The Problem Last month, I speculated that Oregon’s future schedules may not be sufficiently strong to qualify for the College Football Playoff. In the event of a one-loss Pac-12 record, a weak nonconference schedule could have the Ducks on the outside looking in come a future January. This is precisely the situation facing Wisconsin. Were the Badgers to lose one of their …
Every Husky loss, should result in pure joy. But I found myself oddly disappointed when Washington lost to Stanford on Friday. Barring something crazy (and with two of the top-3 teams losing this weekend, don’t count anything out), that game eliminated the Pac-12 from playoff contention. That’s a problem because the Pac-12 has the most parity of any conference and …
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 …
For more than a decade, the Washington Huskies watched their hated rivals to the south rise to the upper echelon of college football. This rise was accompanied by the annual beating the Ducks put on the Huskies each fall for 12 straight years. As Ducks fans are painfully aware, the decade of domination over the Huskies has ended. The Ducks are 2-4 and licking …
Let’s play a game of hypotheticals. Say you were Dabo Swinney, head coach of the Clemson Tigers. The Tigers have to be considered the top power in College Football this year, as they have looked impressive during their undefeated run. Or say you were Nick Saban, heading an Alabama team that has looked superb since a September stumble against an …
Saturday night stung. A loss by three on the road to a top-5 team shouldn’t eliminate Oregon from the College Football Playoff hunt (though it makes the road significantly more difficult), but it sure feels like this was a missed opportunity. Duck Sports Authority’s AJ Jacobson wrote a recap of the game published this Sunday detailing exactly how the Spartans …
Okay, so I write for an Oregon Ducks sports blog, so what? I’m biased, that much is obvious, but there’s actual evidence that supports the title of this piece. Now that college football has finally moved to a playoff to determine a champion, the door has been opened for more teams to prove they can hang with the best, or in …
In an article posted to the ESPN Pac-12 Blog on July 2, Travis Haney delved into the question marks surrounding the top teams in each division of the Power 5 conferences (ACC Atlantic and Coastal, Big Ten East and West, Big 12, Pac-12 North and South, and SEC East and West). For his section on the Pac-12 North, Haney naturally elected …
I remember exactly where I was when it happened–the moment that Oregon lost the national championship game to Auburn in 2010. I was with about 30 of my fellow students in my buddy’s apartment across from Hayward Field. The Ducks lost that day, but they will get a shot at redemption in the not-too-distant future. You might have heard- Oregon will …
There are coaches on the hot seat in every college football season. Although Oregon football head coach Mark Helfrich isn’t listed in AthlonSports.com‘s College Football’s Coaches on the Hot Seat: Spring Practice 2015, he may be entering his most pressure-filled season to date in 2015. His hot seat is one that is filled with the high expectations of a program that hasn’t …
It’s June, and it’s time for the Oregon Ducks to make another push toward the College Football Playoff. Last season, fans saw the Ducks finish the regular season with an 11-1 record, witnessed Marcus Mariota win the first Heisman trophy in school history, and watched Oregon dominate Florida State in the Rose Bowl before eventually losing in the national title …
Oregon’s 2014 season was one to remember. Its fans witnessed another 10-win season, multiple records broken, a berth in the National Championship Game and a Heisman Trophy winner in Marcus Mariota. Circumstances, as well as players, have changed as the team heads into the 2015 season. According to an article published by ESPN, Oregon was chosen to return to the …