Mike Merrell’s Three and Out Despite a mid-season hiccup that had bandwagon fans clinging for their dear fan-lives, the Oregon Ducks are in the first College Football Playoff as the Rose Bowl home team facing the Florida State Seminoles. It’s a great matchup: East vs West, North vs South, this year’s probable Heisman winner vs last year’s Heisman winner; and, …
The Oregon Ducks have arrived at the Pac-12 Championship proving ground. Again. The time has come for them to finish what they started. They are now looking for their first conference championship under head coach Mark Helfrich and have earned the right to represent the Pac-12 North division in the final conference matchup against Arizona tonight. As we anticipate the Pac-12’s marquee …
Last week, the Philadelphia Eagles pounded out two big victories in five days. This week, they have some extra days to prepare for Seattle at home, and they are going to need it. This game is big in every way — an even match between two great and similar teams, nationally televised at 1:30 pm PST Sunday on Fox, and …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out Over the past week or so rumors have swirled that Ohio State’s injured quarterback Braxton Miller may be transferring to Oregon. David Piper of SB Nation thinks it would be great for Oregon, but risky for Miller. Agreed, on the surface Miller’s services would be a sexy hire for the Ducks. But don’t hold your breath, because …
Oregon State hasn’t defeated Oregon since 2007. In the seven years since, the programs have gone in entirely opposite directions. The Chip Kelly era took the Ducks to new heights as they appeared in four BCS bowls, including one national championship game. The Beavers, on the other hand, have been inconsistent. 9-4 records in 2008 and 2012 have been their …
Two years ago on Thanksgiving Day, in front of 20 million TV viewers nationwide, Mark Sanchez had a game, in fact a single play so humiliating that it has its own Wikipedia article: The Butt Fumble. This Thanksgiving, he carved up the Dallas Cowboys like a slow-cooked turkey and rebuilt his legacy in front of an equally large audience. Sanchez …
In 1894, the biggest football games were played on the East Coast between a handful of Ivy League teams. A few thousand miles away, in the middle of seemingly endless Oregon farmland, two teams were preparing for their first football game, lacing up their shoes on a field best described as a “cross between a duck pond and a hog …
Happy Thanksgiving, Ducks! I hope your morning pastries were fresh, your cheese and olive tray is crisp, your bird is moist and your pie is pumpkin (and vice versa). This is a day to give thanks. My life is rich and I hope yours is as well. I have a lovely wife, a nice car, an editor who thinks I’m …
Going into last Sunday’s showdown between NFC division-leading teams, optimism about the Eagles was soaring like Icarus did right before his wings melted. This game against Green Bay would define how great the Eagles really were. Talk of Philadelphia as a legitimate Super Bowl contender abounded, and one moron thought the tiff might be a preview of the NFC Championship …
Mark Sanchez started his first game in two years Monday night, leading the Philadelphia Eagles to a 45-21 win that was far more dominating than the score suggests. This is the same Mark Sanchez who was run out of New York as a failure, who went from leading the Jets to the AFC Championship Game in his first two seasons …
It can be both a good and bad thing when a team has a bye week. For the Ducks, it’s more of a good thing as they were pretty banged up going into the Utah game last Saturday. Against the Utes, it seemed as if the “injury bug” continued biting Oregon’s key players such as center Hroniss Grasu, cornerback Ifo Ekpre-Olomu and tight end …
As of Tuesday night, the Oregon Ducks have earned the No. 2 spot in the College Football Playoff rankings. Friends, it is a good day to be a Duck. Well, every day is a good day to be a Duck. But, as of last night, players, coaches and the people of Eugene had a slightly bigger smile on their faces. “Finally,” one of …