticed on the stat sheet – for example, offensive linemen – I am sticking with …
Kevin Cline Oregon’s 2014 recruiting class keeps getting better. It might not end up a large class, but it will be talented, very talented. Fans shouldn’t concern themselves with team recruiting rankings, since as I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, those rankings are biased against teams with effective roster management like Stanford and Oregon. To recap, quantity (class …