Locking up the 22 verbals by signing them in the December LOI period was crucial for this 2019 football recruiting class, because the concerns I stated a few months ago have come true. The remaining four- and five-star players have tons of schools wooing them, and the probability of signing any on Wednesday are low, but there could be a …
Mike Tyson vs. Muhammad Ali, Tom Brady vs. Joe Montana and Hulk Hogan vs. John Cena are some of the biggest “Who is the GOAT?” debates of all time. These arguments can be heard in bars all across America. But one day, in the not so distant future, you can add one more to the list: Justin Herbert vs. Marcus Mariota. Who …
Super Bowl weekend is one of the most bittersweet times of the year. As viewers across the country tune in to watch the two best teams at the highest level of the sport suit up, reality soon sets in that the roughest stretch of the calendar year is upon them. There is merely one game separating fans from a seven-month …
The Ducks and the Beavers are each undergoing an era of rebuilding. Both programs had to start over several times in the past decade and should now be experiencing some stability. But which program is truly set up for the long haul? One Door Closes, Another Opens The 2016 season was an unmitigated disaster for the Oregon Ducks Football team. …
After three straight articles discussing the poor state of the Pac-12 Conference, I decided it was time to get back to writing something fun. Darren Perkins As I was scrolling through the Oregon Ducks section on Oregonlive.com last week, I came across a piece titled, “Is Chris Miller the most undervalued quarterback in Oregon Duck history?” Instantly, alarm bells went off …
Every great trilogy needs a bad guy. Star Wars had Darth Vader. Scream 3 had Ghostface. The Final Insult had … well, you get the idea. In January 2017, three Oregon football players were hospitalized with acute overexertion rhabdomyolysis (rhabdo). On January 9, 2019, one of them — Doug Brenner — filed an 11.5-million dollar lawsuit against the University of …
Ask recruits in Mario Cristobal’s remarkable, star-studded 2019 class why they considered Oregon and I’d bet first and foremost they would trace it back to the glorious Chip Kelly tenure of their formative years. That success was astounding— not just a fluke year (such as can occur in a “wonder year” among Willamette Valley Pinot Noir producers), but a succession …
On Championship Saturday, after all the games had concluded and the festivities died down, uneasy fans of Georgia, Oklahoma and Ohio State waited in angst. Three playoff spots had already been locked up, and all that was left was a single slot for three worthy contenders. How could Georgia — a team that gave the overwhelming favorite Crimson Tide everything …
The Oregon Ducks signed the best group of linebackers in school history December 19th, as the National Letter-of-Intent early signing period came to a close. Certainly the headliners are Under Armour All-American Ge’mon Eaford from Florida and Polynesian Bowl selection Mase Funa from Southern California. However, the Ducks inked a Junior College linebacker that is further along in his development …
Since the National Championship game, college football analyst Joel Klatt has been making the sports talk-show circuit (Undisputed with Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless and The Herd with Colin Cowherd). He shared some amazing insights on both shows about the game — specifically, about several differences between the Clemson and Alabama football programs. Klatt shared a statistic that might warm long-time …
You needn’t have been clad from head-to-toe in Duck gear, hoisting locally-brewed libations, and screaming at a wide-screen (or the field) to have noticed a pond-change in the 2018 Duck football team’s persona. Actually, it shouldn’t take any deductive or visual attention at all— the new head coach, Mario Cristobal, was very clear: the Ducks needed to get bigger, stronger, …
Oregon’s offense underachieved in 2018. The offensive unit had a variety of issues throughout the season, and those issues were alarmingly prevalent in the Redbox Bowl against a feisty Michigan State defense. Although the Ducks earned a hard-fought victory, it wasn’t because of their offense, which struggled to establish any sort of rhythm throughout the game. Oregon finished with a …