Mike Merrellās Three-and-Out With Saturday nightās loss to Washington State it is now pretty much official that this yearās version of Oregon football is going down as a bad year, the end of the streak, or some other description that is even less complimentary. The 3-3 Ducks are only a play a game away from being 5-1, but thereās no ā¦
There are some things that everybody who has anything to do with athletics should learn, and this holds true for athletes, coaches, friends, family and fans. Two of these things are winning with grace and losing with grace. The Ducks won this weekend, taking down Colorado, 41-24. The win was a relief after the previous weekās drubbing from Utah, but ā¦
Mike Merrellās Three-and-Out The Oregon Ducks certainly came out the ālittle brotherā against the Utah Utes Saturday night. Being branded a little brother smarts. And no matter what happens, you will be reminded from time to time that you are the little brother. That creates a bit of an attitude that you will live by ā like it or not. ā¦
Mike Merrellās Three-and-Out Itās incredible and yet itās still surprising. Beating Georgia State, 61-28, using a generous helping of second, third and fourth stringers just wasnāt enough blood for too many fans. What seems to be forgotten is that September 19 is still fairly early in the season. Weāre still only half way to the selection committeeās first way-too-early declaration ā¦
Mike Merrellās Three-and-Out Adversity develops and reveals character much more than pleasant trips to the beach. Thatās just one of the inconveniences of living on Planet Earth. So when your team loses on the road by a field goal to a top five team, what do you do to show the world who you are? For too many Oregon fans, ā¦
Mike Merrellās Three-and-Out Duck fans saw their fondest dreams and deepest fears unfold Saturday night in a victorious offensive battle against FCS Eastern Washington. The Ducks tied the NCAA record for most consecutive games (69) with at least one touchdown pass. Unfortunately, that wasnāt the only passing record involved in the Saturday night scorefest. Eastern Washington receiver Cooper Kupp broke ā¦
Mike Merrellās Three-and-Out By this time next week, half of the teams in the country will no longer be undefeated. As the season progresses and more teams fall, reality will set in for more and more fan bases ā and coaches. Positive, confident outlooks are to be expected, but there are good reasons for coaches to know how far to ā¦
Mike Merrellās Three-and-Out This is the third annual preseason report on teams that I donāt think are going to live up to the hype. Why bother to read another preseason projection? So far ā for 2013 and 2014 ā Iām 5 for 6 in picking overrated teams. And this is the swimsuit edition. Or is that āadditionā ā hard to ā¦
Mike Merrellās Three-and-Out The wonderful thing about August is that every D-1 football program is undefeated, so dreams of what could happen have yet to be tainted with reality. The door for pundits to put together their Top-25ās and final fours is wide open. With not a whole lot of objectivity to go on, a certain amount of subjectivity is ā¦
Mike Merrellās Three-and-Out In the 2012 preseason poll, the media picked what turned out to be the 7-6 University of Southern California TrojansĀ as the top team in the land. It took three years to recover from being burned by their compulsive love for USC, but like a battered wife who canāt figure out that her prince just isnāt all that ā¦
Mike Merrellās Three-and-Out It was just a year ago that many fans were crying ānow or neverā for Duck football. After all, it was going to be the last year for Marcus Mariota, Hroniss Grasu, Ifo Ekpre-Olomu, Arik Armstead, Erik Dargan, Tony Washington ā¦ and the list goes on. āNowā didnāt quite happen, but in the aftermath, it hardly seems ā¦
Mike Merrellās Three-and-Out For Duck football fans, it used to be about beating the Beavers and the Huskies. Then it moved on to being about winning the Pac-10/12. Now with a Heisman in the trophy case, thereās just one bridge to cross to garner total respect: a national championship. That brings up a new group of rivals, most notably Ohio ā¦
