Charles Fischer

After four innings, Our Beloved Ducks still lead 2-0, and the lead was preserved with a wonderful double play!

Still 2-0 Ducks, after two innings, as Grayson Grinsell gets in a jam, and then strikes them down.

Oregon plays the third game Sunday at noon! ----------------------------------------- Our Beloved Ducks are up 2-0 after one inning due to two wild pitches by the Utah pitcher.

Bradley Mullan got in trouble as we had bases loaded by the Utes with NO OUTS, and Logan Mercado came in a truly saved our feathered butts. Our Beloved Ducks win 7-5, with Game two of the double-header starting about 3:10 PM.

After eight innings, the Ducks still lead 7-4 with only three more outs to finish!

After being down 4-1, Our Beloved Ducks have come back to take a 7-4 lead after seven innings. Great to see Justin Cassella get going with a critical double that score Anson Aroz from first base. Fast!

Oregon still leads 5-4 after six innings, with Ryan Featherston pitching in relief, and rescued by a sensational double-play from Carter Garate at third base!

Had to show the homer-saving catch by Boettcher...

After five innings, Oregon now leads 5-4 on a Jacob Walsh two-run blast over the right-center field wall. This puts him within one homer shy of tying the HR single season record.

After four innings, Utah leads 4-3 as I spoke too soon about Gordon. Bryce Boettcher caught a fly ball a foot above the fence and saved a Ute home run from happening, and then hit a two-run homer himself. Good gosh he is taking off!

After two innings, Oregon leads 1-0, and thus far RJ Gordon is showing great control in the drizzling rain.

To an 11:05 AM start Saturday, and there will be a double-header Saturday with the second game starting 45 minutes after the end of the first game.

Hey Lincoln....who's your daddy?

Well done!

And that was before Harmon... Count our blessings and and enjoy the ride my friends! (And USC did get a "B"...)

My FishDuck Friends....I am just a terrible sport. So bad that I don't even feel guilty for the following quotes from one of the biggest USC forums. The only thing greater than the joy of Our Beloved Ducks winning these recruiting battles, is seeing the reaction of Trojan fans who believe they were entitled to these players both schools were pursuing. I'm a sicko, as I can't get enough of this after all the years growing up with their disdain in my face...and there was nothing we could do about it. I need to go get a candy bar, something sweet to go with all this salty... I won't do this all the time, but Derrick Harmon is a recruit they really wanted and needed. And I may have added my commentary in green bold... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Is the fact that Lan Danning thinks he's out recruiting everyone and taking credit for it. He's a freaking blowhard that gets credit for being a great recruiter only because he's got Nike money behind him. It also frustrating that with all the billion dollar alumni USC has, none of them are stepping up the way Phil Knight does for Oregon." "I've always made fun of their envy for SC, but let's face it. Who's laughing now?!" Couldn't have written it better... "Year 3 Lanning looking much better than year 3 Riley. Rest is cope." "Another L with the kick to the nuts. Plain and simple." "They care more than we do at the moment unfortunately." "So now they have both Caldwell and Harmon in the middle? That might compare to Texas two DTs last year." "Damn, but to those that think just throwing whatever money recruits want. It’s obvious Oregon is all in on this year, for USC--they’re playing the longer game." "Big difference of being a $2B billionaire vs a $40B billionaire." Wait...according to this 2021 article from Forbes, USC has 15 billionaire alumni worth a total of $58.5B. I'm not sure how accurate that is in 2024. Phil Knight alone is at around $40B. Whoops! There go the excuses! "It's not Nike the company paying these guys, it's Phil Knight donating to Oregon's collective and former Nike execs running the whole thing. Actual experienced business people. Meanwhile, our NIL is run by football guys that can't even figure out how to consistently pay the players on time." "Oregon has an insurmountable advantage in both $$ and infrastructure, we will continue to lose these battles until revenue sharing happens. Even then, they'll still probably have their collective going to supplement it." "Oregon's NIL is the greatest in the whole country. This is the only thing I’ll ever be envious of with them. Wow. I’m glad we don’t play them this year." "Writing was on the wall when their NT jumped in the portal a few days ago." "Absolute disaster. Oregon didn't even need him and secured his pledge they have 4-5 other starting caliber DTs. We legit have one. I can just about guarantee our DL is going to get rolled over this year with the complete lack of talent. Team is going to go 7-5 against the insane schedule then Justus Terry and the other top DL commits will flip or head elsewhere creating the same problem next year." "Chain of events going to be set off by this and it is really going to hurt. Getting embarrassing at this point that USC CANNOT BEAT OREGON for a single recruit H2H, unless it is a lowly 3 star they recruit over." "Oregon’s 3rd guy on the depth chart would probably start day 1 for us. Lol,sad." Did you EVER think you would read that from a USC fan? "I used to think the CLR was playing chess in the recruiting game, but I’m pretty convinced at this point that we are the ones playing checkers." "Man lol Douche Lanning did his team dirty too by having this announced after the portal closed. Cut throat." "Got Wyatt and Harmon to commit back-2-back just to mock SC...God I hate those MorherFers Ducks." Pretty salty tears....I LOVE IT! "So we "feel like" having a gaping hole in the DL as we enter the conference with consistently stout OLs and run games? That makes a ton of sense." Yep! Good thing I never said I was noble...

He is 359 pounds...changes everything for this defense. The last piece needed...

I hear USC fans handled the news well...

This is almost beyond my comprehension....as this addition truly completes this defense. The impact on the linebackers is enormous. It will help put opposing teams quickly into a one-dimension passing attack once they get behind, because running the ball will be a low-return for the effort because of Harmon.

He is a Rivals 4-Star who was highly sought after by some of nations best programs. Offered by Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia and especially frustrating to USC!

My FishDuck Friends,....I have spent a number of hours going through every play of the Oregon Spring Game with my TiVo DVR of which allows me to watch a play in slow-motion with no blur. I'll give you my opinions on the Oregon defensive line, but in reference to the question in the title of this post... No, we will not miss Ben Roberts. Now my first impression upon hearing of his transfer was one of regret at him leaving, but after my study...I am relieved with what I saw of his actual performance, and that of the other defensive tackles and nose tackles with the Ducks. Remember, we had not seen anything prior to the Spring to warrant our concern of losing him, and I wish to address what are three plays that got the attention of spectators. The first was in the opening quarter where after his team stopped the play at the goal line--he came out and did a routine like he personally stopped the play. No, he got caved into the middle from Ajani Cornelius on a great block that left Roberts out of the play. But the running back did not dive into the end zone from the crease created by Cornelius, but instead decided to jump on the pile. He ended up falling on Roberts on the bottom, and thus Ben was giving credit for the tackle, and a TFL. But because he hot-dogged it afterward...I thought he must have made a great play. Nope. He did pressure the quarterbacks twice, and was given credit for a sack. Not a sack to me, as the QB would have just quickly thrown ball away, as he did in the other example. Roberts created a good havoc play, created two quick throw-aways in my view, but we also have to look at the bigger picture. Did he beat a grizzled veteran or starter on the offensive line? No. He beat Lipe Moala, and Gernorris Wilson who are both redshirt freshmen, and both at Oregon one year while Roberts has been through two years of practices. Ben Roberts The key when watching Roberts, is determining whether he is plugging the middle and requiring a double team as a nose tackle should? It is critical for our defense since we only have two inside linebackers, not three in our 4-2-5 MINT defense. Thus the linebackers need to be freed up from blockers to make the tackles. He was usually neutralized by one offensive lineman blocking him, but three times when double-teamed....he was driven three and four yards down the field! That cannot happen as we don't expect the nose tackle to make plays when double-teamed, but he needs to stand his ground at the line-of-scrimmage and deny running lanes. When you are blown down the field like that...you create huge running lanes for opposing running backs in both directions. By contrast, we had some superb plugging done in the middle by a number of other defensive linemen. Remember, they are not meant to make the tackle, but simply plug the middle two gaps with his body and that of the opposing double team to make running in the middle impossible. I noted a ton of good plays in the middle from No. 95 Keyon Ware-Hudson, No. 90 Jamaree Caldwell, No. 99 Terrance Green, No. 58 A'Mauri Washington and brand new freshman (a high schooler who came early) in No. 50 Tionne Gray. In my view, Roberts would have been on the third team of defensive tackles and nose tackles, and he knew it. This is not to mention the tremendous defensive lineman class of '24 that was brought in, and could pass him soon. We had four high school players who graduated and enrolled early to play in the Spring Game, and in my view No. 42 Aydin Breland, No. 77 Jericho Johnson and No. 88 Xadavien Sims were well blocked and relatively invisible in this game. But the fourth one, No. 50 Tionne Gray is one to watch, as he came up a couple of times in my notes. In particular, he beat his man (reserve center) to make the fourth down stop late in the game, but he also forced a quick QB throw in the fourth quarter, and did a fine stuff for nearly no-gain in the first half. I like him better than Roberts already, and Gray makes this 2024 D-Line class that much more impressive. Tionne Gray I did not know much about Gray, but learned that he was a Rivals 4-Star out of St. Louis and a top-10 defensive tackle in the nation! We beat out hometown Missouri (very notable) Iowa, LSU, Arkansas, Washington, Tennessee and Oklahoma for the 6'6" mountain. He was listed at 305, but I believe he looked heavier, yet had a very quick jump at the snap, and some real fast-twitch in his moves. I knew nothing about him, and frankly...forgot about him within this heralded recruiting class, but the little FishDuck Football Fairy on my shoulder was whispering into my ear, "Remember Charles, Greatness and Weakness Emerge Early." Yep, this young man may have been the sleeper of the class. So, I wish Ben Roberts well, as Oregon will be just fine with all the talent being assembled in Eugene by Dan Lanning. For those of you who are new here, I've done over 100 analysis articles for FishDuck.com over the last dozen years, and broke down Spring games for right at 20 years. I created the 50 analysis videos of the Chip Kelly offense and Nick Aliotti defense a decade ago, (Viewed over two-million times) so while these are just my opinions (and I can be wrong) there is some experience in my analysis. I have other impressions of the Spring Game that I'll share later, but this was the pressing question I was curious about and after spending some time--wanted to share my thoughts with you. I am satisfied with the talent and depth of the defensive line without Roberts, and was delighted to find a gem to observe over the upcoming years. Good-gosh Our Beloved Ducks are going to be tough in the trenches! Note how Gray, No. 50 is requiring a double-team, and holding his ground.

My FishDuck Friends, the contributed article above I would call Jon Joseph-Light, as it gives us good overview, but not the depth that our fellow OBD member provides this community. I appreciate your patience with it, as it is a "money" article that contains the usual gambling link that helps to pay the bills. I will not be doing very many of these in the future due to time constraints, but when an easy one comes through--gotta take it to pay the damn tech bills piling up. I hope you enjoy the usual pictures, as the top one and last one are from the 2003 game with Michigan at Autzen from John Giustina, the official UO Photographer at the time. He has been generous sharing photos from 20 years ago with us, and some are epic. Great color and memories!

The portal closed to enter, but the school can sign over the limit as long as we are at 85 for the beginning of fall camp. Players may be told this summer that they will not have playing time this fall, and decide to sit out the '24 season, and then enter the portal at the end of football season. Or players are pulled off scholarship, and simply paid enough by NIL to be the equivalent or better. There is rumor that some top players at Oregon are not even on scholarship; they are enrolled at school, but receiving a large NIL income to pay expenses. Or I am completely wrong. We do not know the details, and due to privacy laws....probably never will. I don't worry about the scholarship problem, because it is the coach's problem to figure out...and they will. A nice problem to have! It could be a lot worse... who would want to be in the spot that Beavis is?