I predicted the scenario that happened in Pullman, on Saturday. Others were insistent that the Ducks would blow out the Cougars. But after turning on the television, the Cougs were up by seven. In my last article I mentioned that the mid-level pass defense wasn’t effective against Michigan State, so it’s only natural to think that in a game against …
Thursday is known as “upset day” in the Pac-12. Be wary of Thursdays! Oregon State shocking No. 1 USC comes to mind. So does Washington surprising No. 8 Stanford in 2012. And, of course, there was Stanford’s takedown of the Ducks last year (sorry for reopening that wound). But these are just a few of the upsets that have occurred on …
Athletic directors at major schools all over the country are paid handsomely to know what makes a great college football coach, yet time and time again we see coaches fail — sometimes spectacularly — to bring success and a winning attitude to campus. So what’s the answer? Is it recruiting ability, X’s and O’s, enthusiasm, or something else? Some coaches …
A pickup basketball game between the football coaches of the University of New Hampshire and Brown University in the 1990s was the first of many meetings between two future NFL head coaches. Then-New Hampshire running backs coach Chip Kelly and a Brown assistant coach named Bill O’Brien exchanged ideas about X’s and O’s on the first of many occasions. O’Brien was …
The Concept of Tempered Steel If you aren’t a huge science guy (I for one am not), you might mistake the process of tempering steel for hardening a metal. While increasing steel’s strength, tempering is actually all about softening a metal through the use of heat to make it more flexible. In season three of Oregon’s best quarterback in school …
These are the weekends we live for as college football fans. The drama off the field this week, however, was just as good as on the field thanks to Jameis Winston. This week showed a lot of top teams struggling for the victory while others took care of business. Let’s get into the Top-25 action from this weekend. 1. Winston needs …
There is a reason why defensive line guru Jerry Azzinaro was the one Oregon position coach who joined Chip Kelly on the Philadelphia Eagles’ coaching staff. The 3-4 defensive scheme and two-gap technique are just as important to Kelly as the fast-tempo, zone-blocking, and packaged plays. Azzinaro was Kelly’s right-hand man in installing the 3-4 as the base defense at …
OK, get your laughs in now. Joke about how terrible the Cougars are, including their defense. The usual: “My 6-year-old brother’s Pop Warner team could beat WSU.” You guys got the giggles out? Good. Now we can move on to business. Washington State isn’t the joke you may think. They have a proven head coach, Mike Leach, in his second year …
Through three glorious weeks of college football, teams across the country have had their depth tested. Look to the east and observe a USC defensive line run over by a mediocre Boston College team in a below-average ACC conference. Look to the south and see a backup quarterback carried off the field heroically on teammates’ shoulders after managing a shaky …
What a day of upsets this weekend of college football gave us. All up and down the east coast David was slaying Goliath. As fans, we live for the upsets. To be able to see a true underdog emerge victorious is why we love sports. So much action to cover from all over the country today, so lets get into it. …
Because the Pleasant Hill Billies didn’t have an open spot on their schedule, your Oregon Ducks host Wyoming in a non-conference clash sure to cause ripples all the way to the Moshofsky Center. It is the first time that Oregon and Wyoming have met, and the game promises to be fraught with excitement. But FishDuck.com/italicsarecool believes that Oregon fans always hunger for …
OK, so maybe this game isn’t quite the magnitude of the game last week’s. That game registered as a 9.0 on the Richter Scale, while this one will probably measure more like a 3.0. This doesn’t change anything, though. Just as with South Dakota, Oregon can’t have a hangover from last week or look ahead to next week, when they …