And so it is set- Either #6 Oregon or #9 Wisconsin will win the Rose Bowl this season. A match up of the Rose Bowl’s 2 previous losers will provide one team with the chance to erase that label. While it may seem like so long ago now, both teams were on the fringes of national title talk for much of this season. Wisconsin was an early favorite …
On Friday night in Autzen Stadium, The Oregon Ducks claimed a third straight conference championship and a spot in the Rose Bowl Game for the 2nd time in 3 years. The last two seasons led by Darron Thomas, LaMichael James, and Kenjon Barner have been among the most successful and productive in school history. This season, with the addition of the Pac-12 Championship …
In the last two weeks, Oregon has beaten bad teams with sloppy performances, 49-21 over Oregon State, 49-31 over UCLA. Neither win was artistic. The Ducks displayed enough athleticism and verve to put an outmanned opponent away, but each time they sputtered awhile on offense, allowing scores at the end of halves that made the wins seem less dominating and …
He danced for a brief moment. He swept to the right. And then, as he has done over and over in his Oregon career, LaMichael James slid into the end zone. UCLA had been threatening to make something of this first-ever Pac-12 Championship Game. And derail Oregon’s Rose Bowl trip. But in what was likely his last game ever at …
It is an honor to be the final PAC 10 Champion, and the first ever host of the PAC 12 Championship Game. Unfortunately, the PAC 12 Championship will always have an asterisk next to it, as the Ducks do not have to play USC again this season, so due to technicality, Oregon is looking at a limping UCLA squad across …
Every week I create video blogs (vlogs), a free-form discussion of current events with Oregon sports and what’s new with FishDuck.com. It’s a little off-the-cuff, perhaps slightly pretentious, somewhat rambling, and hopefully entertaining. This video log series has been posted on my youtube channel from the beginning, but going forward will be posted on FishDuck.com as well…so kick back, relax, …
An entire decade ago to date, the 105th edition of the Civil War was set. Both teams had waited weeks for this game after a long absence, as ABC had given each school one million dollars to postpone the battle for a national television audience prior to the start of the season. Expectations for both schools were very high in …
For a football team to be successful, it requires being proficient in offense, defense, and…oh, what’s that other thing? Oh yeah, special teams. It’s easy to forget about special teams and its importance in the game, as often anonymous players go through the motions of a kick while fans casually await the next offensive series to commence. But make no …
In a short week everything’s accelerated: Sunday is Monday, with no days off. On Friday, Oregon faces a team they have every reason to overlook. The Ducks are 30-point favorites against UCLA, a team they beat 60-13 last year. The Bruins coach just got fired. Last weekend, they got blasted 50-0 by the USC Trojans in the Coliseum, a team …
Through this season I have often had much more interesting material to analyze than time would permit from a given game. This week is no exception as we had a number of new plays, formations, and play-action passes to enjoy looking at closely that resulted in some sweet touchdowns for our beloved Ducks. There will be more time in the …
It wasn’t quite the same feeling at Autzen Stadium on Saturday as in classic Civil Wars past. The crowd was enthusiastic about the 49-21 win, but not necessarily at the stadium’s raucous peak. And understandably so: Instead of clinching a conference championship and January bowl birth by beating the Beavers, as has happened the last two seasons as well as …
The gap is how wide? Well, digest these numbers put up by Oregon against Oregon State on Saturday: 39 first downs, 102 offensive plays, and 671 total yards. How wide? Six sacks of Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion, along with two interceptions. How wide again? Few Oregon regulars were on the field with a quarter to go. They would have …