With change comes opportunity. As Andy Avalos leaves Oregon to take the head coaching job at Boise State, there is an opportunity for Mario Cristobal to evaluate the Oregon defense and elevate the defense to the next level. Coach Eric Boles was kind enough to give us his most recent list of top five defensive coordinator candidates, which shows us …
The plan was never for defensive coordinator Andy Avalos to spend his entire coaching career at Oregon. The budding star has seen his stock rise over the past few seasons, and it was only a matter of time before schools with head coaching openings came calling. That time is now. Auburn recently hired former Boise State head coach Bryan Harsin …
There are two types of head coaches. First there are the field-commanders, who call the plays from the sideline. Oregon fans are familiar with this style of coaching, as Chip Kelly is the definition of field-commander. These coaches tend to be the flashy innovators of the sport, and Kelly’s time at Oregon exemplified this. Then there are the commander-in-chief head …
2016 was the last year the Oregon Ducks fielded an elite offense. Justin Herbert was one of the best QBs in Oregon history, but constantly finding himself in shootouts kept the young player from achieving greatness in his inaugural season. UO’s era of elite offense started in 2007 when Dennis Dixon had the Ducks on the precipice of the BCS National …
From the angst-filled opener in Dallas, to the dramatic finish in Pasadena, Duck fans marveled over Andy Avalos‘ 2019 Oregon defense. No amount of glowing anticipation could match the outstanding improvement Avalos’ troops demonstrated in just one year. With only two key additions, Oregon’s defense garnered 97 tackles for loss, 41 sacks, 20 interceptions, 42 quarterback hurries and yielded only …
Chip Kelly arrived in Eugene as a virtual unknown from the University of New Hampshire. From 2007 to 2012, Kelly changed the landscape of college football with his blur offense, transforming Oregon into a national title contender in the process. Following a lull under Mark Helfrich and Willie Taggart, Mario Cristobal started restoring dreams of a “Natty” in 2018, inciting FishDuck’s …
Spring football — and the sports world as a whole — is understandably at a standstill at the moment. But luckily for all of the sports-deprived Oregon fans, there’s still plenty to digest from the Ducks’ initial spring practices. One of the most interesting takeaways was that stalwart cornerback Thomas Graham Jr. worked out at the nickelback position and spent …
Before Andy Avalos introduced his brilliant defensive schemes last fall, Oregon’s glaring weakness was its inability to defend players in space. Ducks defenders often looked like ghosts pursuing pac-men all over the football field. Former defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt shored up some of the weaknesses, but it was Avalos who put a stop to the flow of embarrassing big plays …
If you don’t think winning is expensive, just ask Alabama. Alabama’s head coach Nick Saban is the second-highest paid head coach at $8.9 million, behind Clemson’s Dabo Sweeney ($9.3 million). The Crimson Tide also has three of the highest paid assistant coaches in college football, including defensive coordinator Pete Golding, who receives a $1.1 million annual salary, according to AL.com. …
There was much dismay among Ducks fans when Andy Avalos’s Boise State defense overwhelmed Marcus Arroyo’s offense in the 2017 Las Vegas Bowl. FishDuck fans across the nation fretted over Arroyo’s up-and-down, “roller coaster” tendencies. Little did we know it would be Avalos’s defensive brilliance that would redeem Arroyo’s roller-coaster offense just two years later. Even when Coach Eric Boles …
The Oregon defense has, at times, been dominant in 2019. They’ve held seven opponents, including five conference teams, to 10 or fewer points. They have given up only 21 touchdowns on the season, good for ninth nationally. That level of dominance is unheard-of in Eugene, as the last decade has been the Era of Offense. But next year the Ducks …
As fans, it’s hard to let go of the past. Oregon fans still cling to the glory days at the beginning of the decade, when the Ducks were on the doorstep of a National Championship. But it’s not just the title-contending seasons that fans long for. So accustomed to scoring seven touchdowns a game and breaking 70-yard touchdowns routinely, fans …