Despite Poor Defense, Helfrich Is Still the Man

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out No doubt about it. Oregon football 2016 is a mess. Whether it’s football or anything else in life, there’s a point where you’re better off to just call it hopeless and start over. Unfortunately, many see Oregon football as being at that point. The good news is that these “many” with their pitchforks and torches aren’t the …

Forget Duck Season. It’s Open Season on Feet!

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out Any team this determined to shoot itself in the foot should not wear fluorescent orange shoes. It makes it just too easy. They should wear green shoes that match the color of the turf. Or if they HAVE to be exotic, they could go with camo. Anything to give the poor feet a sporting chance. Besides that …

Huskies: # 8 in Nation or # 8 in Pac-12?

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out After a rousing win over the Idaho Vandals this past weekend, our purple friends of the north moved up two places in the Coaches Poll to the # 9 slot, while maintaining the # 8 position in the AP Poll. Oregon continues to get mixed, minced, sliced, diced and chewed for imperfections, but the pollsters just keep …

Christmas, Hernias and Bowl Games

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out With the changes at FishDuck.com, the Three-and-Out hasn’t gone away. It’s just been laid up with Christmas, a hernia and bowl games. And that’s the subject of this week’s Three-and-Out. 1. Christmas. On my last trip to the bank, the teller innocently asked me how things were going. I told her, “Nothing fatal.” She laughed until the …

Quarterbacks, Defense and Championship Runs

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out If you had to pick three sore spots from 2015 Oregon football, quarterbacks, defense and the lack of a championship run would have to dominate the list. Those sore spots and what they mean moving ahead are the subjects of this week’s Three-and-Out. 1. Quarterbacks. The Oregon program has been criticized for bringing Vernon Adams in from …

Bones of Cupcakes Litter Road to Final Four

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrrell’s Three-and-Out The path to the national championship is teeming with eastern teams leaving bones of cupcakes in their wake. The conference with the toughest, deepest competition is relegated to being the only of the Five Power Conferences with no more than a single “New Year’s Six” bowl. And the Heisman Trophy will undoubtedly go to the best player …

A Season Salvaged, but Questions on Defense Persist

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out No bones about it, the 2015 football season freaked out its share of Oregon football fans, proving that there’s a difference between living in the present – which calls for focusing on doing your best — and getting caught up in the moment – which calls for abandoning all rational thought. Despite the sluggish start and mid-season …

College Football 2015: A Mess of a Season

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out The czars who run college football must be ecstatic! With just a week to go in the regular college football season, the landscape is a complete mess. For the post-season lineup, there’s all sorts of room for drama, unfairness, passing out of unjust rewards, snubbing, hypocrisy — pretty much everything that we’re supposed to like about college …

Mrs. Duck’s Lovely Week

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out In a football season that has certainly had its downs, the Oregon Ducks have emerged as one of the best — if not the best — teams in the conference. A national championship is out of the picture, but a return to the Rose Bowl, while highly unlikely, remains at least a mathematical possibility. That’s something nobody …

Jokers, Comedians and Petty Thieves

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out As the 2015 college football season turns the corner toward the home stretch, the Oregon Ducks are finally starting to hit on at least six or seven cylinders, but as far as a playoff berth goes – it is too little too late. Still, it’s turning out to be a reasonably decent season for a year in which the …

Ducks’ Coaching Secures Big Win in the Desert

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out Reminiscent of the Joey Harrington-led Miracle in the Desert of 2000, the Oregon Ducks once again broke hearts in Tempe, Arizona with a 61-55 triple overtime win over the Arizona State Sun Devils Thursday night. In what some fans would call a rebuilding year and others would call a year to fire all the coaches, the Ducks …

Toss Out Those St. Chipstopher Medals

Mike Merrell Editorials

Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out There’s no doubt about it — Chip Kelly changed the game of college football and Oregon was blessed to have him during his short tenure. But there’s a segment of Oregon football fans who have taken it a step further and anointed the Chipster with sainthood. It seems that in everything from recruiting to play calling, anything …