Feature photo – Kevin Cline Fall camp is a time of opportunity. But starting positions are about as free as free shipping on purchases over $100. You still have to pay the initial price – or put in the work – to get the reward. With the 2013 football season officially underway, there are several big story lines that Duck …
Football Recruiting 2013 Recruiting Class Update A mere 25 days separate us from the unveiling of the latest edition of Oregon football. This past Monday, the 2013 recruiting class took to the newly minted practice fields with an enthusiasm only fall camp can bring. Small, yet encouraging details are beginning to emerge not three days into this newest of campaigns. …
Kevin Cline The Ducks haven’t made four straight BCS bowl games by accident. When a team has elite talent and a transcendent offensive system, it’s gonna win games. Yet Oregon, like every good team, has benefited from some tremendous good fortune. Since 2009, Oregon experienced a major injury less times than their punters have stepped onto the field. Given the …
Kevin Cline Last week, we looked at the significance of talent and recruiting rankings. This week, we begin counting down to the most talented roster in the Pac-12. Below is an explanation of the tier-system used to compile the data: Tier-E: 5-star rating by at least one service Tier-1: 4-star rating by at least two services Tier-2: 4-star rating by …
Photos courtesy of Kevin Cline In most of the close games and eventual losses during the Chip Kelly era, a common theme seemed to surface consistently. An opposing team that was able to slow the run game enough force the Ducks to throw would sometimes find that Oregon couldn’t. The 2012 game against Stanford aside, we saw opposing teams like …
In 2010, it took 12 wins, 6,986 yards of total offense, 37 takeaways, 49.6 points per game and 2,790 pushups for the Oregon Ducks to make it to the national championship game against Auburn. With August now upon us, it is hard not to draw comparisons between the 2013 squad and its nearly undefeated 2010 counterpart in anticipation of what …
feature photo courtesy of Amazing Moments What is it about sports? What is this drive humans have to want to cheer on a team? Few fans personally know any of the players on their favorite team, so it isn’t as if there is a personal connection to cheer for. So why? Why do fans invest so much time, money, effort …
Sanctions. You either love them or hate them. We love them when the teams we hate get leveled by them, and hate them when teams we love get the same treatment. Ironic, isn’t it? But there is something inherently unfair about the way sanctions are carried out, no matter what team we are rooting for. I began thinking of this …
The names of the top Oregon offensive players since 2010 are easy for even casual Ducks fans to rattle off: James, Barner, Mariota, De’Anthony, Darron Thomas, Maehl, Tuinei, Paulson, Lyerla. Others can certainly be put on that list, but those nine are probably the most recognizable. Receiver Josh Huff doesn’t get quite as much hype as those guys, and while …
We as football fans like to have things laid out neatly in front of us. In order to predict what will occur in the coming season, we like to be able to know what we are going to see before we see it. We want to conceptualize what will happen on the field and who will do it. We like …
Three days of good weather in a row has brought the smell of barbecue into my yard. And that’s a good thing. Eating is more than something that I do to fuel the body and stay alive. It’s an art form and a never-ending quest. In 1998 I made a discovery on a drive to San Diego. On the way …
Football Recruiting Commitments Oregon’s newest coaching hire, defensive line front man Ron Aiken, is wasting no time in assembling a venerable commit list. This past Monday saw the addition of defensive end Jalen Jelks (3-Star/Phoenix, Ariz.) to the Duck fold and further reinforced Oregon’s commitment to winning the trench war. “I didn’t think I would commit before my (senior) season, …