I’m a muttering-mass-of-protoplasm again after a Duck game, but this time to the positive. When I watch something so emotional to me, and yet filled full of factual items to ponder–it takes me longer at my Greybeard-age to process it. Today I wish to discuss the intriguing components of yesterday’s game, while on Monday I wish to reappraise the season …
The Oregon offense used to be a source of great enjoyment for Duck fans, while currently it has created a bit of angst among the faithful. My friends, there is too much to unwrap from that Fresno State game, but I must say that there have been astute comments below this article and this one that relay the feelings of …
Better buckle up, Ducks fans, this could be a bumpy ride. If there’s anything I have learned over the course of Oregon Head Coach Mario Cristobal’s tenure thus far, it’s that his teams are loaded with talent but they aren’t going to run away with every game before halftime by racking up video game stats. Cristobal delivers hard-nosed, smash-mouth, slow …
It is hard to believe that it has been nine years since Tim DeRuyter came to Autzen Stadium as a head coach (before he joined Cal), when he brought his Fresno State Bulldogs to Eugene to play Chip, Marcus and Oregon’s Spread Offense in 2012. Oregon raced to a 35-3 lead with 1:40 left in the second quarter, and this …
My friends, things are ending after ten years as they began. In July of 2011, I was working long hours to produce the beginning of 50 instructional videos and that first one, The Inside Zone Read was the foundation video that meant so much to fans, along with high school coaches and players across the US. Working two jobs, with …
Rich Brooks had a record of 91-109-4 while he was head coach at the University of Oregon. He did not have a single season of 10+ wins (although he coached when there were fewer games, making 10+ wins harder to obtain), had only one conference championship and one bowl win in a whopping 18 seasons in Eugene, and finished a season …
We all grew up hearing “Defense wins Championships,” and the early Nick Saban National Championship teams at Alabama epitomized this mantra. Yet college football has begun to change: Alabama scored 45 points against Auburn in 2019 and lost, and it took over 50 points to win the SEC Championship in 2020 over No. 7 Florida (52-46). Everyone watched the carnage …
I wished for another “Utah Miracle” yesterday before the Pac-12 Championship Game and received one in Los Angeles! The surprises began from the very start of the game, as the Ducks put together their best defensive showing (considering the competition) of the year and truly pulled together an amazing team performance. Nearly everyone I spoke to before the game was …
In this homecoming … who is the master and who is the grasshopper? Chip Kelly put Oregon on the map years back, but he has reinvented himself, and his new UCLA offense is a far cry from the Chip Kelly offense we were accustomed to in Eugene. Meanwhile in Eugene, Coach Mario Cristobal, with an infusion from new OC Joe …
You are not supposed to have a bit of a sickening feeling coming from your stomach up after a win. After a loss sure, but not after a win-right? I wondered what this yucky feel and uneasiness was about after the game, and then I recognized it from some years in the past. It comes to you when you realize …
I wonder if the Oregon head coach is snookering everyone, as he has the Ducks winning by a good margin against Stanford, but they didn’t look overly impressive. The offense is showing some surprises, yet mostly keeping it vanilla. The team’s superior depth from recruiting is beginning to show, but they’re not Alabama-good yet. Is this Oregon ball-coach trying to …
A weakness? Mr. FishDuck, don’t you know that Mario Cristobal and his staff are killing it on the recruiting trail? Yes, I am very aware, but it seems that the recruiting at Running Back has declined since the staffs of Rich Brooks–Mike Bellotti–Chip Kelly–Mark Helfrich left and were replaced by Taggart-Cristobal. In fact, we have the opposite problem at recruiting from …