The Five Greatest Duck Performances at the NFL Combine

Nathan Roholt FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

It is the marquee event of NFL Draft process: the NFL Scouting Combine, or the “Underwear Olympics,” to which it has been casually referred, of which four years of college production can become virtually ignored in favor of a limited sample of data collected in the form of physical measurements from arbitrary tasks. So why would college football fans care about this NFL …

Three Reasons Why Chip Kelly’s Offense is Not a Fad

Alex Kirby Analysis

The list of college coaches who have transitioned well to the professional level is not a long one, and shorter still is the list of those who have done well right away.  Often it’s an inability to deal properly with professional players, other times the intense demands of the job are more than the coach is prepared for.  Still other …

FishDuck at the Movies

Kim Hastings FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

We are hard up against the 2014 Academy Awards and this one is going to be particularly exciting.  The Big Fish pulled some strings and FishDuck has been invited to appear on the red carpet for the awards. This year’s roster of Best Picture nominees is one of the main reasons why we were selected to attend.  Never have there …

Clarifying The Ducks’ Cluttered Backfield

Josh White FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

With an all-time top ten list featuring players like Derek Loville, Saladin McCullough, Reuben Droughns, Jonathan Stewart, LaMichael James and Kenjon Barner — the Oregon football program has always done well with running backs.  The way they have been used has evolved over the years, but the emphasis on stocking the backfield with high quality players remains unaltered. The iron-man-bell-cow-three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust …

An Open Letter to Nick Saban

Charles Glenn FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

Dear Coach Saban, Thanks to you and your friends, the NCAA, recently announced they would be considering a rules change to prevent offensive units from snapping the ball during the first 10 seconds of the 40-second play clock, thus allowing defensive units to make substitutions during that time and ostensibly promote the safety of the players.  It comes up for …

Rule Change Proposal Will Destroy College Football

Don Gilman FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

Disingenuous, adjective: “Not truly honest or sincere: giving the false appearance of being honest and sincere.”  (From the Merriam-Webster online dictionary.) They should call it the Bret Bielema rule.  Or perhaps the Bielema-Saban rule, since it is, in part, due to these two coaches’ influence that this rule is now being considered. For those who are unfamiliar with this proposal, …

The Tax Man Cometh . . . and is Subdued

Kim Hastings FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

The perks of working for FishDuck.com are ridiculous.  I’m writing this from my timeshare week in Aspen, and its less than a month after this Super Bowl party: But there comes a time, every year, when we have to pay the piper for all of these perks.  When tax season rolls around free-lance writers take it up the . . …

Duck Recruiting — Evaluate the Meal, Not the Ingredients

Nathan Roholt FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

Two of the signature days on the football calendar brought the season to a close last week.  The first was last Sunday in the form of the Super Bowl, sport’s biggest spectacle, but also one of the truest meritocracies; the team that executes better on the field wins, and does so by presumably having the best combination of player talent …

Oregon’s Success Doesn’t Depend on Recruiting Rankings

Don Gilman FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

Oregon will never win any recruiting championships.  While teams such as Alabama, USC and LSU tend to dominate in the rankings, the Ducks rarely crack the top-15.  Year after year they bring in solid, but unspectacular recruiting classes, yet year after year, Oregon takes those same recruits and turns them into champions. Why is that?  What is the key that allows teams without …

The Unholy Mess That Is Football Recruiting

Kim Hastings FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

National Letter of Intent day has come and gone.  How your Webfoots fared depends on who you ask.  National publications list Oregon’s class in the 22-26 range.  Those posting on Oregon message boards rank the class anywhere from “The bestest class in the history of classes, sure Hall of Famers every one,” to a class on par with the likes …

Oregon Ducks Football: Six Standout Performances From 2013

Josh White History

When the clock hits zero at the Super Bowl, it also serves as the conclusion to the football season each year.  Seemingly long after all of the bowl games have been played at the college level, the NFL has a way of temporarily filling the void before dropping fans into the abyss of the long off season. Events like National …

Oregon Football Recruiting Analysis: Grading the Class

Chris Charbonnier FishWrap, FishWrap Archive

National LOI signing day is a lot like Christmas for those of us who follow recruiting. A few of us have rich parents and expect the world, while others come from blue collar families.  All of us wake up early and wait in agony for mom and dad to come downstairs so that we can start opening presents.  Sometimes, we …