It’s late in 2019, and another Oregon Ducks football season has just ended. The morning has broken gray and gloomy, rain flinging itself against the glass facade of the Hatfield-Dowlin Complex as if delivering a million tiny blows from an angry sky. Willie Taggart swivels his desk chair to look out of his rain-dappled window onto the practice fields. The …
Dominant. If the performance of Oregon’s offensive line against California had to be summed up in one word, it would be dominant. We saw flashes from the offensive line early this season and then witnessed the hiccup against Arizona State. On Saturday night at Autzen Stadium, everything came together for the guys in the trenches. Mario Cristobal has done a fantastic job …
Have you ever had such conflicting feelings from an Oregon football game? Such despair at all the injuries and such pride in how the defense continues to improve in perhaps one of the greatest games by a Duck offensive line – when the team really needed it. Simply put … “I am pissed at the coaches, yet I am proud of what …
Oregon’s three-game victory bubble burst in the desert last weekend as Arizona State kicked a field goal with 2:34 left to knock off the Ducks 37-35. After impressive success in non-conference play, the offense misfired from the start and breakdowns in all phases of the game showed that coach Willie Taggart and his staff have some serious coaching to do …
Welcome to this week’s edition of X’s vs. O’s! Today, we will be discussing one of the ways the Ducks exploit defenders’ simultaneous run/pass responsibilities. The example today is an RPO concept Oregon used in their game against Arizona State. “RPO” stands for Run-Pass Option. On an RPO, the play is set up as a run, but the Quarterback (QB) …
If only Saturday’s loss had been to USC, Stanford, or Washington — against one of the Pac-12’s better programs — I’d feel much better about things. I could say that the Ducks are a legit top-25 team, that they scratched and clawed to the bitter end against one the conference’s premier teams, and almost pulled it off. I could say …
My wife burst into the infamous FishDuck.com ManCave late Saturday night and shouted, “What was that huge THUD out there?” I told her … “That was us Oregon fans coming back to Earth.” There is no sugar-coating that game. The Ducks lost to a 1-2 team known for poor defense and are known by all to be in the bottom half of …
Oregon’s offense has started with a flash and struggled in the second half of all three victories. Play selection has come under criticism for becoming too conservative, but the young offensive line has failed to sustain dominance while quarterback Justin Herbert has been out of sync, particularly in Laramie’s hostile environment in the win over Wyoming. The question is: How …
Duck fans interested in time-traveling to Eugene may want to skip Sept. 20, 1975. That Saturday evening, Oregon and the San Jose Spartans played the most boring game in Autzen Stadium’s 50-year history. Yes, even worse than the infamous 0-0 “Toilet Bowl” versus OSU in 1983. The latter, amidst a November monsoon, was more an exercise in survival than an …
Something became somewhat obvious in Oregon’s first two games. Then it became crystal clear against Wyoming: Coach Taggart is going to utilize Justin Herbert’s running ability, no matter how some think the quarterback should and should not be used. Honestly, it’s a smart move. When I say that Taggart is going to use Herbert in the run game, I don’t mean this …
Oregon fans are thrilled with Willie Taggart’s 3-0 non-conference debut. In the first half of each game, the Ducks have scored 42 points, and have looked like they could run the table. But their second-half offense has looked sluggish and uninspired. Where is the juice in the second half? The inferior quality of Oregon’s non-conference schedule amplifies this concern. Southern Utah and talent-starved Wyoming …
Can you adjust to the new FishDuck? The one that has transformed from a cheerleader (always) of our beloved Ducks to a publisher that has views both positive and negative about what he sees? I know it is hard, as the former is how he’s been for the majority of the six years of the site. But this new, balanced …