Viking Duck

Having masticated this idea for a few days, I'd say that I'd love to see Mariota have a successful run as a starter, wherever it might be. But, I also think he's a smart and driven guy who will be able to take a career as a top backup QB and come out if it as a wealthy man. If nothing else, completing a touchdown pass to yourself will live on in my memory

Thanks as well to Joshua for the article! As for Jon's obscure point, I feel like they have one of the real nationally-recognized leaders in the strength and conditioning field *still there in the athletic department* in Jim Radcliffe. We can read this older FishDuck article to remember this, and it's still true: Jim Radcliffe: the Man Who Makes Oregon Go | FishDuck FISHDUCK.COM A look at the importance of the strength and conditioning coach at Oregon -- Jim Radcliffe I don't remember the precise details, but my feeling at the time was that he was somewhat cut off from football when Taggart came in and brought the S&C coach who put several players in the hospital, and that separation has remained. Perhaps he could have a bit more of a direct role again? Nothing against the Mustache or the current S&C coach for the ducks, but lean in on his expertise.

I think it would be a good place for him to land, if Seattle does pick him up. Join up with Ugo >.>

I think when millions of dollars and the evaluators/coaches/GMs jobs are on the line, it's easy to talk yourself out of choosing someone when you are faced with a group of players who have all been standouts in college football. It would probably make an interesting psychological study

It seems like he's the one this year who is getting the buzz of 'why he should not be ranked so high' - not an uncommon thing for guys who are projected in the way too early drafts as being top 5. As to giving up on plays too easily, I have no idea about that to make a reasonable comment. From a purely selfish Duck fan perspective, this is my current fantasy: Tib falls all the way to 17, which puts a chip on his shoulder and inspires him to become a hall of fame edge rusher, playing for years on the same team as his former college teammate and fellow hall of famer Herbert.

I say yes, unless it will cost more to participate than they bring in. Even if it's break even, why not. I'm sure the players have worked very hard over the season and a post-season tourney is a chance for them to have some fun and go for some bragging rights, even if it's the lesser tournament.

I was around while he was with the Blazers but a little too young to remember any of it at this point. I think he's entertaining as a color commentator; I'm with @WiseKwacker on thinking that having a beer with him would be fun! I would take 10 games with Walton in the booth before one with Dick Vitale, for whatever that says about me.

My sympathies to him and his family.

I have a feeling that it will be imitated in some form by every major program soon, but it's really nice to see that 'cutting edge' of being the first. As for that cat, I am sure that it STILL managed to land on its feet.

My son is going to be a senior in high school and I discouraged him from playing football, for precisely this reason. He's a smart kid, and a better student than I was in high school TBH, and he's got a much better chance of getting a good job/bright future through academics than through trying to become a pro athlete. I do realize the inherent hypocrisy of this, since I still love watching college football, but that is just the truth of my decision. I still remember (amazingly) getting pinned between a couple blockers during a practice scrimmage play in high school, after which the blocking fullback gave me a wicked helmet to helmet hit as he was blocking that hole. Not only did the world spin around for a few minutes, but I literally saw black and white, no color, during that time. Very surreal! Knowing what we know now about concussions and long term brain damage, I shudder to think about that. Of course in those days (80's) I shook it off and was in on the next play.

Thank you. I am very far from being a legal expert, but in 'water cooler' discussions I have got the feeling that some people still look at it as some NCAA regulation that can be changed or modified. A very decisive supreme court decision essentially means that NIL is, if not the law of the land, at least the yardstick that any changes to NCAA rules have to measure up to, and there is no getting around that fact.

Great post! Just on general principles, since I do not feel like an expert commenting on Georgia, Oregon has a chance just like it did against Ohio State last year, particularly because the Ducks have built up enough talent to be dangerous even to the top recruiting schools. Another wild card which could help or hurt is the fact it's the first game of the season. I think there is a reason that people use the phrase 'tune up game' and most top schools traditionally scheduled one of those before facing a tough opponent. If one or the other team's new collection of starters is not yet in sync, it can skew the result in unexpected ways. No matter how you slice it, Oregon is going to be an underdog in the game, but they definitely have a chance. I can remember when that was not the case; one that sticks in my mind was listening to Oregon vs. Nebraska on my parents' AM radio when Oregon qualified as an easy tune up game and ended up as a 63-0 Cornhusker win. The nice thing is that now the expectations have changed, even nationally, that it will be a tough game for both teams and a marque match-up for the first week.

Oh I missed that connection to your nickname. But in general I was just thinking it would be a common 'disinformation' campaign, aka fake news. Invented narrative: Obviously the only reason why UO is better than my team (insert PAC 12 team here) is because Knight is bankrolling them to buy a championship; evidence is that Wilcox would not agree to follow their corrupt bribery schemes (inferred by his declining the job) so they hired some disreputable YOUNG coaches from across the country. Then feed that to an audience inclined to be receptive to that narrative, hoping it will spread and be elaborated on. A technique practiced by corporations, governments, and political parties everywhere

Do you mean that all of those quoted posts were from the same account/person?

Oregon State = FishPlaytypus I think! Or FishRodent (added)

It's always going to be a tug between the (admirable) desire to make the game safer and the fact that it's an inherently violent game. If the administrators REALLY wanted to put student-athlete safety above all else, there is a game called flag football. I think they are torn between the idea of more safety, trying to keep the game true to its roots/what is popular among the public, and the fact that they can't afford to kill the cash cow. As... Jon Joseph has supposed (if memory serves?) if CFB moves towards collective bargaining and a more businesslike model regarding player compensation and perhaps transfers, then the ones actually playing the game will have more of a voice in this conversation. I also think that NIL is a genie that is not going back in the bottle, due to stare decisis.

One of those moments when you have to thank your lucky stars you are not posting a story on FishDog about how you became a Husky fan For the die-hard fans who have stuck with them through thick and thin, I would be unhappy about how things have been going and worried about the future.

The photo that @30Duck included is absolutely fabulous!

I honestly don't follow UCLA closely enough to have much of an opinion about the roster so I rely on your analysis for that, but I think Chip is obviously the type of coach who will usually get the most out of what he's got. With a very easy OOC schedule, all they have to do is get one game over .500 in conference to match last-year's record, so that seems like it would be a good bet to me.

Although not expressed as well, when I saw the pandemic year PAC 12 championship game against USC on TV, I thought the second half was a great example of both burning the clock AND not falling into the trap of running the pistol plunge up the gut so often that offensive momentum was lost. Get up to the line, pause and look at the sideline, but then the play call was creative and took advantage of what the D showed. No doubt why OBD won the game and did not become another victim of USC's miracle come back wins during that year; they were dangerous if you left them time on the clock to get some 'free-style' points by throwing down to their excellent receivers. That was one of those games after which I thought 'Well, maybe MC is letting his highly paid OC run the offense in a smart way.' Unfortunately, it ended up being the exception rather than the rule. Whether it's more run-based or pass-based, in important or difficult games it's important to be able to balance scoring vs. game management, but it doesn't mean you have to just run the ball straight up the gut every time if you are trying to burn clock.

I think almost all of us would love to see MM have a mid-career resurgence - I know I would! Unfortunately I think he fits the old stereotype of a 'running QB' that he will get too banged up playing with NFL players. Maybe just from bad luck, but hopefully if he gets in the right scheme that keeps him healthier, he will find success.

Many years ago I read a book about military strategy, and the author loved the idiom of 'on the horns of a dilemma' and showed how time and again in history, the great military leaders were good (or lucky enough) to put their opponent on those horns. The basic idea is that an opponent has two clear options, such as move the forces to defend the capitol or move the forces to defend the important port city, but there are not enough forces to do both at the same time. I thought at the time (and still do!) that the whole idea translated over very well to football. Whether it's a very heavily run-based offense (thinking the triple wishbone of decades ago or the modified version run by the service academies now) or very heavily pass-based offense like the old BYU Lavell Edwards offense, or the more modern air-raid. And of course the RPO offenses that seem so common now are the same. The offensive coordinator is trying to put the opponent on the horns of a dilemma and once their hand has been tipped - such as reading an outside linebacker's reaction to the start of the play - the offense is able to move in the opposite direction of the defense and take advantage of superior forces in that area, before the defense can send reinforcements. With all that, sorry if I am being too philosophical My point for this topic is that I think that once the coaches evaluate the players and what they are capable of, they should put in a set of plays in the offense that fit the strengths of the players and try to maximize that dilemma for the defense. IMO I feel a balanced run/pass offense is the very best for this, but if it has to be weighted one way or the other, even in that case there should be a 'dilemma' given to the defense. I think that was where much of the criticism of the offense came from with MC. Thinking of the Auburn game where everyone knew they were going between tackles and they did, and got stuffed. The Ohio State game was a good counter example; even if it was mostly runs (or quick toss passes that might as well have been runs) the Ducks worked the dilemma of are they going up the middle or hitting the edge. OSU got burned four times as I recall, once up the gut and three times on the edge. So back to @Duck 1972 I think the first thing is whether the coaches do the evaluation and decide that you are right, they are much stronger in the run / short passing game. And if they decide that, they need to make sure they are building in those options and actually use them, to keep the opposing teams guessing.

"The Transfer Portal is the new normal in college football." - That says it right there, Joshua. Excellent article!

Born in Eugene at Sacred Heart Med Center (parents were poor grad students who made the trip to the hospital in a freak snowstorm with an almost broken down car, according to legend, and were convinced the birth was going to happen on the side of the road in a snowdrift.) I grew up in Portland but they are die hard Duck fans to this day, and the first game I can actually remember as a youngster is sitting and freezing to death during the Toilet Bowl, and I probably only remember it because of how much suffering was involved. How could I be anything less than a life long Duck fan with that background?

Until the pandemic rolled through, I was working for an UC (not in the Pac 12) in a program that pulled in exclusively international students. One thing that would have swelled the ranks of students and ensured that we had a leg up on other universities around the country is if the UC I was working for would give students who successfully completed that program a fast track into being accepted as admitted students, assuming they met the other academic requirements. It seemed like a no-brainer; The UC system is always struggling for money and wanting to expand enrollment and money; international students pay through the nose and no doubt fund a lot of things that domestic students do not, since they are not sucking up scholarship and state money. It's a net income gain for UC, and UC is well-known around the world, and in high demand. It was proposed repeatedly to the president of that university and the leadership group. However, politics got in the way. 'Our mission is only to serve as many California residents as possible... ' even though adding one of our students would infuse money into the system and take none away, allowing more California residents to be admitted. Still, no go. The Cal State university system has no problem doing it, and their programs are still pulling in international money through that type of program, whereas the UC program I was in got shuttered in 2020, laying off over 50 people. The whole point of this rant is: do not expect that logic and financial sense will sway the UC system, and by extension I think we are seeing this play out in the Pac 12.