I ask you, college football fans around the country, “Are you not entertained?” Storied programs fell this first week of October like a game of bingo at a retirement home; painfully slow at first, then all at once as shouts rose across the empty space filled with stale air and quiet resignation. Success Breeds The Upset This day of overthrowing …
To get this out of the way now … I have lost my place as No. 1. It was a great run while it lasted, but for now I have been banished to (I hate to even speak it out loud) fifth place. I didn’t have a bad week necessarily; I finished with 178 points, which was actually my third-highest scoring …
Thursday is known as “upset day” in the Pac-12. Be wary of Thursdays! Oregon State shocking No. 1 USC comes to mind. So does Washington surprising No. 8 Stanford in 2012. And, of course, there was Stanford’s takedown of the Ducks last year (sorry for reopening that wound). But these are just a few of the upsets that have occurred on …
It would be kind to say that a four-team playoff is an improvement over the BCS Championship that it replaced. But what we have isn’t quite the same as trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It’s more like trying to fit five square pegs plus a few splinters into four round holes. What could go wrong? …
“Bear Down.” It is the official motto of the University of Arizona, a slogan based on a Gipper-ish legend of a former player’s message to his team. Lying in his hospital bed in 1926, starting quarterback John “Button” Salmon told coach Pop McKale (yes, that McKale) on his final hospital visit to Salmon, “…Tell the team to bear down.” The motto …
In a recent episode of ABC’s Modern Family, Ed O’Neill’s character Jay Pritchett finds himself drawn to the town dog show. A man’s man, the family patriarch is peculiarly fascinated about entering his doted upon French bulldog into an arena where his prize could be recognized by all as the best dog on the block. Per usual with the show, …
The Ducks narrowly escaped Pullman, Wash. with a road win against the Washington State Cougars last Saturday on a day that will be remembered as “Survivor Saturday.” Along with Florida State, Alabama, and Oklahoma, the Ducks faced an opponent inferior on paper, yet all four of the nation’s top teams legitimately looked like an upset was very much in the …
Well, it was my best week yet. Not by much, only three points actually, but it was enough to vault me to the very top (No. 1, baby!) of the Fans of Oregon Ducks group. Out of 2,658 people, through four weeks, I’m the cream of the crop. Out of the millions of people that play ESPN’s College Football Challenge, I’m …
Marcus Mariota shines under pressure in conference opener The first road trip for the Oregon Ducks was not pretty despite managing to survive. Highlighted by seven sacks, the Washington State Cougars exposed Oregon’s obvious weakness in Week 4. With three starting linemen sitting out Saturday due to injuries, the Oregon running game never got going, and the health of Mariota became a concern. Luckily we have this …
There are those Duck fans with the attitude that anything less than a three touchdown win is just unacceptable, and they are heaping criticism on the Duck coaching staff. Some even go so far as to say that the only reason Oregon beat WSU was a favorable non-call on pass interference toward the end of the game. One writer even …
This is what we wanted, right? The Oregon fan’s burden has always been that there will never be enough respect for the Ducks: that the offense is a gimmick, that their schedule isn’t tough enough, largely due to playing in an underwhelming conference. They’re told the Pac-12 isn’t anywhere near as good as the mighty SEC, winner of seven of …
The Concept of Tempered Steel If you aren’t a huge science guy (I for one am not), you might mistake the process of tempering steel for hardening a metal. While increasing steel’s strength, tempering is actually all about softening a metal through the use of heat to make it more flexible. In season three of Oregon’s best quarterback in school …
