Picture this: you sit down with your loved ones around the TV to watch your favorite show. You’re all snuggled in as the episode starts, but soon everything looks familiar, too familiar. It’s at that moment you realize you’ve seen this episode before. This is how I felt watching the first quarter of Oregon vs. Bowling Green. I’ve seen it …
Mario Cristobal notched his first win as the head coach for Oregon, a 58-24 thrashing of the out-manned Bowling Green Falcons. The game was also the end of a nine-game losing streak to teams from Ohio and perhaps the beginning of a streak that might stretch beyond one game. Quarterback Justin Herbert began to make his case for Heisman consideration, …
When Oregon unveiled its 2018 uniforms a few days ago, it was not just a fresh look to christen the Mario Cristobal era. It was coming full circle. Which, if you think about it, is appropriate for a team with an O logo. Oregon’s uniform odyssey began twenty years ago this December. On a beach in Honolulu a few days …
If you want a fluffy editorial, this ain’t it. I am not going to cover the same stuff as other media — that everyone can already see, such as dropped passes, elite throws by Justin Herbert, improvements on the defense, etc. I will focus on what I am passionate about on offense, and I was dismayed at what I saw …
It is easy to stay safe and later ridicule others who stick their neck out on predictions, so I have not been one to worry about the blow-back from my prognostications. I was pretty good last year in predicting seven wins, but we won’t talk about 2016 … as that brings me back to 50/50 like everyone else. We all …
A key component to winning or losing on the football field is turnovers! TOs can play a huge part in any football game, for good or ill. Types of Turnovers Fumbles: dropping or losing hold of the ball when in play. Interceptions: A defensive player catching a pass intended for an offensive player. Muffs in the kicking game: on kickoffs or …
“It’s our way or the highway” — this seems to be the mantra coming from SEC title contenders when it comes to non-conference scheduling. The Pac-12 wants certain SEC teams to agree to a home-and-home series, but that isn’t what they are going to get. Is the SEC playing smart or playing scared? Let’s dive into the neutral site agreement …
Ask college football fans across the country which head coach/coordinator duo they’re most looking forward to following in 2018, and I’m sure the tandem of Mario Cristobal and Marcus Arroyo wouldn’t come up too often. It may not be the most publicized story line nationwide, but those who follow Oregon football know that Cristobal and Arroyo are in the process …
BRUTAL SPEED: A Marriage Made in Heaven? Mario Cristobal and Nebraska’s Scott Frost have expressed remarkably similar strategies to pursue a national championship. This season, the two coaches plan to deliver two what-should-be-fascinating examples of combining Oregon speed and tempo tactics with brute-force football learned at Alabama and Nebraska. The goal: punish your opponents with dominating physicality, while simultaneously dazzling them …
When running a spread offense that utilizes a power run game, the H-Back position is key. The position opens up a variety of possibilities in the run game that are not usually afforded the offense with an in-line tight end. The position was used some during the Chip Kelly/Mark Helfrich era, but was a staple of the offense that Willie …
In the previous two posts, we covered Jim Leavitt’s coverage structure with 2-high safeties. Now we are going to cover his main coverage concepts with 1-high safety. Leavitt primarily runs 1-high safety looks in run-first down-and-distance situations and when he is going to blitz. Leavitt ran two forms of Cover 3 when sending four rushers, both of which operated by …
I am not so sure about the conventional wisdom surrounding our beloved Ducks as to when they will fly back into the national consciousness again. The process of working on my season prediction (next week’s editorial) made me pause about not just the year that Oregon re-emerges, but why. For me, this Oregon Football roller-coaster of expectations just ruffled my …