In the game of football, it only takes a few seconds for euphoria to turn into tragedy. Just ask Oregon, who experienced this firsthand last Saturday in an instant classic. With 2:22 left in a wild fourth quarter against Stanford, the Ducks were reeling. After Oregon surrendered a 17-point lead that should have been even greater, the Cardinal were firing on all …
Establishing a Successful Football Culture at Oregon
CULTURE: Shared patterns of behavior, interaction and achievement… developing specific characteristics and knowledge toward a stated goal. Blueprints are available for building and maintaining successful football programs. Alabama is the current gold standard, and has been for nearly decade. Just how did the Tide pull off a culture makeover down south? It has been said that imitation is the sincerest …
13 DUCK DROPPINGS: The CFB Week That was Highly Debatable
1. All Duck fans in favor of college football (CFB) adopting the NFL Pylon rule please raise your hands. (You are NOT allowed to vote Cardinal fans!) 2. As a matter of fact, should CFB but for one foot in bounds being a catch and keeping the hash marks as is, … adopt all of the NFL rules including the …
Ducks Show Promise; Coaches Need to Catch Up
Even after playing a tough, physical game that was nearly perfect at times, Oregon found a way to lose to a shocked Stanford team that was dominated nearly the whole game, except at crucial times when the Ducks mentally and physically collapsed. The result was a 38-31 overtime victory for the Cardinal, who was lucky to get out Eugene alive. …
Stanford Final Thoughts; Looking Ahead to Cal
We all know how agonizing last week’s loss to Stanford was, but a lot of good came out of a tough night Saturday at Autzen Stadium. Oregon’s easy non-conference slate offered a chance for the Ducks to fine-tune things and answer some key questions. Unfortunately, on the offensive side of ball, the nonconference slate not only left some questions unanswered, but raised even more. Against Stanford, the Oregon …
What if MIKE BELLOTTI Was Still on the DUCKS Sidelines and Other Coaching “What-ifs?”
I am certain that there are those who will disagree, but in my opinion, the head coach of a college football team has a much harder row to hoe than does a guy coaching in the NFL. NFL teams acquire players through the draft, free agency and trades. Every NFL team has a bevy of professionals to assist its GM …
Cristobal Introduces the “New Oregon” to Fans and the Nation
“I feel a lot better — don’t you?” That sounds ludicrous to most, but it is my honest feeling the morning after, as my perspective is a little different than most. (Some would say quite flawed at times, but I can live with that). You see, I honestly thought Oregon was going to be clobbered by Stanford due to the …
Oregon Meets Stanford With Its Future on the Line
There’s a buzz building in Eugene. The Ducks have gotten off to a 3-0 start, and are welcoming College Gameday back to Eugene for the first time since 2014. Fans and prognosticators alike are beginning to jump on the Oregon bandwagon, and many have the Ducks pegged as a sleeper for a conference championship or even a playoff berth. There’s good …
Coach’s Analysis: Are the Safeties and Corners on the Right Page?
It was bound to happen: just as everyone was satisfied their Ducks were looking sharp and coordinated, everything went bonkers with Oregon staggering against San Jose State 35-22. The offensive line committed its first false start and the Ducks committed three major penalties — one of which was a 10-yard holding penalty which negated a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown …
Changed Your Views on the Ducks? One Analyst Has …
There are some people you always want to learn football from, especially when they understand the game so well and played college football. Guest analyst Justin Samples is one of those people, and he has written many acclaimed opinion/analysis articles at FishDuck.com. I thought I would check-in with him concerning his thoughts about the team after the first two non-conference games. …
Coach’s Analysis: Learning Moments for Young Ducks vs. PSU
The only things that marred the Ducks’ decisive win over Portland State last Saturday were a blocked extra point, a roughing the kicker penalty, a face mask penalty, a roughing the passer penalty and for the second straight game, a substitution penalty which was blamed on the coaching staff. Otherwise, it was a country whupping and the Vikings were never …
Shattering the Narrative: Marcus Arroyo’s Passing Attack
Today I want to stomp out the notion that the design of Oregon’s passing game under OC Marcus Arroyo is an unsophisticated attack that only sends receivers on long-developing deep routes. It wasn’t true last week, when the narrative started popping up across message boards, and it certainly isn’t true after the game against Portland State. After diagraming all of …












