This article will be mainly conceptual – not anecdotal. I wrote a book with dozens of stories to illustrate the concepts I’m going to talk about here. But this isn’t the place to cite a lot of those anecdotes. Mike Morris (Grizzled Ol’ Coach) My concept is stated in my title. It’s based on 30 years of being a high …
Come on Oregon fans, ‘fess up! If you are reading this it is because you are an extraordinary Duck football fan that cares about the team far beyond all reasonable time that should be given to such a hobby. Like yours truly, you love reading about your beloved Ducks and want them to not just win, but someday win the …
It’s been a wild journey this offseason in the landscape of football recruiting. Head Coach Willie Taggart has seen multiple class of 2017 recruits commit and/or decommit. That pattern is likely to continue as signing day approaches. Taggart’s plan to get Oregon back on track has some players looking elsewhere, while others appear on board with his ideology. A huge piece of …
Ever have one of those moments when you highly praise someone or something to a lot of people – and then when they see that someone or something, it’s, admittedly, pretty awful? As a highly opinionated [about most everything] old man, it’s happened lots of times to me. My most recent humbling experience came Dec. 29 in the Alamo Bowl [What …
As the Oregon men’s basketball team continues its impressive season, beating two undefeated Pac-12 teams, the Ducks 2017 recruiting class is starting to take shape. So far, it looks promising. The biggest news has been the signing of Troy Brown Jr., a 5-star small forward recruit from Centennial High School in Las Vegas, NV. Brown is the 17th-ranked player in the country, …
The Oregon fans that watched the South Florida Bowl game (another 47 points scored) could not help but see how USF liked to run their quarterback a ton. This is a major decision that Coach Taggart has here at Oregon. It was the subject yesterday of a wonderfully informative and thought provoking article from our own Grizzled Ol’ Coach, Mike …
My friends….the Grizzled Ol’ Coach, Mike Morris, and I were pondering this point at a recent Skull Session in the FishDuck ManCave, as it gets to the root of many concerns Oregon fans have had–especially with all the seasons spoiled in the past by injured QBs at Oregon. This article lays the foundation for upcoming articles by the GOC and …
The Pac-12’s best this year was no match for the Alabama. The Huskies boasted an impressive defense – it held Alabama about 150 yards shy of its average per game production – but the Tide controlled the game after Washington’s second series. While the Pac-12 has made two of the three semi-finals under the current regime, there was barely restrained …
The sudden yet not totally unexpected firing of former head coach Mark Helfrich means more uncertainty for the Ducks’ 2017 recruiting class. With the Pac-12 North schools of Washington, Washington State, and Stanford all looking stronger, Oregon has to step up its recruiting strategy. The looming question for this Oregon team is what to do about the defense. How does Willie Taggart recruit players to a defense that …
In the past I’ve frequently criticized peoples’ attaching far too much importance to the defensive front used by a team — and several other schematic suggestions. “It’s not important WHAT you do, but HOW well you do it” has been my standard axiom. Well … that’s not always true. An offense could run nothing but “perfect” QB Sneaks for the …
The change of coaching staff has brought about an unexpected vibe beyond what I could have imagined (it figures since being a season ticket holder for 30 years), as I am used to coaching continuity at Oregon, and clearly not used to wholesale change. Oh sure — I anticipated the excitement of the unknown and the hopes of Oregon football …
WARNINGS: 1. Most of this article involves “speculation” – some coaches named might eventually have nothing to do with Oregon football. 2. All of the speculated coaches’ names were stolen from the incredible research of Justin Hopkins at 24/7, Duck Territory. 3. This article is being written Wednesday morning, December 21. By the time it’s printed and/or you read it, …