I walked into my local Costco a few days ago to help my grandmother with her shopping needs. After showing the entrance employee my membership card and being granted admittance into this wholesale world, I met an older man wearing a beat-up yellow Oregon Ducks hat. We got to talking, and little did I know that this conversation would spark …
For a second consecutive season, the Oregon Ducks will have to figure out a way to win without star RB Thomas Tyner. On Sunday, it was announced that Tyner will miss all of the 2015 season due to shoulder surgery, a blow to a Ducks’ offense already struggling to find an identity in the wake of Marcus Mariota‘s departure. Famous for their running …
Every dedicated Duck (and Spartan) fan remembers the pivotal play in Oregon’s 46-27 comeback victory last September. Third-and-11, down by nine with little momentum and an anxious Autzen stadium looking on, Marcus Mariota miraculously evaded Spartan defenders before shoveling the ball to Royce Freeman for a first down. This determination rejuvenated the Duck spirits as they went on to score four unanswered …
This past year we witnessed something special. For the first time in the history of Oregon football we had a Heisman trophy winner. Coming into the year, we had little doubt that Marcus Mariota would be taking home the hardware. However even as historic as this landmark was, Mariota should have been the second Heisman winner at Oregon. Way back in …
No college football program faces a greater disparity between reality and reputation than Oregon. One would think that having the nation’s highest winning percentage over the past five seasons in what could easily be argued as college football’s deepest conference would warrant some respect. And, in fairness, it has to a certain extent – the Ducks do ultimately earn the rankings …
News Just over a month separates “We, The Oregon Faithful” from our first glimpse of a re-tooled Lightning Yellow and Thunder Green squad with aspirations of Bowling in January. With fall camp just around the corner, recruiting will take a back seat to the maturation of the current lineup, but nonetheless will still produce underlying storylines heading into the fall. …
Over the past month, Jack Follman from “Pacific Takes” at SB Nation, has been doing a six-part list of the “Top 100 2015 Pac-12 Players,” and naturally, there are several Oregon players listed. So, let’s discuss how the list ended up. The Ducks take the top spot on the list with 17 players in the top 100, with UCLA and USC …
Friday evening, the Ducks experienced a blow to their recruiting momentum. Highly-recruited four-star LB Bryce Youngquist committed to the Oklahoma Sooners despite saying in June there was a “90 percent” chance that he would commit to Oregon. This comes on the heels of Oregon narrowly missing on many of their top linebacker targets in the class of 2015. More recently, in addition …
There’s a famous Johnny Cash song, way before my time but great nonetheless, that summarizes Chip Kelly‘s NFL off-season perfectly. Kelly is walking a fine line, and if he slips it could end catastrophically for the former Ducks coach. If he succeeds, he could revolutionize how GMs and coaches approach player management and personnel decisions entirely. Kelly’s off-season began with the higher-ups …
News Linebackers headman, Erik Chinander, is rapidly becoming one of the Pac-12’s more formidable recruiters. The second-year coach has found his niche among the nation’s elite defenders. Last week, outside backer Bryce Youngquist (4-Star/Rancho Cucamonga, Calif./Rivlas250) indicated his program decision may come sooner than expected as Oregon continues to fill its depth chart of the future. A longtime target, Youngquist has gone …
ESPN writer Kevin Gemmell understands Oregon and its offense more than your typical national writer or talking head. As he correctly points out, “What do you think of when you think of Oregon? Fine, after all of the uniform combinations. You think of offense. And specifically, the ground game.” OK, so he has the requisite “too many jerseys” one-liner, but he understands that …
Okay, so I write for an Oregon Ducks sports blog, so what? I’m biased, that much is obvious, but there’s actual evidence that supports the title of this piece. Now that college football has finally moved to a playoff to determine a champion, the door has been opened for more teams to prove they can hang with the best, or in …