Oregon’s lost to Washington State has brought Oregon Duck fans clarity on exactly where the program stands: Improving, but not there yet. The loss to the Cougars exposed, among other things, the Ducks lack of depth at receiver and lack of defensive play-makers. Most importantly, it showed the lack of experience Oregon has at bouncing back after an emotional victory …
“I am relieved that I can now wear my purple ties again.” Through the dozen-year streak of beating the bastard Huskies, I have had many ask how I could wear a purple tie to the office. My answer was always delivered with a smile: I would say that, “it is a benign color to me now!” Not so for the …
Before the season began I predicted that the Ducks would go 10-2 and win the Alamo Bowl (click here). And I must say — I nailed it! That is, if about a hundred “woulda, coulda, shoulda” type things had actually happened. And we’ll get to a couple of those in a minute, but let’s first review the premise of my …
It is rightly said that adversity brings opportunity. And when you are a cutting edge, forward thinking, innovation spewing machine like the University of Oregon, you don’t let adversity bring you down, you let it propel you to greater things. Beloved Ducks, there shall be no further whining and crying about the decision of Willie Taggart to leave. After all, …
As I’m sitting here writing this, Willie Taggart is still the coach of the Oregon Ducks, but that could change at any minute. After just one successful, culture-altering season at one of the top programs in the country, Taggart is the top candidate for the blue-blood power Florida State. And it’s looking like he’s going to go. Welcome to the …
It could have been worse. It could have been 2007, on the heels of Dennis Dixon’s knee injury against Arizona, when the Ducks stumbled into the Rose Bowl and couldn’t score a point, losing 16-0 to a hapless and free-falling UCLA. Though the Ducks had national championship aspirations that year, which had vanished in Tucson the week before, they still …
The Ducks have to get better on defense. Coach Willie Taggart knows this, Coach Jim Leavitt knows this and the fans know this. Besides getting better players how do you do this? Good defense starts with taking away or limiting the opponent’s run game. The easiest offensive play is to snap the ball and hand it off. If an offense …
The Pac-12: The Conference of Champions. Conference ambassador Bill Walton inserts it into every basketball telecast he ever does – and for good reason. The Pac-12 is the conference of champions in all of athletics, and it’s not even close. On May 28, the conference won its 500th championship, followed by the B1G with 307, then the SEC with 220. It’s …
My friends, this article marks the beginning of a new phase for the site where we are replacing many of our writers with Coaches who write articles and give their opinions about Oregon football. Tomorrow it is an analysis article, while today it is a Coaches’ Opinion article by Coach Ruskin. What you will read are three major observations and …