Kevin Cline Football Recruiting Visits Entering the twilight of the 2014 recruiting cycle, Oregon has made no bones about an unshakable desire to keep their tabbed recruits. Now in mid-December, Oregon’s list of commits sits at 15 with several “still at-large” preps shoring up the final stages of their recruitment. This past weekend, longtime Oregon defensive back target Mattrell McGraw …
Kevin Cline In five years, the previous decade of Oregon football may end up being remembered as two separate eras: before and after the Arizona game of 2013. Some would say that opening sentence is nonsense, arguing that the latter era began once Mark Helfrich became the head coach. I would respond by suggesting that for the first time this year, the …
Kevin Cline This has been a year of firsts for Mark Helfrich, and after his first loss as a head coach, Saturday’s game against Utah was another: preparing the Ducks to respond to adversity. And respond Oregon did. It wasn’t much of a surprise that the Duck came out a bit flat, after all, just nine days prior they had …
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 …
Craig Strobeck After four games into the season, a picture of what the Ducks will look like has started to emerge. Let me tell you, that picture is scary . . . for anyone who isn’t a Ducks fan. There are many reasons why teams should fear Oregon. Mariota, Thomas, Addison, Huff, Lyerla, Ekpre-Olomu, Mitchell . . . should I …
Craig Strobeck Stop me if this sounds familiar: Oregon plays its Pac-12 opener against an improving program led by a first-year coach with a reputation for running a prolific offense who comes to Autzen Stadium, only for that team to fall victim to a blowout loss by the Ducks on the backs of a standout performance by the Oregon defense …
Kevin Cline Is the bye week over yet?! It feels like the off-season all over again. I have already watched each game multiple times and will inevitably be watching them again. While any bye week is horrible for fans, this is a particularly good bye week for Oregon. After getting three games under their belts, the Oregon staff will now …
OokaBoo.com This beautiful fall afternoon, yellow-and-green clad Duck fans filed into Scott Stadium from all across the eastern seaboard — and points west — for the kickoff against the Virginia Cavaliers. This remarkable Oregon team left them plenty of reason to stand and cheer. The Duck offense erupted for four touchdown plays of 30 yards or more, and the offensive and defensive lines …
Kevin Cline Now that we are officially one game into the season, I can breathe a sigh of relief and satisfaction at finally having watched an Oregon Duck football game again. As expected, there were very few surprises about Saturday’s game. And, given the predicted outcome, here are five things that did not, in fact, surprise me: Mark Helfrich kept it under wraps Oregon …
Craig Strobeck The Oregon Ducks demolished FCS doormat Nicholls as expected Saturday afternoon, by a score of 66-3, but the game gave the plucky Colonels some reasons to feel proud, and the Ducks’ coaches areas to improve this season. Speculation that the Ducks would pass more under Coach Helfrich proved unfounded on Saturday. For the first time in history, three …
Steve Francis With a returning offense capable of ridiculous stats, expectations run high across the college football landscape for Oregon’s 2013 campaign. New head coach Mark Helfrich and his team have set a high bar for themselves, and as is the natural tendency for sports fans everywhere, the Duck faithful also have soaring hopes for their team. While perfection is …
Oregon Football is often defined by one word: Speed. Whether it is the grueling tempo that the offense uses, or an individual player racing past an entire defense, the Ducks do it fast. Over the last few seasons, observers would see LaMichael James, De’Anthony Thomas, or Kenjon Barner breaking a long touchdown run on the highlights and might assume …