SB Nation - Oregon Ducks

BCS Bowl Watch:

utesfan100 — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 05:55:54 -0000

More photos » by Charlie Riedel - AP

2 months ago: FILE - In this Jan. 4, 2008 file photo, workers pause to study their work as they paint the logo for the BCS Championship football game on the field at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. Bowl Championship Series officials are considering hiring a permanent point person to be a full-time advocate for the often-criticized postseason system. If a new position were created it likely would take over much of the high-profile responsibilities of the BCS coordinator _ a two-year post that rotates among the commissioners of the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big 12 and Southeastern Conference.(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

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[For the rest of the bowl season I will be periodically posting a summary of recent news for each BCS bowl participant.]

National Championship Game:

Texas Longhorns: DJ Monroe will be allowed to play in the NCG. The charges of DWI charges that got him suspended were reduced to a misdemeanor driving offense. DJ Monroe is a star kick returned known for his speed.

Alabama Crimson Tide: QB Greg McElroy will apply next year to be a Rhode Scholar. He will wait until finishing his final season of eligibility at Alabama to apply.

Sugar Bowl:

Cincinnati Bearcats: Brian Kelly has been hired to be the next head coach at Notre Dame. And now Interim head coach Jeff Quinn has been hired by Buffalo.

Florida Gators: Since I haven't mentioned it yet, Florida defensive coordinator Charie Strong is of to Louisville, so the coaching changes will be on both sides in this one.

Fiesta Bowl:

TCU Horned Frogs: WR Johnathan Jones, LB Kenny Cain and S Tekerrein Cuba returned to practice after missing multiple games at the end of the season for injuries.

Boise St. Broncos: The football team will be attending Wednesday nights basketball game against Montana for an official sendoff to the Fiesta Bowl

Rose Bowl:

Oregon Ducks: Defensive Coordinator Nick Aliotti wnats this game as much as Oregon has ever wanted a game. Oregon is taking a couple of days off as they move practice from Eugene to Los Angeles.

Ohio St. Buckeyes: WR Ray Small and DL Rob Rose likely suspended from the Rose Bowl. No official statement has been made.

Orange Bowl:

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets: Georgia Tech will be scrapping their triple option for a newly created hendecuple scheme that involves eight skilled potential ball carriers every play.

(Ok, real news from Atlanta is scarce. This explains CNN and Time-Warner well).

Iowa Hawkeyes: Defensive Coordinator Norm Parker will return for 2010. He is confined to a wheel chair for medical reasons and will be coaching from the press box in the Orange Bowl.

If College Football Had a Playoff: #10 Iowa Hawkeyes @ #7 Oregon Ducks

Jeremy Mauss — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:02:45 -0000

Before we get to game four the previous matchup of #15 East Carolina at #2 Texas resulted in a not so surprising Texas easy win.

This current machup of Oregon and Iowa is of contrasting styles and it would be interesting to see how Iowa's defense does against the Oregon spread rushing attack. Also, this game would be different depending on the status of Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi. The Iowa defense should be able to stop the big plays of Oregon, but the yards could just add up if Oregon is successful.

Now for the somewhat scientific view by using What if Sports to simulate this fine matchup that favored Oregon in a close one with Oregon winning 27-20. What if has LaMIchacel James rushing for 267 yards and a score to lead the way for the Ducks.

Now it is time for the fan vote to decide who moves on. Check back daily at 12 PM eastern time to vote for the next matchup, and voting is only for 24 hours. As they say in Chicago vote early and vote often.

Iowa Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Ricky Stanzi	10	73.0	154	275	56	2186	218.6	7.9	15	14	49	-41	-4.1	-0.8	0	-	-
James Vandenberg	4	30.0	42	87	48.3	470	117.5	5.4	2	5	11	-42	-10.5	-3.8	0	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Jeff Brinson	1	1	7	7	7	0	0	0	0	0	0
Paul Chaney Jr.	6	5	64	10.7	12.8	0	7	50	8.3	7.1	0
Keenan Davis	3	1	0	0	0	0	4	55	18.3	13.8	1
Paki O' Meara	5	16	35	7	2.2	0	1	14	2.8	14	0
Adam Robinson	10	167	775	77.5	4.6	5	10	80	8	8	0
Ricky Stanzi	10	49	-41	-4.1	-0.8	0	0	0	0	0	0
James Vandenberg	4	11	-42	-10.5	-3.8	0	0	0	0	0	0
Brandon Wegher	10	146	528	52.8	3.6	7	13	112	11.2	8.6	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
Paul Chaney Jr.	6	7	50	8.3	7.1	0
Keenan Davis	3	4	55	18.3	13.8	1
Brad Herman	1	1	3	3	3	0
Derrell Johnson-Koulianos	11	41	687	62.5	16.8	2
Marvin McNutt	10	30	653	65.3	21.8	7
Tony Moeaki	7	26	302	43.1	11.6	4
Don Nordmann	1	1	35	35	35	0
Paki O' Meara	5	1	14	2.8	14	0
Allen Reisner	8	14	143	17.9	10.2	1
Adam Robinson	10	10	80	8	8	0
Colin Sandeman	8	10	83	10.4	8.3	0
Trey Stross	11	30	405	36.8	13.5	1
Brandon Wegher	10	13	112	11.2	8.6	0

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Daniel Murray	12	-	-	-	-	-	18	25	70.0%	29	29	100.0%	83

Oregon Stats

Passing

		Passing									Rushing					Sacks
	G	Rating	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/G	Y/A	TD	INT	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Sack	YdsL
Nate Costa	4	60.0	20	33	60.6	197	49.3	6	1	1	16	18	4.5	1.1	1	-	-
Jeremiah Masoli	11	93.0	168	285	58.9	2064	187.6	7.2	15	5	115	659	59.9	5.7	12	-	-

Rushing

		Rushing					Receiving
	G	Rush	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD	Rec	Yds	Y/G	Avg	TD
Remene Alston, Jr.	5	30	133	26.6	4.4	2	0	0	0	0	0
LeGarrette Blount	2	17	46	23	2.7	1	2	13	6.5	6.5	0
Nate Costa	4	16	18	4.5	1.1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Andre Crenshaw	9	50	152	16.9	3	3	3	26	2.9	8.7	0
Jamere Holland	7	3	41	5.9	13.7	0	13	199	28.4	15.3	2
LaMichael James	12	215	1476	123	6.9	14	13	142	11.8	10.9	0
Jeff Maehl	12	1	-2	-0.2	-2	0	52	686	57.2	13.2	6
Jeremiah Masoli	11	115	659	59.9	5.7	12	0	0	0	0	0
Jide Shinaba	1	4	16	16	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
Lavasier Tuinei	8	1	7	.900	7	0	22	187	23.4	8.5	0

Receiving

		Receiving
	G	Rec	Yds	Y/G	AVG	TD
LeGarrette Blount	2	2	13	6.5	6.5	0
Andre Crenshaw	9	3	26	2.9	8.7	0
D.J. Davis	9	22	232	25.8	10.5	2
Ed Dickson	11	42	551	50.1	13.1	6
Garrett Embry	3	2	-4	-1.3	-2	0
Jamere Holland	7	13	199	28.4	15.3	2
LaMichael James	12	13	142	11.8	10.9	0
Malachi Lewis	2	2	30	15	15	0
Jeff Maehl	12	52	686	57.2	13.2	6
David Paulson	9	12	185	20.6	15.4	0
Lavasier Tuinei	8	22	187	23.4	8.5	0

Kicking

		Field Goals								PAT
	G	0-19	20-29	30-39	40-49	50+	FGM	FGA	PCT	XPM	XPA	PCT	pts
Rob Beard	1	-	-	-	-	-	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Morgan Flint	11	-	-	-	-	-	15	17	90.0%	53	53	100.0%	98

Poll

Who wins this matcjup?

Cal Golden What?

JazzyUte — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:42:37 -0000

Next Game

Utah Utes
@ California Golden Bears

Wednesday, Dec 23, 2009, 6:00 PM MST
San Diego County Poinsettia Bowl - Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, CA

Cal running back Best out for Poinsettia Bowl

posted by JazzyUte 2 days ago

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Maximum Bowl Overdrive

posted by JazzyUte 5 days ago

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Scouting the Golden Bears

posted by MeanBobMean 5 days ago

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Complete Coverage >

The California Golden Bears enter the Poinsettia Bowl with a pretty respectable 8-4 record. They were also ranked entering the final week of the regular season after a great win over their resurgent rival Stanford on the road.

Yet, like Utah, there could have been so much more to this season. In fact, California started the year ranked 12th nationally and rose as high as sixth after a 3-0 start. It's been pretty much all downhill since that impressive start and it began against Oregon a week after the Utes' nation-leading winning streak was halted by those same Ducks.

Cal saw a harder fall, undoubtedly, because expectations were extremely high entering this season. They were, after all, a potential heir to the throne if SC were to vacate it in a rebuilding year. Part of that equation happened, however, the Golden Bears failed to take advantage of the situation and instead were passed by the Oregon Ducks.

Because of this, many fans in Berkeley are justifiably disappointed. When you're floated around as Rose Bowl material three weeks into the season (Cal last played in the Rose Bowl in 1959) and the best you can do is the Poinsettia Bowl, there certainly will be some frustration among fans.

But has this season been a success and does that success hinge on their bowl performance?

Generally, unless you've exceeded expectations or put together an amazing regular season, losses in bowl games undo any good you've created in the season. This is probably the same mindset that will carry over for both teams Wednesday.

Though Cal can hang their hats on a decent win over a pretty solid Stanford team, Utah cannot. There isn't one single victory on the Utes' schedule that will be lasting over the next few years. We won't look back at the Air Force game as a solid, memorable victory. It just isn't - even though the Falcons are playing in their third consecutive bowl.

So, for both teams, it appears the success of a season does hinge on either's ability in the bowl game. Win and the season can be salvaged. Lose and there will be far more questions than answers this spring and summer.

Looking at the schedule of Cal (we already know Utah's), it isn't hard to see why, though.

Golden Bears Football Schedule

Maryland	Sat 09/05	W 52 - 13
Eastern Washington	Sat 09/12	W 59 - 7
@ Minnesota	Sat 09/19	W 35 - 21
@ Oregon	Sat 09/26	L 3 - 42
USC	Sat 10/03	L 3 - 30
@ UCLA	Sat 10/17	W 45 - 26
Washington St.	Sat 10/24	W 49 - 17
@ Arizona St.	Sat 10/31	W 23 - 21
Oregon St.	Sat 11/07	L 14 - 31
Arizona	Sat 11/14	W 24 - 16
@ Stanford	Sat 11/21	W 34 - 28
@ Washington	Sat 12/05	L 10 - 42
Utah	Wed 12/23	6:00 PM MST

Cal does own two out of conference victories over BCS teams, but neither have done anything amazing this season. It is true Minnesota is a bowl team this year, but just barely and Maryland might have produced one of the worst seasons in ACC history.

Of course, it isn't what you do against the bad teams, rather what you do against the good (we know that very well here at Utah). Here they have struggled - even though they've faired a bit better than Utah.

There was that game against Oregon, where they were embarrassed 42-3. I can't begin to explain what the hell went wrong in that one because the Ducks - up until that point - had not looked entirely threatening. Remember, a week prior, they had to fend off a Utah team late in the second half. The Utes weren't supposed to have near as potent of an offense and yet they did more against the Ducks in bad weather than Cal could have ever hoped to do.

A week later, their offense was yet again shut down by SC in a 30-3 loss. When a team can only muster six points in a two-week span, you know there are issues. Certainly that offense has struggled at times against more talented and faster opponents.

Adding to their struggles, Cal's defense has been just as inconsistent as their offense. In the first three weeks, they only allowed 41 total points. They gave up one more than that in a single game against the Ducks. That is a fairly rapid change and it has been just as much their undoing as the offensive ineptness at times.

But what is more shocking is just how thoroughly defeated Cal can look in their defeats. In all four of their losses, they've put up absolutely no fight. Which is the exact opposite of the Utes - who were only dismantled in one game this year. The Golden Bears' ugliest loss of the season actually came at the tail end against Washington. It was a game they needed to win to secure a more lucrative bowl and they were absolutely shredded by a Husky team still searching for its identity under a new coaching staff.

That 42-10 loss was once again a mix of offensive and defensive struggles. Neither showed up and were pretty much overmatched from the start. It's hard to imagine a team coached by Jeff Tedford completely laying down and dying in an important game like that, but they have. In fact, they did it three times before and each defeat seems more inexcusable than the next.

So, what does this mean for the Poinsettia Bowl? Hard to say. This is a wildly inconsistent team. Even more than the Utes.

What Golden Bears team will we see Wednesday? The one who managed to knock off Arizona and Stanford, or the one who was depantsed by Oregon, SC and Washington?

That's the ultimate question for this game. Because of this, it's hard to actually predict a score. However, Kyle Whittingham has never lost a bowl game as Utah's coach and I don't think that'll change Wednesday. Utes win 42-28.

Maybe I'm expecting too much from this offense. Then again, with how the Cal defense has played in all of their losses, maybe not.

ATQ Awards 2009: The "Man Crush" Award Nominations

dvieira — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:35:02 -0000

2009 is nearly behind us, another great year of ATQ has passed. The community is what makes this blog so special. Where would we be without the readers and contributors responsible for all the wonderful insights, comments, complaints, paranoia and angst...especially the angst! During the next few weeks, we will be offering up a series called The ATQ Awards 2009, a series designed to highlight some of the most memorable and inspirational events of this past year on Addicted to Quack.

The first category is what we are calling "The Man Crush Award". This special honor is given to a male athlete, associated with the University of Oregon, that you just love, possibly for no good reason. Give your nominations in this thread.

This award is a "Community Choice" award, meaning your votes will ultimately decide the winner. Once nominations are closed, we’ll have a vote to decide the outcome.

The Oregon defense: better than they're getting credit for

jtlight — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:00:20 -0000

More photos » by John Miller - AP

Nick Foles and the Arizona offense racked up 41 points against the Ducks. However, this number was skewed due to two overtimes.

Browse more photos »

If you've spent two seconds perusing any Ohio State Buckeyes blogs, you'll have no doubt read about the poor Oregon defense. This has been quite infuriating, simply because the analysis provided has been woefully ignorant. Case in point, a post from Buckeye Battle Cry, which will be joining SBNation on January 1st (Welcome guys!).

With a few exceptions at the beginning of the year, the Oregon D has been allowing apposing offenses to rush for pretty close to their season averages.

The crown jewel of this chart is Stanford’s #11 ranked rushing offense and the 236 yards they gained on the ground against Oregon, which of course led to a 51-42 defeat of the Ducks.

The good and still improving #17 [OSU] rushing offense (198.92 ypg) against the #40 [Oregon] rushing defense (130.64 ypg) that gives up basically whatever the offense wants to take.

Sounds good to me.

Unfortunately, this type of 2nd rate analysis is standard throughout the Buckeye blogosphere. SBNation's tOSU blog, We Will Always Have Tempe, front-paged this post.

What we can take from all of these posts is the infatuation with all things "total." Total yards, total points, total defense, etc. I've even seen some commenters go so far as mention time of possession. And if you're looking at the Ducks through this narrow lens, of course Oregon will not stack up.

Yet on January 1st, Buckeye Nation will be in for a rude awakening.

The first thing we need to do is get past this idea of total yards or rushing defense as a good indication of the Oregon defense. Oregon simply runs too many plays on both sides of the ball. Over the course of the season, the Oregon defense defended 864 plays. The Buckeye defense defended 773. This is a difference of about 8 plays per game, and is due mostly to the difference in pace that Oregon plays compared to most other teams.

To get a good feel for how these teams actually play, we really need to look at how they perform on a down-by-down basis. The best way to do this is to go to our friend Bill Connelly with RockMNation and Football Outsiders.com, who has done a great job breaking down these statistics.

And, if you've been reading this site for a while, you know I'm going straight to S&P+. For a full explanation of what these numbers mean, check out Bill's primer, and further post on Football Outsiders. Basically, this statistic is a great indicator of just how good teams are on a per-play basis.

Now, I'm not gonna sit here and say that Oregon's defense is better than OSU's. It's not. But, it's a lot closer than any Buckeye fan is willing to admit. Looking at these statistics, Oregon has the 15th ranked defense in the country, and beyond that has the 10th ranked rushing defense in the country (mostly because they have faced a lot of really good rushing teams). These results really shouldn't be a surprise. Oregon is giving up only 4.6 yards per play on the season, good for 11th nationally. And they are giving up only 3.41 yards per rush, good for 24th nationally (again, let's remember that S&P+ takes into account opponent strengths).

This Oregon team is where it is because of its defense. It faced potent offenses over and over throughout the season, and gave the offense an opportunity to succeed through strong defensive play.

We'll be getting into the matchups more in the week before the Rose Bowl, but the crux of Buckeye arguments thus far have been that the Duck defense just isn't that good. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Quack Fix: T.J. Ward, hoops hoping to heat up, and another SNL skit with the Ducks?

PaulSF — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:00:30 -0000

Happy Friday. There isn't a ton out there today, but that shouldn't stop you from commenting. Treat this post as your Friday Open Thread. Lord knows we'd rather be commenting on the Ducks than online Christmas shopping. Right? Here's your Morning Quack Fix:

The Oregonian's John Hunt has a feature on senior defensive back T.J. Ward, who's preparing for his final game in an Oregon uniform. Ward is a well-spoken guy, and reading his quotes made it hard for me to imagine he's the same guy laying wood on Oklahoma State's Zac Robinson in last year's Holiday Bowl.
The Oregon men's basketball team picked up a much-needed win over Mississippi Valley State on Wednesday night at Mac Court, and they did it with two starters benched. Junior LeKendric Longmire and sophomore Teondre Williams, who are third and first in scoring for the Ducks, respectively, were benched to start the game due to academic reasons. Neither played more than 10 minutes. With Pac-10 play a mere two weeks away, the Ducks hope to continue building momentum when they host Oakland on Saturday. Oregon has lost two in a row to the Golden Grizzlies, including an overtime loss in Eugene last year.
ESPN.com's Ted Miller posted the Sporting News All-Pac-10 team yesterday, and Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli finally gets his due after losing out to Oregon State's Sean Canfield on both the Pac-10's first team and ESPN.com's All-Pac-10 team. Ed Dickson was also named, as well as another Pac-10 Coach of the Year nod for Chip Kelly.
After the extraordinarily unfunny Saturday Night Live skit that featured Oregon last Saturday (watch it after the jump if you haven't seen it...or don't), Duck Sports News is reporting tthere's another on the way. Let's just hope it's actually funny this time, and doesn't feature that douche from Twilight in a throwback Oregon jersey.

As always, leave any relevant links or comments below.

GO DUCKS!

Ranking the Big Ten Bowls by Difficulty

Law Buckeye — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:48:55 -0000

It appears the mainstream consensus is that the Big Ten will suffer another disastrous bowl season. Just yesterday, ESPN's Pat Forde predicted we would match last year's 1-6 performance. A single win is a long way away from the four wins necessary to escape with a winning record. That got me thinking, just how high of a mountain do we have to climb? Let's look at how the seven bowls stack up against each other in degree of difficulty (easiest to hardest), and the likelihood of a Big Ten win in each one.

Don't forget to go back and submit your Bowl Prediction sheet for another chance to win a prize. For winning the regular season OPC, Seattle Hawkeye won...a hat. You may win...something cooler. Hardest bowls to pick so far are Stanford-Oklahoma and PSU-LSU.

7. Insight Bowl (Minnesota v. Iowa State) December 31st, Tempe, AZ

It's hard to get excited about two 6-6 squads going mano a mano on the NFL Network. It's also hard for Minnesota fans to shake the stigma that Purdue would have been a better Big Ten representative on the national stage. Although the Golden Gopher's offense is sometimes been less visible than the Emperor's New Clothes, Iowa State is the epitome of mediocre. It ranked 8th in the Big 12 in total offense, and 11th in total defense during the regular season. Minnesota ranked last in the Big 10 in total offense, but finished sixth in defense. Sadly, I think this is the Big Ten's "easiest" matchup.

Big Ten's Chances of a Win: 70%

6. Champs Sports Bowl (Wisconsin v. Miami) December 29th, Orlando, FL

Four games into the season it looked the "The U" had restored its swagger and was predestined to win the ACC. The Canes held Georgia Tech to 95 rushing yards, before giving up 287 to Virginia Tech. Wisconsin's offense is beautifully balanced (206 ypg rushing, 209 ypg passing), which makes me think they can do to Miami what they couldn't do to Florida State last year: sustain consistent drives. The potential for John Clay to run downhill makes this game the second most manageable for the Big Ten.

Big Ten's Chances of a Win: 55%

5. Capital One Bowl (Penn State v. LSU) January 1st, Orlando, FL

Although neither team has a quality win, I have to give a slight edge to Penn State here because of its defense. On the other hand, LSU has swapped helmet paint with a tougher slate of opponents, and might be battle tested. It's clear that Les Miles has had issues focusing this team, and the pressure on him to win might compromise his preparations.

Big Ten's Chances of a Win: 52%

4. Outback Bowl (Northwestern v. Auburn) January 1st, Tampa, FL

Northwestern's defense has had plenty of opportunities to prepare for the spread. They also have a more than functional offense, and a coach that's as meticulous as anyone in his preparations. Auburn's defense has been MIA since August. Still, the Tigers led No. 1 Alabama for three and a half quarters, and if their performance in the Outback Bowl comes anywhere close to matching that effort, Northwestern gets bruised.

Big Ten's Chances of a Win: 45%

3. Fed Ex Orange Bowl (Iowa v. Georgia Tech) January 5th, Miami, FL

Some people might be surprised to see me place a BCS bowl in the middle of the rankings, but I think Iowa matches up nicely against the Yellow Jackets. If the Hawk's come up with a defense that contends with Tech's vaunted triple option (and that's a big "if"), the physicality of Iowa's offensive line can steal the show. I've got faith in you, Norm Parker.

Big Ten's Chances of a Win: 44%

2. Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi (Ohio State v. Oregon) January 1st, Pasadena, CA

All eyes will be on Pasadena when the unstoppable Oregon Ducks meet the immovable Ohio State Buckeyes. But beneath the strength-versus-strength storyline there's the reality that Ohio State might not be able to finish drives against a surprisingly fast Oregon defense. So, the Buckeyes move the ball 60 yards and stall. What about Oregon? They'll be forced to to punt or settle for field goals through three and a half quarters. The difference here, is Oregon's quick-strike capability A few missed tackles in space and the Ducks can put the game out of reach. Moreover they score on any play. Ohio State can't.

Big Ten's Chances of a Win: 40%

1. Valero Alamo Bowl (Michigan State v. Texas Tech) January 2nd, San Antonio, TX

Michigan State's porous secondary spelled disaster against the Red Air-Raiders, and that was before Mark Dantonio suspended eight players. Without receivers Mark Dell and B.J. Cunningham, and defensive back Chris L. Rucker, the deck is stacked against the Spartans.

Big Ten's Chances of a Win: 25%

BLACK HEART GOLD PODCAST 17: SWINDLED

Hawkeye State — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 23:32:48 -0000

You'll need this for later. Trust us.

Episode 17, in the calm before the storm of bowl season, is a perfect opportunity to preview the Big Ten bowl slate with the only man who could compare LSU playcalling to a French absurdist play. That's right: It's Spencer Hall, the Artist Occasionally Known as Orson Swindle, joining your hosts to discuss Auburn's Island of Misfit Quarterbacks, how the Alamo Bowl resembles the opening scene from Monty Python's Meaning of Life, and things to do in Orlando when you're from Wisconsin.

Listen below or on iTunes.

BHGPodcast 17

Quack Fix: Of Course A Duck Wins The Bowerman; More (Stupid) Fun With Little Guns.

JConant — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 22:43:26 -0000

No excuses. I just couldn't get to QF until lunch today (yeah, lunch at 2). I joked with the other editors that working in retail marketing a week out from Christmas is like being stuck in an avalanche. I sometimes purposely drool just so I can be sure which way is up.

Here's the Quack:

Why not start with some Track & Field news...Oregon's other big sport. How fitting, Galen Rupp was honored with the inaugural Bowerman award. Rupp, the star of Oregon's championships in 2008-09 shared the award - named after longtime Oregon coach Bill Bowerman - with Jenny Barringer, a distance runner from for the U of Colorado.
Seriously? Can we please ban pellet/bb guns from the U of O atheletic department? Three of our young duckling football players were cited for allegedly firing a weapon that resulted in a shattered window in their apartment complex.
If you're using the "transitive property of equality" method to pick a UO win of tOSU in the Rose, you'll want to check out this article by Chris Hansen for the R-G.
Rob Moseley's Duck-of-the-Day is freshman punter Jackson Rice.
Lavasier Tuinei says he doesn't like the Big Ten. The feeling is probably mutual. Check out Jason Vondersmith's interview with the Ducks 6-5 receiver, who down the stretch played a key roll in Oregon's offense with some nice catches and excellent downfield blocking.
Willamette Week - of all places - has all the answers to Everything Ohio State Wants To Know About The Ducks...actually, there are few answers, but several videos.
John Wilner of the Mercury News has Chip Kelly at the top of his post-season ranking of Pac-10 football coaches. I appreciate that he put Pete Carroll at no. 10, but it makes me wonder, did Wilner actually watch ASU or WSU play at all?

Again, sorry for the tardy post. You'll get over it.

Media Wednesday... on Thursday: The Oregon Boogie

dvieira — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:14:45 -0000

Hey everyone. Sorry there was no Media Wednesday. I had a serious case of food poisoning and was strapped to my bed most of the day. I feel like a million bucks today so I bring you the Oregon Boogie to get you up and moving!