As the snap sailed over the punter’s head resulting in the safety that secured an Oregon victory on Saturday night at Husky Stadium, my three companions and I all looked at each other and eagerly said, “Let’s go!” As many fans could see on television, the Oregon-Washington game was cold, wet and windy. As we began to make our way …
College football is ever changing. Some patterns are easy to predict, but long-term recruiting projections have been something that analysts cannot predict. Partially because recruiting is only as successful as a staff makes it, but also because it is impossible to predict how long coaches will stay with specific teams and long term conference success is almost as important as …
Oregon won the Pac-12. Fans of other teams, certain writers and even a radio host will try and throw asterisks at the mere presence of Oregon in the championship game, but those other teams didn’t win. One team with a lot to complain about is USC, losers of the Pac-12 Championship. The Trojans played a hard second half, not cutting …
Despite Oregon’s recent domination over our “rival” from the Jet City (14 wins in the last 16 meetings), the fact remains that the Huskies still lead the all-time series 60-47 (5 ties). Yes, I just barfed out my morning coffee as I typed that. The Ducks are down 13 games to the Huskies. Which may have some of you thinking, …
Sigh. This happens every summer. It’s a recurring football-less pain made worse this year by the 70-21 drubbing, last year. The silver lining to that humiliation was that this loss, in our house no less, accelerated the onset of Alamo Bowl amnesia. Of course, I’m referring to the Dawg Daze of Summer, when Duckland is either in a euphoric daze …
That’s really what it gets down to, isn’t it? Oregon State and Washington State will have a say in who dominates the Northwest from time to time. But it’s Oregon and Washington opening the pocketbooks to buy a camping spot at the top of the Pac, with aspirations for national titles. The Huskies believe they hired the perfect cure for …
Had the streak against Washington ended last year, no one would have batted an eye. It would have been natural conditions for it to end: game in Seattle, the Huskies with a winning record, coming off a big win at ranked USC the week before. For the Ducks, it was the first season in nearly a decade where Oregon didn’t …
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 …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out It’s time for my fourth annual calling out of three teams that I think are overrated. Qver the past three years, I’ve been right on 7 out of my 9 picks. Of course the two times I’ve been wrong, I’ve been very, very wrong (See Ducks, below, for explanation.), so take it to Vegas at your own …
Mike Merrell’s Three-and-Out As reported by ESPN at the recent Pac-12 Media Days, Washington coach Chris Petersen turned the tables and begged the dogs — to not get their expectations up too high. It’s not false modesty. It’s an honest assessment from the one insider who knows the Huskies best. Petersen also knows that man’s level of satisfaction relates highly …
Sitting at breakfast Saturday morning, an older Oregon fan gave me a hearty “Go Ducks!” as he walked by. Then he approached me, leaned in, and with the protracted delivery that lets one know that wisdom is about to be dispensed, he whispered, “… but I don’t think we’re going to win today.” I told him that I couldn’t say …
Clearly something needs to happen. Someone needs to give the biggest motivational speech anyone has ever heard. This team needs to get some sense slapped into them, because this season is going downhill really fast. This is the game that the Ducks need, though. The Ducks hate the Washington Huskies. I would sure hope that they have no problem getting …