Charles Fischer

It is a great play, among so many. Quite a few plays were so superbly blocked, but within those plays....like this one--the defensive effort and technique was pretty bad. It will not be that easy against anyone in the Playoffs...

ESPN Reporter Heather Dinich covers the CFB Playoff extensively and was on the Playoff program last Tuesday. When asked about Oregon she stated, ""It would not surprise me if the selection committee bumped them [Oregon] up as high as number two this week," Dinich said on SportsCenter on Sunday. "I think people have to at least consider that possibility. I think that will be a debate in that committee room because Oregon played well on the road against Washington in dreadful weather while Alabama meanwhile was really struggling against LSU. I am still trying to realize the fact that Alabama had six rushing yards total on the ground." "It wouldn't surprise me if Alabama drops," said Dinich. "I think they drop to the three or four spot. If I had to project it right now, I would say the committee debates with Oregon No. 2, Alabama No. 3, Ohio State four, and Cincinnati five."

Not my joke, as it came from Ducks Wire, but my friends...whenever you can bring us all some humor--do it!

As we've discussed...you know I agree completely on both counts. We need to get more out of the Special Teams and snap from behind the center inside the five yard line!

Get beat by Colorado and heads will roll...

Yep, posted last night.

Chris was a very good receiver coach at Oregon before going onto Boise State to be an OC for them, and later to be head coach. He had great YAC and blocking from his receiver core, when our offense was based primarily on the West Coast passing offense. He helped the Huskies return to prominence after a slew of losing coaches. It would take a former Duck to rescue the Huskies!

I did last night when I posted the articles and actually watched a little bit of it. It was poor judgment on his part as what is in the locker room should stay in the locker room. But he has 80,000 followers and this was juicy and we all make errors when we are young. But now he puts Cristobal in a tough position of confronting him on it and it can damage a relationship...

(Press Release from Oregon Athletics) EUGENE, Ore. — The Oregon football team moved up two spots to No. 5 in the latest Associated Press top-25 poll on Sunday following the Ducks’ 26-16 win over Washington in Seattle. UO also moved up one spot to No. 6 in the AFCA Coaches poll. The Ducks (8-1, 5-1 Pac-12) were No. 4 in the initial College Football Playoff rankings released last Tuesday. The new CFP rankings will be released on Tuesday, Nov. 9, at 6 p.m. PT on ESPN. Oregon is in the top five of the AP poll for the fourth time this season, and first since week four. This is the Ducks’ ninth consecutive week in the top 10 of the AP poll. Oregon remains the only Pac-12 team ranked in both the AP and AFCA polls. The Ducks return home this week to host Washington State on Saturday, Nov. 13, at 7:30 p.m. in Autzen Stadium (ESPN).

My FishDuck Friends...this goes back eight years, but when RG III was the quarterback for the Washington Football Team--they began to shock the NFL by running the Zone Read on Sundays. Problem was....the NFL fans did not understand the Zone Read at all, and wanted to. So what was the solution? Go to FishDuck.com and learn about the Zone Read from Yours-Truly! During this era, I was a marginally-semi-pseudo-quasi-kind-of-famous Oregon fan and the two articles about FishDuck.com in the Washington Post was a highlight for me only surpassed by being used as a reference source and quoted in the Wall Street Journal a year later. As I listened to RGIII last night, I thought he went too far over-the-top in trying to gin up excitement. Then I smiled as I thought about those days eight years ago when someone-you-know could be accused of the same thing. I am surprised, but the article is still up on the web! Zone Read Crash Course by Keith McMillan of the Washington Post Actual picture caption: When you see Robert Griffin III hand off to Alfred Morris, do you always understand what you’re looking at? We found some videos that might be able to clarify elements of the zone read. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Or maybe it was their offense I was thinking of? Or maybe I should stick to Cat GIFs?

Take a deep breath my friends...

(Press Release from Oregon Athletics) Question: What adjustments were made at halftime to come out and score 14 unanswered points to start the second half? CRISTOBAL: "Well we saw some things in formations where we felt we could have an advantage. They did some different things in the first half and not earth-shatteringly different but the way you play your post/safety defenses and coverages. I mean you can drop a guy in, outside the box - scoot him in, scoot him out. Again vis versa, however you do it. But either way, you’re blocking responsibilities and your leverages change and we identified a couple things we felt we could take advantage of, we did that right out of the chute, just came out and did it and it paid off for us." Question: On the flexibility on the offensive line with various injuries during the season… CRISTOBAL: "Well for the guys up front, Coach Mirabal and that offensive line, the type of work that they do, the level of teaching, the level of developing that goes on there is different and it’s really shown up this year. I’m glad - I mean, when you dissect a play like that - it’s good to know it’s being noticed for them. Not that they care. I mean, those guys aren’t asking for any kind of publicity, but it’s good that you see that because that’s a lot of work, man. When you have guys in there that are trained at all five positions and can go in and do it, it means a lot. And look when it paid off. When one of our leaders goes down, when we need a big-time play and big-time playmakers are some of your offensive linemen and George was that on that play."

(From Oregon Athletics Press Release) Question: About Oregon’s success running the ball… CRISTOBAL: "Well offensively I think we have morphed a little bit now. We throw the ball pretty well too. It’s just, again, the rain was coming down at such a high clip that it wasn’t going to be easy throwing the ball. You had just as good of a chance that it was going to be a tipped ball or whatnot throwing the ball as you would just giving the ball to one of the best players in college football in Travis Dye behind that offensive line. And we felt that the way we practice means a lot to us. We take a lot of pride in it. We take a lot of pride in blocking and we felt that even though we’ve been down a couple of offensive linemen that we could find a couple of ways to establish the line of scrimmage and take control of it. And they had some really good plays too. But overall, just felt that our guys did a really good job and Coach Moorhead and the offensive staff did a really nice job of mixing it up with the ball inside and outside, with our gap schemes, our pin and pulls, ball on the perimeter. It was really hard to find where the ball was going. And Anthony is always a threat to run the football as well. He did a great job with his legs, his third down pass to Johnny [Johnson III) was huge later on even though we got called for something when we had first and goal at the one inch line but I guess I’ll figure that one out later."

(Press Release from Oregon Athletics0 Question: Will this be what we see of this defense week in and week out? CRISTOBAL: "Well, I think you saw some really great moments in the UCLA game. You’re a fourth down stop away from having the ball at their 40 up by 17 [points]. And then against Colorado, you see we pulled out our guys, we gave up 14 points but you saw some really impressive play. And then you stack this one on top of that. You’re seeing this scheme, these players, it’s all falling in, it’s all galvanizing itself, it’s all getting in sync. Guys are starting to gel. Guys are starting to become much more comfortable playing beside each other. There’s more consistency in which players are playing beside each other so we hope that’s a trend that continues to go upwards." Question: What allowed your secondary to have success in the passing game? CRISTOBAL: "A combination of things. I think the front seven certainly made a difference with the pressure. The weather helped some. It wasn’t a passing type of game. But I just felt that we played our leverages a lot better. We played our techniques a lot better. Our eye discipline was night and day better and that has been a huge focal point for our secondary, our coaches and it showed up big tonight." Jeffrey Bassa celebrates a big 3rd down stop...

(Press Release from Oregon Athletics) Question: Thoughts on the defensive effort, especially early in the game? CRISTOBAL: "Outstanding, I mean held them for the entire game to less than 170 yards, I believe. Without a doubt we were having a tough time finding our way on offense early. It was raining sideways just about. The passing game - we had to be smart. We had to limit what we were doing and it felt like it was a three-and-out, four or five plays and out just consistently [for the defense]. It’s not just that, it’s the way they were doing it. It’s the physicality. You could hear it. It just sounded different from the sideline, the way the front seven was playing and how much our defensive backs were smothering their wide receivers as well. Great defensive performance. I know we gave up that long drive we would like to have back, but certainly all in all just really proud of the way those guys played tonight." Question: Impressions of the fourth down stop and the ensuing touchdown? CRISTOBAL: "That was huge. They run their wildcat package pretty consistently and our defense just knocked back the line of scrimmage, just knocked it back completely for a loss. Huge momentum swing there. We took the ball down and we scored. Great play by Anthony [Brown] to Devon Williams, reading it the entire way on the boot and certainly changing the entire momentum of the game - never looked back after that. But battled. The whole way was a battle. They have a really good football team, good players. Without a doubt that was a momentum swing and a game-changer." Question: Tell us about the momentum shift after the fourth down stop? CRISTOBAL: "Well I think it further highlights the importance of those defensive stops. Because they had all the momentum. They had all the momentum and if our defense doesn’t come up with those stops that might continue. And then in a game like this where you can’t really just throw the ball down the field at will, it could have made a difference. So without question that was the momentum changer, the momentum swing. Phenomenal job by our defense making that stop. Tremendous job by the offense capitalizing."

This whole scenario is surreal, considering how Oregon pushed them around in the trenches. I sure there is a "punchline" in there somewhere! Jimmy Lake Investigated by Washington for Getting Physical with Player on Sidelines by Larry Brown of Larry Brown Sports

When you consider all the teams that lost or played poorly this weekend and Oregon's chances according to this predictor are THIS bad? I hope if lights a fire under our team! I like the image below a bit better.....

Whew! He makes an interesting case, and I'm glad we got into the top four last week as one boost was our win over Fresno State, who just lost to Boise State.

Whew! Some juicy stuff here for future years to be sure, and some links that will leave you pondering... Canzano: Oregon Ducks Find Some Killer Instinct in Win over Washington by John Canzano of OregonLive And a FIGHT nearly broke out between the teams after the game? I am delighted to learn in the article that Oregon--the coaches and the players--have some FIRE in their belly!

This was darned close and really all of them were winners in this...but I give it slightly to Steven A. Winner Score Spread Turnovers Created Sacks by Passing Yards Actual: Oregon 26-16 10 1 1 98 Steven A. Oregon 27-17 10 2 4 185 LB 48 Oregon 27-17 10 2 3 208 Duck 1972 Oregon 31-21 10 1 4 125 While Steven A. and LB 48 had closer to actual scores...Duck 1972 was better on the tiebreakers and could be declared the winner as well. Congrats on all three, as that was pretty darned impressive!

When you rush for over 360 yards in the rain....the offensive line needs a ton of credit. A day to Dye for...

You gotta love what the guys at Oregon Graphics came up with for the football Twitter...the caption says, "keep climbing Ducks!" Duck Kong?